Rachel Feinstein at SteelStacks: juggling comedy, motherhood
BY DEB BOYLAN
Special to The Press
Rachel Feinstein is a juggler. Not in the conventional sense of tossing balls, clubs or rings. Feinstein instead adroitly balances a thriving stand-up career, multiple projects, motherhood and family life with enviable precision.
The New York City-based comedian-actress is wrapping up her stand-up tour with a performance, 8 p.m. April 21, Musikfest Café, ArtsQuest Center, SteelStacks, Bethlehem.
Being the mother of an almost three-year-old daughter (affectionately referred to by Feinstein and her husband as Frankie) has certainly proved challenging at times for her creative process.
“It definitely gives me more material, for sure,” says Feinstein during a recent phone interview. “She doesn’t really respect me as an authority figure. She can still sort of sense that I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m trying.
“She still looks at me like, ‘You’re not an adult,’” she adds.
Feinstein’s husband Peter Brennan is left with the task of parental discipline. “She fears my husband. She does everything he tells her to do. Me, she’ll just head-butt me at 3 a.m. and laugh.”
“He’s an officer,” she says, referring to Brennan, a New York City Fire Department Captain. “People call him Captain. He’s got an edge on me. It’s not fair.
“She’s pretty funny though,” Feinstein continues about their daughter. “She’s always doing faces in the mirror and kind of does anything for a laugh. She also runs up and hugs everybody, I haven’t been able to teach her yet that, like, men are bad.
“I’m afraid,” she replies when asked if she thinks her daughter will follow her path and become a stand-up comedian, “I’d rather her be a firefighter.”
The pandemic was extra difficult for Feinstein, who was pregnant with Frankie during the peak of lockdowns and restrictions. “It was not easy,” she explains. “I was rocking in a nightgown. I wasn’t doing well. I don’t think anyone was OK, but I was, like, mentally ill, probably more than usual during the pandemic.
“We had to move right in the middle of April [2020] when I was seven-months pregnant and no moving company would move us, it was just me and him,” she says of her husband.
“I will say this, there are some weird perks to a Covid birth.” She says it provided an easy excuse concerning guests and interruptions that typically surround a birth.
“We could just be like, ‘Oh sorry, we’re trying not to kill her.’ So, in some ways, there was a weird blessing after you have the baby because you can just kind of lay there and there’s no fear of missing out because you’re missing nothing.
“The hardest part for me was not having my parents meet her right away and not being able to get a spray tan and blowout. I’m not going to lie. That was rough.”
Feinstein has had three Comedy Central specials, including her one- hour special, “Amy Schumer Presents Rachel Feinstein: Only Whores Wear Purple.”
As an actor, Feinstein was on the first season of “Life & Beth” for Hulu. She had a recurring role on the Steven Soderbergh Amazon series, “Red Oaks” and on Judd Apatow’s HBO comedy, ”Crashing.” She was also featured on “Amy Schumer’s Parental Advisory” on Netflix.
Feinstein’s credits include “Trainwreck,” “The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore, HBO’s “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, co-hosting “The View” on multiple occasions and several appearances on “Inside Amy Schumer,” for which she also contributed as a writer.
Feinstein appears to have successfully mastered the balancing act of career, COVID, family and new motherhood. Just don’t ask her to juggle in the literal sense. A curious entry on her Wikipedia page continues to resurface that states Feinstein started her career as a unicycle-riding juggler in New York City.
“I didn’t juggle, I didn’t ride a unicycle,” she says. “Somebody keeps adding this to my dumb Wiki page, and then whenever I go on the road, everybody wants me to juggle.
“I don’t juggle, I can’t juggle. But every time I do press, I get asked how I got my start in the gritty juggling world.”
The SteelStacks’ performance will contain adult language and-or situations. Attendees 13 to 17 must be accompanied by parent or guardian. No one 12 or under will be admitted. There’s a $10 minimum food and beverage charge for reserved seating. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets: Box Office, ArtsQuest Center, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem; 610-297-7100; https://www.steelstacks.org