From selling out NYC to the Fringe is coming
A hilarious, heartfelt, ADHD-friendly show
Hello Aarushi, so where are you from & where do you live these days?
Hello there, I’m Aarushi – I’m Indian, but grew up in Madison, WI — a perfectly friendly Midwestern town that’s grown so much the last two decades — and I’ve lived in New York City since 2017.
How did you first get into comedy, music and performance?
This is a crazy question — I was a really good singer. People say I was singing before I could talk – and it’s actually plausible because I didn’t talk until 3 and a half, though I’m told I always got my point across— and then certainly made up for lost time. 😅
Anyway, my parents would do this terrifying thing where they would make me sing in front of EVERYONE. Like we’d be at an Indian function with like everyone’s whole families and I’d be like 6 years old, and they’d be like, “Let’s all get Aarushi to sing,” and I hated it because it immediately set me apart from the other kids, and I couldn’t say no. There’d be like these aunties, and they’d be like “Please, beta, please sing! I’m begging you!”
And then I would, and everyone would be silent, and erupt into applause when I was done. I sort of understood that I had this crazy superpower that could make adults cry, but more importantly — I loved to sing. It was my emotional channel. I was a songwriter at age 12. I went through periods of “fuck this” but by the time I was a 20, I had already performed with 3 different bands, and was only speeding up. It honestly feels like something is missing when I’m not making music or writing all the time. My band Tin Can Diamonds is actually streaming everywhere.
The songs for EMOJI flowed so easily from me and they’re some of the best I’ve ever written. All those years of singing and writing really paid off. I’ve learned over time that I also have synesthesia, and this is a big part of how I write — I feel into sounds and images. Sometimes shit comes to me in a dream, or in the time between sleeping and waking and I’ll write it down.
Aside from being a musical mastermind (lol), I was a writer and a I was always making people laugh and paying too much attention to these little bits I made up because I had undiagnosed ADHD and couldn’t get myself to shut up and focus unless I did like a lot of bits first (years later I would understand that I was trying to get dopamine so I could be motivated to care about boring stuff), so I became sort of a prolific writer and I would make web sites and listen to (I hate JK Rowling) Harry Potter audiobook that I got from the library and dubbed onto cassette tapes, so I just kind of had voices in my head. That eventually led to me being in the right group of people at the right time — it was a bunch of other women of color writing monologues about our lives — and they told me I was funny and that I should pursue comedy, so I tried it, because what the hell, and the rest is history.
You originally planned to study medicine before choosing a creative career. What was that turning point like?
Oh my god, yeah this is so embarrassing – I even took the MCAT. I was good at science because it relies on pattern recognition, and I naturally care about understanding the world around me so much. But my mode is expressive — that’s where I can make the biggest impact. I have no doubt I would’ve been a good doctor, but writing and performance and journalism felt like it was making a direct impact on my community, and I was doing it in a way that I felt to be lacking in the scenes I was a part of in Wisconsin where I had grown up. I started to understand that my specific voice spoke to a lot of people and because I was so observant, I knew how to talk about things in ways that would get folks to pay attention. I didn’t want to squander that gift when I could see how many things I could change just by putting attention on them. And then I was working this public health gig at University of Wisconsin-Madison and I didn’t like it, the vibe was super off, I would listen to comedy podcasts all day and wish I lived in some place like LA or New York where I could pursue something more creative. By that time I was doing standup and playing a lot with my band, I ended up quitting, getting an ADHD diagnosis and waiting tables, and moving to NYC to go to grad school for my MFA in Writing at Pratt Institute.
You’ve described this as part stand-up, part concert, part TED Talk and part multimedia show. How did all those different elements come together?
It was a grave error! No, I made an unhinged presentation for a one-off comedy show where comedians talk about a hyperfocus of theirs, and I had just had this crazy thing happen to me. So the presentation ended up being a rhythmic, somewhat-musical blend of two different conversations — one about emoji and the other more existentialist — and I used all of these screenshots from my phone as examples of what I was talking about. Then I had the opportunity to develop it into a 30-minute show a few months later after sitting with the thing that had happened — and I ended up having a much deeper story to tell. When decided to make the show longer for New York City Fringe— a task that would require fundraising and production support — I was like I’m only going to do all this if I can write some music. It was honestly a reward to myself and the beginnings of songs were already playing in my head.
And because of the way MY BRAIN IS, it actually all made sense and worked together beautifully. My director Dominique was saying yes to every wild bit idea I had and the show ended up being so uniquely ME. I feel like this show is one of the only spaces I get to be in that marries 👰🏽♀️all my different identities — writer, musician, comedian, educator and human. And there’s something so fun about using a presentation to share about something other than numbers and pitch decks. Pitching human connection in the modern age is somehow radical in this age. I have always loved making an Instagram story (and the Snapchat story before that) so I had years of practice. I ended up selling out the festival with this turducken of crazy things. 💁🏽♀️ Like the show itself is crazy, but every fractal of it is also crazy, but it all makes sense given my personality, and how not-that-unique I actually am. Like everyone watching the show is also a whole, complex, messy complicated being — and I think that’s why it connects!
What first sparked your fascination with emojis?
You created the show after a near-death experience. How did that experience influence what audiences see on stage?
How long did it take to turn the idea into thefinished show?
Was there a moment during the creative process when you thought, “This is either going to be brilliant or completely ridiculous”?
The show is packed with songs, visuals and audience participation. Which part is the most fun for you to perform each day?
Hands down the audience participation bits. I’m taking some really big swings, and I’m always scared it won’t work, but I find that by the end, we are a little community and the audience is kind enough to humor me on the journey. And even if they’re just doing it out of kindness to me, that’s an experience we get to have together, and they’re learning something from that expression of kindness.
It’s already sold out in New York. Were you expecting audiences to connect with it in the way they have?
I went into NYC Fringe with all my cards out on the table — I had finished writing one of the songs the day before. I put my heart and soul into it and the only person who had seen the whole new version of it was my director and I was so scared that we were sharing in a collective delusion. But it was honestly so awesome to see how people responded. But also I wrote it so people would be included, so it wasn’t that surprising?
Without spoiling anything, what’s one moment in the show that audiences seem to talk about afterwards?
There are a few BIG TWISTS that are really fun to see audiences’ reactions to!
You’ve got the “Emoji Expert” series coming up as well — what else is on the horizon for you after Edinburgh?
I’d love to get some production money behind EMOJI and tour it. And do more on-the-street interviews around the world! I’m just loving learning there are so many culture differences in how we use these weird lil guys. 🤪
If you could add one brand-new emoji to everyone’s phone tomorrow, what would it be and what would it mean?
An iridescent fannypack, and it means what you think it does.
You’ve got 10 seconds to stop someone walking down the Royal Mile and convince them to come and see your show. What do you say?
This show is for you if you’ve ever struggled to write a text message — or if you love the moon, or felt like “Oh no I said too much,” or “Oh shit, I wish I’d said more,” if you love beautiful music, if you enjoy being human— or if you think I’m pretty and want to maybe hang out later.
Emoji
The Hieroglyphs of Our Time,
Or how I learned to stop worrying and send the risky text
