For most comedians, hanging out in comedy clubs as an audience member is of equal importance to being on stage, if not more. You learn from what you see, study audiences, size yourself up, network, and perhaps acquire new material.
Standup comedian and actress Rachel Feinstein learned this early on, having spent many hours in a different kind of comedy club — detention — before ‘barely’ graduating from high school and moving to New York City with her then-boyfriend, a member of a metal band called ‘Dicksister,’ at the age of seventeen. “Gloria Steinem said that dreaming is a form of planning. I often imagine things and I was probably imagining performing comedy while sitting in detention,” said Feinstein.
Luckily for her fans, that move to New York launched her career as a comedian, leading to her own hour-long special, Only Whores Wear Purple, on Comedy Central, as well as gigs as a writer and actor. Feinstein is a frequent guest on the late-night circuit, was a final contestant on Last Comic Standing, was featured on comedian Colin Quinns’ HBO pandemic special Colin Quinn & Friends: A Parking Lot Comedy Show, and Chris Rock’s Top Five.
She has also appeared alongside her best friend, Amy Schumer, in Hulu’s hit series Life & Beth and Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer where she also served as a writer (She recently won a WGA award for her work as a writer). She recurred on Steven Soderbergh’s series Red Oaks as well as Judd Apatow’s HBO comedy Crashing, and she appeared in the role of Anne Frank in Netflix’s Historical Roasts. On the big screen, Rachel was seen in the feature films Trainwreck and I Feel Pretty.
Feinstein will bring her unabashed and blunt humor to Woodstock at the Colony on May 4th for the first time as she winds down her tour and polishes her set before filming her forthcoming special later this year.
Known for mimicry and sharing shrewd observations through storytelling, Feinstein often gives the audience more than a glimpse into her “very normal cookie cutter childhood” in Bethesda, Maryland as the daughter of a Jewish civil rights lawyer and a mother who recently retired as a social worker whom she refers to as “aggressively liberal.” Her parents love attending her shows when they can and have been supportive all along. “They come and love it. My mom actually gets upset when I don’t include stuff about her in my ‘talent show.’ That’s what she calls them.”
At times Feinstein is confidently self-deprecating, a common theme long heard in the Borscht Belt from comedians performing at the many Catskill summer resorts.
She is married to a Brooklyn firefighter whose family is the opposite of hers, according to Feinstein. Feinstein and her husband are parents to a three-year-old daughter and those attending the show can expect to hear her air grievances about family life, married life, and her new home which was purchased using Bitcoin. Feinstein shared in her best Staten Island accent that she now “frequently attends dinna dances with the firefighter wives.”
Feinstein has no plans to leave comedy as much as she enjoys writing and acting, and as grueling as touring can be. “We hurl our bodies all over the country, you don’t even know where you are,” she recently shared on Whitney Cummings Good For You podcast. “I love the performative aspect of standup and interacting with the audiences,” she says. “I think I’ll always do standup.”
The comedy stage isn’t the only stage Feinstein has graced as of late. Last week, she joined feminist writer and activist Gloria Steinem, among others, as they signed the resolution voted on by the U.S. Senate to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. The signing comes 100 years after the measure was introduced, and would guarantee equal rights for all citizens regardless of gender.
Feinstein also uses her comedy to help fundraise for Friends of Firefighters, a non-profit organization based in New York City that provides free mental health services to firefighters and EMS workers. It was established in the wake of 9/11 and the cause is close to Rachel’s heart.
When asked to describe her upcoming special, Feinstein promises that her show will be funny, have new material, and will “definitely not be clean.” So far in her career, nothing is off limits as fodder for her jokes so don’t expect her to change now. “It’s gonna be a new hour, different from anything I’ve done before,” Feinstein said. “Since the last time I filmed a special, my life is just so different and there’s so much that has happened in the world.”
Feinstein will perform live at the Colony in Woodstock on May 4, 8-11PM. Doors open at 7PM.
Join the family! 
