CD: To me, that’s really rare and special. You were saying before “Oh, it doesn’t scale, it can’t go anywhere.” But that’s because you can’t really create that kind of a safe space online, right?

JF: I don’t know. I mean, that’s why I’m so impressed by stuff that I can watch, like movies, television, or online shows where I’m like, “Oh, I watch this and I connect with it.” I wish I could do that. I really would like to make stuff that’s like that — you don’t need to be there but you can still connect with it.

CD: You’re very well-known in New York’s alt-comedy community and hundreds of people go to see your shows. But you’re also totally outside of the entertainment industry. You do your work independently. Do you feel successful? You might not have that industry success, but in terms of real people, strangers like your things.

JF: I guess so. I mean, I feel like I’ve gone somewhere since I started. I feel like I’ve made progress, but I don’t feel like . . . I’m never like, “Oh, I’ll put on a show and definitely people will be there.” I still put on shows all the time and nobody comes.

But sometimes I get recognized. Like I was moving this past weekend, and I was sweating, and grunting, and lifting this heavy mattress. I was just so gross. And this guy came up to me and was like, “Hey, Punderdome, right?”

I was like, “Nooooo, not now!” That felt cool. In retrospect, not at the time. At the time I was just like “Why aren’t you helping me with this mattress?!”

Another time, I was having this breakup fight with my boyfriend and this woman came up behind me. I was crying, tears streaming down my face. It was horrible, and she tapped me on the shoulder and was all happily like, “Are you from Punderdome?” And I was like, “Not now!”