Meet Emily Razi of Youcanspellthis in Orange County

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Razi.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Emily. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
People have always told me I was funny. Even my 5th-grade teacher Mrs. Dow said I should do stand-up. “I don’t want to do stand-up” I would say. I wanted to work and make money. Like my mom. Like Charlotte Pickles from The Rugrats. Of course “Oh, Emily, you’re so funny” was something I never stopped hearing.

I was drawn to theater in high school, but spent most of my time behind the camera or computer, making what people now call video essays. Of course my high school time was 2001-2005, juuuuuust a few years before YouTube was launched. I always used to say “if YouTube was around when I was in high school, I’d be on top of the world by now.” After high school, I was laser-focused on money and independence. I got into all the universities I applied to, but decided not to go after seeing my older sister and her friends go into debt over college. I wanted to go to film school, but to feel better about missing out, I would tell myself “You can’t learn to have talent, either you have it or you don’t.” So I worked. I paid rent. I lived with strangers. I even posted a Craigslist ad “Totally Normal Person Looking For Totally Normal Roommates”. and moved in with the people who responded to that ad, apartment unseen and people unmet. Craigslist was safer in 2006…

A few years later [8/20/2008 to be exact…] I ran into some trouble and had to start my life over. About a year later [June 7th, 2009 to be exacttttttt…] I had this bizarre moment of clarity where I realized my thoughts were all so amazing and that I needed to remember them all. Furiously I wrote in my notebook, trying to get all the thoughts out, but I couldn’t write them down fast enough. Then I realized, I can have the same thoughts again if I experience the same thing again. How do I experience things more than once? Record them. So I stuck a tape recorder in my bra and just, lived my life. It was originally supposed to be a quick little thing, but it took on a life of its own and I kept the recorder on me for two years. During that time I made an entire website from scratch and edited audio shows where I would tell a story then take you back to the moment by playing the clip and weaving a theme together with music and narration. Apparently now they call this type of thing a “Podcast”, but at the time, it was just this “audio thing” I kept on making. It was VERY physically and emotionally taxing to produce these audio shows. I would live my day and then come home and listen to the day, taking notes on the timecode. I would listen to HOURS of the recorder rubbing against my bra while plates clang in the background just to find that 5 seconds where I said something funny.

Even after the audio show, I still hadn’t started stand-up. Flash forward to 2011 I was at rock bottom. Miserable at my 14th dead-end job [which was a repeat of job #12 after being fired from job #13]. I was on my 6th living situation and I stopped making audio shows because I felt like “no one cared”. Then one day the host at the restaurant next door came in and told me how funny I was. “You should do stand-up” he said. “I don’t want to do stand-up. I have an entire website of comedy. Go to my website”. I was very unpleasant to this poor guy. He came back the next day and said “I went to your website, it’s funny. Very journalistic…But I still think you should do stand-up. I have some friends I can introduce you to.” I was not having any of it. “F*ck your friends” I said. A few days later, I quit that job and asked that guy to give me his friends’ information. I caved and later that week, I went to my first open mic. November 2011.

So I kept going to mics. Then in 2012, I was hired as an assistant to a stockbroker and comedy became less of a priority. Getting up at 5am every morning made it hard to hit mics at night. I ended up moving to Salt Lake City, Utah and becoming a broker myself. I studied, I got my licenses, did the whole finance thing. Oh yeah. I’ve got my series 7, 63 [of course], 4 and 55. Once I started making real money, my website and the dream of having my own TV Series began to gather dust. After running into some trouble à la 2008, I decided to move back to Orange County. I bought a house with my sister and a few months after I was back, I started therapy. It was about time.

A few months into therapy, my therapist told me to go back to comedy. Begrudgingly, I did. Of course, I got into it and was finally doing what I meant to do back in 2012. Stock broker by day, comedian by night. But the hours were killing me. I would get to work at 6am, work all day, somehow get to the gym and hit at least two mics everyday. Eventually eating, sleeping and showering became an inconvenience. So naturally, in November of 2018 [November 30th, to be exact…….], I burned out. After that, I eased back into my lifestyle while they taught me this thing people call “self-care”. I started making my bed everyday, made sleeping a priority and learned how to eat even when I’m busy. Thanks Hallie Jackson’s meal prep posts! I cut back on hours at work and started/finished writing the TV Pilot that was in my head. Now, here I am. Trying to revive my website, write the rest of the series and pursue comedy as a full-time career. I had to pursue this. It got to the point where people telling me I was funny would make me angry. As if I wasn’t doing enough with this skill.”Oh Emily, you’re so funny” they say. “YES I KNOW I’M FUNNY, I’M TRYING, OKAY?!” and here we are.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The rockiest of roads. Like I said, I ran into some trouble in 2008 and again in 2016. After each traumatic event, I spent at least a year getting over it and another year getting over getting over it.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I’m a writer. I’m a video editor. I’m a comedian. I’m known for weaving together my bits with the sound cues I do onstage myself. The girl known for tape recording everyone from her bra for two years. I’m the computer girl, I’m the TV girl, I’m the one with the cords.

Most proud of the grueling audio editing I did to make my ‘Bracasts’, as I call them. What sets me apart is that I’m not just a regular comic. I’m doing something different. It’s engaging, it’s fresh and I’ve finally got it down

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
You’ve achieved success when you’re able to be positive without even thinking about it. When you don’t feel the need to numb yourself from that emotion oozing out from an interaction you had the other day. Success is yours when what you want right now isn’t what you’re always thinking about.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.youcanspellthis.com
• Email: what@youcanspellthis.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/gladysmavis?igshid=148ifzklh26lg
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/youcanspellthis

Image Credit:
Frank Escalante, Bill Parker

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