Comedian, writer and actor Fortune Feimster launched her international “Live, Laugh, Love Tour” at San Diego’s Balboa Theatre on June 10 – a moment which she describes as “full circle.”

When the Los Angeles transplant was first starting out on the comedy circuit, she headlined her first show at La Jolla Comedy Store.

“The audiences from very early on in my career were very supportive, coming out to see me there so it feels cool, like a full circle moment getting to come back down that way and do the bigger theaters,” Feimster said.

After the two shows, she returned to Los Angeles to celebrate Pride there then began touring the midwest. By the time San Diego’s official Pride festivities are underway, she will be leaving Iowa for New Zealand for the international leg of this tour. Before her comedy career, Feimster often came down to San Diego for the Pride celebration and has close friends still involved in the event.

“It’s such a strong community down there and people were so lovely to me long before I had anything to do with entertainment,” she recalled.

An LGBTQ+ comedian, Feimster has a unique brand of comedy that delves into love, relationships, sexuality and shared experiences. She is excited for her tour to coincide with Pride month celebrations across the nation, although that is nothing new.

“I’ve been performing at Prides my entire career. I’ve been involved in so many events surrounding not only Pride festivals, the Pride parades and the night before Pride and whatnot,” she said.

It is one of her favorite times of the year.

“I love the community of it. I love the celebration of it. It’s something I look forward to every summer,” she said.

She met her wife during Chicago Pride after performing at a comedy show the night before. In her second Netflix special, “Good Fortune,” Feimster brought her wife and their dog on stage to introduce them to the audience. She explained that after sharing so many personal stories about them, it can be helpful for the audience to put a face to the person she’s been talking about. For the LGBT+ audience members though, the introduction had a dual purpose.

“It’s also important for other gay people to see representation; to see gay people living their lives being happy doing everyday things together, being in a relationship, taking on adult challenges together. I think that’s also an important thing to show,” she said.

In her current tour, she has all-new material talking more about her relationship with Jax, including stories from their honeymoon, and Feimster’s mom, who has become an important part of her podcast “Sincerely Fortune.” Plus, she plans to be more interactive with the audience. Starting the tour in San Diego was serendipitous as she uses her new crowd work skills.

“There’s just like an easygoing vibe down there and I feel like that that really fits my vibe as well,” she said. “I’m just there to have a good time and to make people laugh and be silly and I feel like everyone there is on board for that.”

She was not there during the official Pride weekend, but was still happy to bring joy to the city as it ramps up for the full-blown celebration in July.

“I think having these Pride celebrations is important because it’s a chance for all of us to get together and keep our community strong and visible, to be proud of who we are for each other,” Feimster said.

The theme of San Diego’s Pride Parade and Festival this year is Thrive! For Feimster, the LGBTQ+ community thrives when people are free to be themselves.

“We’re thriving when we’re being our best selves. When we come out, I think there’s such a huge weight lifted off our shoulders because we’ve been trying to conform for so long to what we thought society wanted of us. And then when we finally come to terms of who we really are, there’s such a happiness and such a lightness that comes with that.

“Thriving means you’re really living in that freedom of being who you are… For people to be able to truly live an authentic life and to be who they are is the greatest gift that you can give yourself,” Feimster said.

Feimster shared her own journey of discovery and coming out as gay to her family in her first Netflix special, “Sweet & Salty,” which was nominated for a Critic’s Choice Award. Her career has only grown from there. At the end of May, she made her acting debut alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Netflix action movie “Fubar.”

Feimster always loved comedy but never intended to pursue it professionally. After moving to Los Angeles from the south, she enrolled in improv classes with the intention of making friends. There, teachers pulled her aside to urge her to take her potential seriously.

“They were like, ‘you gotta do more of this’ and it really inspired me to keep working even more at it and it quickly became a passion,” she said. “So what started as something very fun, continues to be fun, but I’m now lucky enough to make a living at it.”