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Joey Graceffa Plays WYR & Talks "Escape The Night" at VidCon

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR & Talks "Escape The Night" at VidCon

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YouTube star discusses his YouTube Red series and how VidCon has evolved and grown

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Young Hollywood

Hmm. He's really thinking about it. I mean, you could really like deck out that dumpster. Like clean it out, get like a hose in there and like wash it and then like make it cute. So, yeah. A big dumpster. Put some glitter on the walls. I mean, That could be cute. Dumpster lives. That could be a new show. Yeah. Hey guys, what's up? It's Tracy. I'm at VidCon with Joey Gras.

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

Hello there. Hello.

Young Hollywood

Hi. Uh, we were just talking about that. You've been to how many VidCons?

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

Seven. Seven VidCons. Absolutely insane. It doesn't even feel like it's been that many. But like, firstly it's crazy that VidCon's been going on for that long. And it's so huge now.

Young Hollywood

Is that real? I don't think that's real. I feel like that's fake. Has it been seven? I feel like they miscounted it. I think they miscounted it. I think that's not possible. They did.

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

No.

Young Hollywood

You're like a you're like a veteran veteran VidCon-goer now.

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

I know. That's crazy. The first VidCon I went to, I had 100,000 subscribers. And now you have like a gazillion. Over 6 million.

Young Hollywood

So I was going to say, what's changed, but literally a lot has changed.

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

Never would have thought. Yeah.

Young Hollywood

But what how is VidCon for you?

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

I remember the first VidCon. It was kind of just like creators just walking around and like fans would come up to them and then maybe like a line of like five people would form. I never had a line. I was lining up to meet the YouTubers.

Young Hollywood

Wait, who are you lining up to meet?

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

I lined up for Smosh. I ended up living with Anthony, like a couple years later, so you never know what can happen. Um lined up to meet Justine. Now I'm like really good friends with her. Oh my God. I'm like a fan that went from a fan to like a friend. That's crazy.

Young Hollywood

By the way, you're like like that's like every fan's dream, right? To just like, oh, I'm just going to go live with, you know, Anthony from Smosh and become friends. It's totally cool.

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

Never know. You never know. Everyone there I was there to see. So

Young Hollywood

So who like inspired you the most? I know you started with your friends, right?

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

Yes, Britney. I started with a like music video channel, so I don't know, we were just like inspired by comedy people. Lisa Nova, the creator of Maker Studios. Sadly, she doesn't make videos anymore, but she created this awesome network and now she's off doing, I don't know what, but something cool, I'm sure.

Young Hollywood

I have to just talk about also your outfit right now, because your hair and your nail game are completely on point. Let's start with the nails. You got to zoom in on these amazing nail situations. Okay. What went into that? How did you do that?

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

Well, I did not do this myself. There's no absolutely

Young Hollywood

I really was hoping you were going to say that you did. If I could If I could I spell

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

No, I did one nail art DIY and it was not cute. I got them done. ES Nail, love them. They're from Japan.

Young Hollywood

That's amazing. You have a crystal collection, right?

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

Yes.

Young Hollywood

So, I was just going to say it kind of definitely.

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

I mean, I'm just attracted to iridescence and there are a lot of iridescent crystals that I love. Yeah. I mean I love But yeah, I have my crystal collection that just launched and I'm really happy with the turnout. People are really into it.

Young Hollywood

Cause I never How did you come up with like what made you want to do with crystal collection?

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

Well, just because I love crystals and I like have crystal jewelry of my own. So a lot of people would ask me like, oh, where'd you get that piece? And then I was like, oh my God, what if I made my own crystal jewelry? And so, I just like designed some stuff that I thought was interesting based off some jewelry that I have already. Just made it.

Young Hollywood

Well, I want to have to get some of those crystals. Yes. And then your hair, you you change it up a lot, right? What made you feel the blue?

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

I don't know. I just matches your eyes, matches your game. I've always wanted to do like a green blue color and it just happened. So I was like, okay, let's do it.

Young Hollywood

And then, okay, so YouTube brand. You have a show called Escape the Night. Yes. It's kind of like Clue a little bit, right? Like it's a murder mystery. Yes. With a lot of other YouTubers in it. Right.

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

So, I remember watching the Clue movie and just being like, oh my God, this is so cool. It's like a period piece and like it has this like feel of just mystery and just like you're contained to a house that murders taking place and you have to like survive. So I wanted to do that with YouTubers and kind of like make it almost like you're going to a dinner theater party.

Young Hollywood

That there are dinner parties, I heard, where you can do that, right? Cause I've heard some people where you can like make make it like an event. Have you done that before?

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

We have actually. YouTube actually set up like kind of like instead of like a table read to come up with ideas. They set up a party for us. Which was so fun. We all dressed up at like Hunger Games themed. And it was really cool.

Young Hollywood

That's so cool.

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

And it gave us some great ideas of where to take the show. And then I just like came up with the concept of having like the 10 YouTubers thrown into situations that they don't know what's going to happen. And instead of giving them lines and like a character to play. They have no idea. Yeah, they have no idea. They're being themselves, but as like a 1920s twist. And interacting with the scripted elements of the show, which are the other actors like the maid, the butler. So they kind of like guide the YouTubers through the story and then we just kind of follow the clues and go off of what we think.

Young Hollywood

That's so crazy. And everyone pretty much dies, at some point, right? Which is

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

There's lots of deaths, but they're really cool deaths.

Young Hollywood

The really cool deaths. I don't know how you make deaths cool, but

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

We did.

Young Hollywood

You did. Somehow you did. Yeah. Okay. And lastly, I have to get to a couple would you rather questions. Cause I know you do a lot of challenges on your YouTube videos.

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

Sure.

Young Hollywood

Okay. So, would you rather swim in a pool with snakes or swim in a pool with spiders?

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

That image is honestly terrifying on its own. Would you rather die or would you rather die? Is the question. Cause either way I would die.

Young Hollywood

You should make that a scene in your in the show. For season two. I could

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

Someone could die like that. I did not mean

Young Hollywood

Totally gave a whole episode. Oh my God, that freaks me out.

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

Oh my God. I'm a very visual and imaginative person, so when people ask me that, I'm like, oh my God, it's actually going to happen to me. Like I have to And I go down this whole scenario of like, oh my God, this is going to happen. And then I get really scared. Would you rather is a terrifying game to play, but snakes.

Young Hollywood

You're going to have like nightmares now.

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

I actually yeah, spiders just terrify me to no end.

Young Hollywood

Okay, would you rather eat dog poop for the rest of your life or live in a dumpster for the rest of your life? These are from fans, by the way. Just so you know.

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

Hmm. He's really thinking about it. I mean, you could really like deck out that dumpster. Like clean it out, get like a hose in there and like wash it and then like make it cute. So yeah. A big dumpster. Put some glitter on the walls. I mean, It could be cute. Dumpster life. That could be a new show. Yeah.

Young Hollywood

Okay, and lastly, would you rather share the most embarrassing moment of your life or would you rather tell your deepest, darkest secret?

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

Uh, share the most embarrassing part of my life, because then it would be viral and then I'd make a lot of money from it.

Young Hollywood

Okay, so share it. Can you share it? My most embarrassing?

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

Yes. No, actually that's why I need it to be filmed, is because I always block them out of my mind. It just goes like blank. It's like, you don't have any embarrassing moments. You blocked it out. It didn't happen. You have none.

Young Hollywood

Yeah. We'll have to make you do a video on that.

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

I need to get like therapy to like pull it out.

Young Hollywood

Awesome. Well, thank you so much. It's been fun at VidCon. who are you super excited to see here?

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

Uh, just my friends.

Young Hollywood

Oh your friends.

Joey Graceffa Plays WYR

You know, it's so busy here. Like we're all doing our own thing. So like when I get to see them like for a second, it's always great.

Young Hollywood

Awesome. Well, thank you so much and congrats on the show. Escape the Night.

Timestamps are approximate — click one to jump the player.

PEOPLE MENTIONED

  • Joey Graceffa

    Main subject of the interview

  • Tracy

    Interviewer

  • Anthony

    Lived with him, from Smosh

  • Smosh

    YouTube channel Joey lined up to meet

  • Justine

    Became good friends with her

  • Britney

    Started a music video channel with her

  • Lisa Nova

    Creator of Maker Studios, inspired Joey

FAQ

What is Joey Graceffa's YouTube Red series called?+
Joey Graceffa's YouTube Red series is called "Escape the Night."
How many VidCons has Joey Graceffa attended?+
Joey Graceffa has attended seven VidCons.
What inspired Joey Graceffa to create "Escape the Night"?+
Joey Graceffa was inspired by the Clue movie and dinner theater murder mystery parties to create "Escape the Night."
Who did Joey Graceffa want to meet at his first VidCon?+
At his first VidCon, Joey Graceffa lined up to meet Smosh and Justine.
What is unique about the YouTubers' roles in "Escape the Night"?+
In "Escape the Night," YouTubers play themselves with a 1920s twist and interact with scripted elements and actors, without knowing what will happen next.

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