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I first met Jaime Fountaine when we were both performing at the monthly comedy show Bedtime Stories. Dressed in a Catholic school uniform, Jaime explained that she was in middle school and proceeded to read from a book about saving yourself for marriage. It was hilarious. Then, a few months later, I saw her again at Toiling in Obscurity, the excellent and excitement-fueled reading series she hosts semi-regularly at The Dive. That’s when I realized that Jaime is one of those people who does stuff. You know the sort of person I’m talking about, who doesn’t just talk about things, but makes them happen. Jaime and I spoke recently about just some of the awesome things she works on.

Hey! You’re a writer. Can you tell us a little about what you write?
I’ve been working on a novel, which is a bastardly and obnoxious thing to say, especially when it is true. Without going into detail, it involves the many illegitimate children of the same man.

Little Miss Jaime Fountaine is one of my favorite regular characters at Bedtime Stories. What inspired you to create her?
Two things: the first was a book I bought for a quarter called, Why Wait Till Marriage?: Catholic Edition by Evelyn Mills Duvall, published in 1965.

The second was the fact that I was, at the time, on my third job in less than a year, I had writers’ block, and I needed some form of more immediate gratification. Since, from what the lady at the post office told me, I look about 12, dressing up like a middle-schooler didn’t seem like much of a stretch. “Jaime Fountaine” is a lot like I was as a kid — precocious, vocabulary obsessed, and a misguided overachiever. I have made “Jaime Fountaine” a little bit cooler than I was when I was 12. She probably owns more than two CDs neither of which are Hanson’s debut album.

Most of my theatrical experience involved some form of self-humiliation anyway — narrator of the 4th grade Kwanza play, wardrobe malfunctions in the chorus of Guys and Dolls, simulating a certain activity whilst humming “Row, Row, Row, Your Boat” in a one-act during my freshman year of college. The thought of putting on my 8th grade school uniform and reading an essay on chastity didn’t seem all that daunting.

Why did you start Toiling in Obscurity?
The idea for doing a reading came up with my friend Jeremy Eric Tenenbaum one evening, sometime in February. He suggested that I put together a reading, and I ran with it on the condition that he would also read. I also couldn’t have done it without Ashley Jerome, though, who helped me approach John at the Dive with the idea of a reading”¦

The “Toiling in Obscurity” moniker is a kind of parody of the academic importance lent to a lot of readings, and we have a lot of comedians participate, but we’re all fairly serious about what we’re writing and how we’re going about doing it. I think all of us involved have a better sense of humor about it than most people.

Is there anywhere people can find your work online?
I have reluctantly started a blog in order to post Toiling in Obscurity – related materials, though, at any moment it could devolve into a series of essays on Doctor Who and vegetarian shrimp recipes. I can be found at jaimefountaine.blogspot.com. In the near future, it will include sound clips from the second Toiling in Obscurity reading, and photoshopped pictures of me onboard the TARDIS.