ENSTARZ EXCLUSIVE Interview with FURIOUS-ly Fantastic Artist Emily Fury

By Carly Polistina

Emily Fury Daly is a multifaceted performer who is ready to take the world by storm

As a comedian, actor, writer, and producer, there is no shortage of hats for the artists to wear. Now, she is embarking on a new adventure. She is bringing her one woman show Furious to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year. The project manifests as a brilliant culmination of her time in the arts, putting a forceful, meaningful, and hilarious foot forward.

We were lucky enough to sit down with the star-on-the rise in a Today I'm Talking To interview. Within the interview, Fury Daly touched on the twisting and unique road that made her into the performer she is today. Growing up a shy kid who finds their way into the arts is shockingly a story that many great talents share, but diving deeply into Emily's experiences brought us an inspiring look at who she is as an individual and what she is bringing to the stage.

Carly: Welcome back Today I am talking to and today I'm talking to the incredibly talented comedian, actor, writer extraordinaire, Emily Fury Daly.

Emily: Thanks for having me. Of course, truly, so excited to have you here. So I just like to start off before we dive into all of the excellence that is you with a fun, silly question. And I know you wear
a lot of different hats. But in of all the different branches of like artists where you take on if you could only do one forever, which would you do and why?

Carly: I, I would have to say, just performing, performing always that the the performer hat whichever one that is? I yeah, I yeah, I love doing all of it. All the writing all the comedy, all the stuff. But I think my favorite thing is like performing my own stuff.

Carly: Totally No, that. That makes a lot of sense. Because you went to school for performance.

Emily: I did. Yes. I went to undergrad for acting in Indiana. And then I went to grad school in California. So it was like seven years of school and I've yeah, I've you know, I've been at you were theater kid too, right?

Carly: Oh, absolutely.

Emily: I've been you know, I've been doing it since I could talk. And yeah, I think I'll always I always want to be in front of the front of the camera on the stage. I love it. I love it.

Carly: How was your journey in like, how did you start performing? Like, where was the place that you just kind of got the bug and you're like, Oh, I gotta be up here in front of these people now.

Emily: Well, I come from a very artsy family. So my, my dad has been he's semi retired now, but he's been a professional theatre actor for like, you know, 40 years or something insane. So he's, he's done that his whole life and he's, he's made his career as a regional theatre actor. So he's, you know, worked all across the country to Shakespeare festivals, stuff like that. And then my mom also retired but is She's a playwright, actor, all that stuff. So I was like, born into it. And, I spent like, most of my childhood at the theater with them. And you know, watching rehearsals, rehearsals. My first love was Shakespeare. It was like, what got me into everything was watching my dad do Shakespeare and yeah, I mean, it was pretty right away as soon as I kind of saw what that life was, and just how I was like a really shy kid, you know, and a weird kid and the theater was just like an immediate escape and yeah, so they it's their fault. It's their fault and we blame them.
I'm sorry, Mommy and Daddy. Yes, they did it.

Carly: It's really so interesting because I think that that like I was talking to somebody earlier today is the same thing every time I talk to people who are like incredibly creative and incredibly do it themselves. And really the people that I feel like are out there trying to grab every aspect of like an entertainment like they're like I can do it all I got this. Almost every single person I talked to is like "I was incredibly shy."...But what I'm always very interested in how people logic their way, or like not around it, but how that logic tracks because societally you wouldn't think of tracks. But actually, if you speak to artists, it's like, No, that makes a lot of sense. So within your life, how do you think your shyness has led you to where you are?

Emily: Yeah, I think it's, I think you're right. I think it's super common. You know, most like, when you hear interviews with people who I was like, but I'm actually shy, I'm much better now. I'm pretty I'm pretty social now. But I think just as a kid, I was, I think there is a, there's an element of performing that you could, you're not yourself, right? Especially when you're a little kid, and you're dressing up and stuff, you're, you're taking on a different persona. And with that, comes some confidence. And I think all it probably took for me as a kid was to like, put on a hat and do a silly dance one time and have people laugh. And that was like it, you know? Because when you're a shy kid, you don't really have that effect on people because you're so insecure. So then suddenly, you're getting all of this feedback and attention. And so I think that's a big, big part of it. And for me, I was always just like, where I could feel my freest was when I was kind of protected by that while I'm performing. This is, this is someone else, or this is a different side of me. I don't know. Yeah, but it's definitely it's been a lot. You know, it's been like 30 years of getting confidence. Still figuring that out.

Carly: But now, you're doing a lot of stand up comedy. You have this one woman show that you're doing [Furious], how do you think you can navigate stand up, which is a lot more about you and about yourself and a bit more vulnerable? Like, where do you think that fits into your narrative?

Emily: It was a long time come, I only started doing stand up, I guess, like two or three years ago...so I think it took a lot of figuring out who I was figuring out what my voice was figuring out, you know, liking myself. That and that's kind of when I realized, oh, you know, it's, it's actually sometimes even more fun to just be myself. But I also think that there's, you know, when I'm out on stage doing stand up, it's an elevated version, right? It's an elevated version of yourself. To me, it's like, you're at your funniest you're at your quickest you're, it's you on your best day. So yeah, I think it- I think you got to get right with yourself a little bit before and get that confidence built up. And also, just after a while, like, you know, I went to school for so long, and I did so much crazy shit and like, played so many crazy roles and made a fool of myself so many times in school, and at a certain point, you're just kind of like, I don't care anymore. You know, I don't care what people think you just have that kind of, it's just a lot of training and a lot of confidence. I think.

Check out the full interview here!