Brandi TV | Interview
Written by Heidi Keyes
I’ve had the pleasure and the honor of doing lots of cool stuff and meeting some incredible and famous people in my lifetime, but this interview made my entire year. I’m introducing you to someone that needs no introduction: the infamous Brandi Fernandez. She’s a DJ, she’s an animal lover, and she is many, many awesome things, but you most likely know her as someone who gets insanely high on edibles and creates insanely hilarious makeup tutorials. If you’re not one of her several million followers on YouTube or Instagram… you’re missing out! So, let’s get to know the woman behind the makeup and beneath the wigs.
Brandi, you are an absolute icon in the Cannabis industry… I don’t know a single consumer who doesn’t know your name or hasn’t spent hours and hours laughing at your videos. BUT, for anyone who might not know, can you give a quick intro to who you are, and what you do?
First of all thank you from the bottom of my heart for including me, this truly is a gigantic honor, I’m blushing! So, my name is Brandi Fernandez, but I go by Brandi TV on YouTube and on other platforms. I make cannabis-friendly content, with a splash of comedy. I film myself eating THC-infused treats, wait for them to take effect, and then do activities. The activities I am most known for are my makeup transformations. I don’t wanna toot my own horn, but I’m basically a professional makeup artist… except for that one time I tried to turn myself into sperm. That idea got put back on the shelf for a redo; I’m hard-headed like that. I also film fun stuff with my husband Dan; He is such a good sport and I couldn’t have dreamt up a better partner. I also recently found out that I am autistic, so it makes sense now why I’ve felt so out of place all these years. Unfortunately, I used alcohol for the majority of my life to cope with that out-of-place feeling, and just recently I celebrated my one year of sobriety. Huge thank you to Marijuana; without it I would’ve had a much more difficult time quitting, and it also helped me quit cigarettes five years ago. I rolled a bunch of joints, and anytime I had a craving for a cigarette I would smoke until I was so stoned I couldn’t get off the couch. Took about a month for the cravings to go away, but I could not have done it without Mary Jane.
I just did a poll of some friends (who wished we could fly to you to interview you instead, by the way) about their favorite videos of yours (we all agreed that our favorite is the snowman). What is your favorite you’ve ever done, and why?
Thank you for loving the snowman, that’s actually one of my favorites as well! I really think I can take it to another level, so I might be going for the third time this December. My favorite Makeup adventure was when I turned my husband into a werewolf. He’s not the biggest edible fan and was having a little anxiety during filming. I felt horrible and wanted to take his mind off of it, so I told him I needed to use the restroom, but really I was changing out of my Snow White costume, and into a David Spade werewolf thing… sorry don’t know what to call it. When I came back it made him laugh so hard, and it still cracks me up to this day when I watch it. I know you didn’t ask for it, but my second favorite video is when I dodged a water bottle with my husband. I have never laughed that hard in my life.
How did the idea come into your head to start making your videos?
Making family and friends laugh since I was a little felt like a superpower to me. To cause someone to react in such a positive way is such a beautiful thing. I craved to do something like this my whole life. I knew I wanted to be a comedian, and a singer, and now add DJ! The very first time I did stand-up, my legs would not stop shaking… I got all my jokes mixed up, but thankfully I still got some laughs, and that was good enough for me. I’m still working on that stage fright, and I love going up on stage way too much to ever give that up. I first started posting on Vine, and I was freaking out when I hit 100 followers. 100 human beings wanting to watch my videos? Instant addiction. Then they took Vine away, and I started posting on Facebook for my friends. The positive feedback, love, and support kept me going, and then one day I went freaking viral for one of my makeup videos. My face hurt from smiling so much that week, and then I started a YouTube channel 3 weeks later. I have so many beautiful human beings to thank, and I do it every chance I get.
What is the hottest/worst spicy food challenge you and Dan have filmed?
This is an easy one! It was for an Easter video, Dan was dressed as a carrot, and I was the Easter bunny. I forgot what the chocolate is called, but it was a little square, and it messed me up something good. My stomach was ripping apart at the seams; I was seeing strobe lights, and we don’t even own any strobe lights. The spicy challenges had to cool off a little bit, but we do have one coming soon… unfortunately.
Do you just have a closet of odd props/costume materials to use? What’s the single strangest item in there?
I love that you asked this! I have actually reused most of what I have used for videos, and I’ve had to throw them away because there was not an ounce of use left in them. For example, my fabric muscle shirt! You can get your own on Amazon, and I painted that puppy three times with acrylic paint. I had no other choice but to throw it out finally. I wasn’t able to bend my arms anymore; she was getting stiff. My strangest item easily is the oil can I purchased for when I turned myself into the Tin Man. Since we are on the topic, does anyone have any suggestions on what I could do with it? Maybe I could put olive oil in it as a gimmick container?
You love your pets and are very open about it, which is something I love about you as a huge dog person myself. How many do you have, and what are their names?
I love animals so much, they’ve never done me wrong. All right, I’m gonna try to keep this short, but right now I have 13 fur babies. I also have 16 tarantulas, and I’m a huge bug lover. I have two very sweet male cats; Murphy is four years old, and I adopted him from Petco. I was just going in for a mouse, not for food but for a pet! He was meowing at us pretty aggressively, the lady told us that he was scheduled for euthanasia in three days. He has a heart on his nose; we call him Murph dog, and Carebear for nicknames. Then we have Boomer, complete mama‘s boy. He was on the side of the road lifeless in the middle of August. I was driving when I saw him, and I stopped traffic to scoop him up. I got him to a vet hospital; they gave him fluids and he’s been mine ever since. I had four dogs, Rocky “Rockstar”, our Boxer, just had to be helped over the rainbow bridge. He was just shy of 10 years old, he was and will always be the best hugger I’ve ever known. Then we have Emma May, she just turned 10 years old a few days ago, and sadly we just discovered she’s going blind. We got her when she was six weeks old from a hoarding situation, and she is a bulldog pit boxer mix. Luna moon is my nine-year-old Chihuahua, we also just discovered she’s going blind, my poor girls. And then there is my sidekick Butters, who is one of the sweetest and bossiest little dogs I’ve ever had the honor of taking care of. He just turned two and is my emotional support animal. We go everywhere together, because my anxiety is the highest when I leave my home. Bringing him with me allows me to actually enjoy going out, and I don’t know what I would do without him. I have two rescued rabbits, a white rabbit named Charlie and a little brown Lionhead named Simon. I have two guinea pigs, one skinny pig named Theodore and one Albanese named Copper, they are both going on four years old. I have three sugar gliders, Ballou, Thimble, and Tulip. Finally, I have a very grouchy but adorable Hedgehog named Princess Winter.
What does Cannabis mean to you, and how has it changed your life?
Cannabis means everything to me. It’s given me not only relief from pain, anxiety, and depression, but it’s helped create a genuine connection with so many human beings. I used to be an avid smoker but I had to quit after having Covid twice; I did not know what I was going to do, and I can’t eat sugar all day lol! That’s when I discovered RSO and distillate; RSO for me is one of the greatest pain relievers, and the sleep is heavenly. Sleeping pills haven’t been in my routine for about two years now. It also greatly helps with my ADHD. Years ago I took medication for that and felt horrible all the time. I noticed that when I ate Sativa distillate, I was getting the same effects, minus the negative stuff. There’s just so much positive it has done for me and is still doing; I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be in this position. I will be a cannabis user and advocate for the rest of my days. And I hope I have the honor of making everyone laugh for years to come.
One of my favorite things about Brandi, and getting to know her through watching her videos for YEARS and then also personally as someone who has the pleasure to interview her, is that she is so open about her humanity, and how she continues to learn and grow. Cannabis has helped her find her place in the world, and I think that is the case for a lot of us… definitely for me. For someone who produces YouTube videos with upwards of 10 million views each, she really is just as funny, genuine, and kind as she seems. I remember going through a particularly tough breakup ages ago, and watching her videos on repeat because they were one of the only things that was able to make me laugh at the time. She is an incredibly talented comedian and performer, and an unabashed cannabis advocate. If you haven’t checked her out yet, there is not a soul on earth I would recommend more for a genuine belly laugh. Brandi, thank you for joining us… it’s been a true pleasure. As always, stay high!