I’m Aarushi, I’m a multi-hyphenate artist and human, thank god you’re here.

I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to say hi from 2026, but see, there was so much happening! I met a man with a mustache 🥸 and a woman who looked like Kate Hudson in Almost Famous 🤩 and a nonbinary person who birds and codes (Hi, Florida!).

In the time since I last wrote, I published a piece about Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides, Now,” guested on a podcast about being not-almost-famous, and gave a presentation about my version of the calendar. I went bowling and got in trouble for wearing the wrong shoes 🎳👟 and it was so cold, and so snowy and then it was 73 degrees. I watched some man free-climb a skyscraper on TV 🧗‍♂️🏙 for no reason. I lost two hats🧢🧢 and manifested a pink beret 👩🏽‍🎨🩷 Rob Rausch was a hot traitor, and I was the Maura of Comedian Traitors (except I lost more) and my friends pitched dating me to a room full of people and I stepped on a piece of glass and I went to yoga right after… because I’m just that zen. 🧘🏽‍♀️

Every time I would try to write to even think about writing this out for you, I would just become paralyzed with fear about all the immediate unknowns.¹ Fear is a strong muscle… it’s tight, but it’s flexible. 😮‍💨

What? And you waited this long to tell us?? I tried… but I boofed it. I had so many little stories I wanted to write for you — I had a long draft about how I avoided getting sick for 11 months last year in NYC²…

By this time last year I had mostly crowdfunded the production costs of my show thanks to the great help of Jess Ducey, Sam Lochs and Annie Moretto and all my dearest friends in the world. I was less than a month out from my opening night of EMOJI and prepping concurrently for 2 other sketch shows and one more benefit show… and I don’t know how I was doing so much!!! I can’t tell you how little it feels like I’m doing right now. But seasons and circumstances change, and I try to remind myself that ease is nice, and moving slow can be a sign of alignment. 🌬️

What is Edinburgh Fringe? Everyone has a different definition. But essentially, Edinburgh is a fun-filled, crazy-making theatre festival in Scotland that boasts thousands and thousands of SHOWS… fantastic, weird, extravagant, silly and serious and everything middle and outside of the bounds of what we thought possible…from all over the globe. 🌏 Fleabag and Baby Reindeer got their start there, and also a bunch of cooler people you may never hear about because you’re not at the coolest theatre festival in the wy-old (“world” in a Jersey accent)!

I wasn’t sure that I had it in me after talking to several people who went before I had put up EMOJI 🤷🏽‍♀️ (my fantabulous musical TED Talk about emoji info here) for the first time. It’s a hard knock life 👩🏽‍🦰 putting up your own show, flyering every day, trying to get people to care. I’m getting 😱 just thinking about it.

And then after my mom saw the show at NYC Fringe she told me very quizzically “Aarushi, people are saying you should do this festival in Edinburgh” and later I looked over her shoulder at her phone screen and I saw she had typed in “edinburgh fringe festival” in the search bar.

Well, fantastic question from the radiant person behind the screen! 🙌🏽 Well, you can add your good energy to the show by helping me on my journey!

In short, I will have to pay thousands upon thousands 💷 POUNDS 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💸 to do my show in Edinburgh and give it the best chance of success possible

I’m still working out the best way to produce the show abroad — and if you are an interested producer please do reach out 🙋🏽‍♀️ — and what sort of crowdfunding platform makes the most sense. I’m thinking about getting a fiscal sponsorship so folks can write off their donations. In the meantime if you want to send me the money now, you can Venmo me at @aarushifire or Paypal/Zelle me at aarushiagni at gmail dot com. (I don’t know if this is actually the security flex I think it is, but I’m sure one of you nerds will tell me 🤓)

If you’d like to help me out, hear me sing, and enjoy life while helping me out, I’d love for you to come to my birthday benefit show on April 19th at 6pm at Pine Box Rock Shop. Here is the link to RSVP on Partiful.

This will be a very special BIRTHDAY BENEFIT SHOW 🎂🎤🎭 to help launch the Edinburgh run. Come thru - it’s going to be a really special night! It will feature a stunning lineup⭐️🔥 of some of the hottest, most talented and funny comedians, musicians and artists in New York City, all coming together to answer the question — what’s your one big idea to fix the world? 🌎💥 We will pontificate and laugh and sing.

Picture yourself on April 19… a little bit more happy and hopeful because it’s April, and hey I don’t know 4/20 is tomorrow — and you’re laughing so hard you can’t breathe because the jokes are coming faster than you can actually process them. You’re reacting in-real-time like 🥴🤯🥹 to the person next to you — a new friend, or maybe an old friend that you haven’t seen in this light before —or maybe you’re enraptured by note ringing out so lovely and true 🎶, or maybe your brain is moving a-mile-a-minute hearing people fire off rapidfire about things they think can make the world better, don’t forget to look at me because you know I’m cheesing hard. 👀

I had the best time talking with Will Morrison about Wicked and Nicole Byer on the None Of Us Are Famous Yet podcast!

I wrote the ultimate sadgirl in STEM piece about our girl Joni. It’s hyperlocal to NYC, and it’s about the song, but it’s really about clouds and light and awe and life and love and how music is digital now. Read it here.

And as always, you can donate to my dear friend Omnia here.