Meet Nick Casalini of Hella In Your Thirties

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Casalini.

Nick, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was raised in South End Seattle by two artsy/not-too-artsy parents with the help of public schools, Little League, Mad Magazine, and a bunch of cooler kids from my neighborhood who I tried to emulate. We listened to a lot of Bay Area rap music. I watched Beetlejuice, My Cousin Vinny, Throw Mama From The Train, and Space Balls a couple of thousand times. I made it through high-school without getting arrested for graffiti and made a friend named Muriel.

At the Evergreen State College I “discovered” writing, traveled back to my grandparents’ village in Sicily and made a short film. After I graduated, I started dating that friend Muriel and writing screenplays. We took an improv class and decided to move to Chicago where we promptly performed improv every night for five years (we also filmed a few projects, wrote/performed a two-person sketch show, and got engaged). Six years ago we moved to Los Angeles and found out we love it here. Since moving we met wonderful people to perform with, launched our podcast, filmed a web series that won a bunch of awards on the 2019 film circuit, made some money acting in commercials and got married.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The road has been smooth whenever the destination hasn’t mattered. I think if a goal is worth setting, it goes without saying that it’s going to be a difficult journey. And those are the only journeys worth having. My biggest struggle is that I can be “enjoying the ride” until I realize I’ve been aimless. Art is fun! More fun is the most fun! Following your heart and taking on whatever projects make you happy can be thrilling. That lifestyle has brought me unbelievable joy over the years. It has also meant that I end up feeling like I don’t have the singular, driving focus that so many of my (more professionally accomplished) peers seem to have.

Also, to point out the obvious, comparing yourself to friends who have the career you feel so far away from leads to devastatingly low self-esteem. That’s a struggle for sure, just to feel okay with yourself, to not feel like a loser. The only thing that has helped me deal with that is literally writing out everything I am proud of and everything I am embarrassed by, looking at the list and then asking myself “If this was about a friend of yours, instead of you, would you think this person was a loser?” And the answer is always “No.” If someone I knew had all the same stuff going on I would think that person was killing it. I would believe in them.

Please tell us more about your work. What do you guys do? What do you specialize in? What sets you apart from competition?
My wife Muriel Montgomery and I host a podcast called Hella In Your Thirties. Each week we do something that adults do (working on a car, cooking, trying to do taxes) and then we just reflect on the experience and tease each other. It’s way too fun, and we have the coolest listeners (of all ages) who reach out to us and send us all kinds of incredible love. Each episode ends up being really silly and intimate and the feedback from people who relate to it is just ridiculously inspiring.

We also co-wrote and produced a web series that I directed called Fam Club. It’s a mockumentary about the nerdy brother and sister Drake keeps hidden in Canada. Muriel plays Drake’s sister, and the cast is made up of comedians/friends from LA and Chicago. We got into a bunch of festivals and won some incredibly cool awards (Best Web Series: Pan African Film Festival and Urban Mediamakers Film Festival, Best Idea: Sicily Web Fest, Best Mockumentary: Houston Comedy Film Festival). We made it for the internet but watching it in movie theaters with complete strangers who laughed hard and gave us hugs afterward was the most satisfying artistic experience I’ve ever known.

I think the thing that sets us apart from other comedy creators is that no matter how hard we go, how outrageous our material can be, we always want it to end on an uplifting, heartwarming note. Our comedy feels good.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
If you know in your bones that you’re spending your time the way you want to be spending your time, you are an absolute success.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nickcasalini.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/nickcasalini
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/nickcasalini

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