Meet Nick Casalini | Podcaster & Animator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nick Casalini and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nick, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I consider every creative choice to be a risk – if it’s not a risky move then it wasn’t actually creative. Watching artists take risks is thrilling. When the risk works out, it energizes the work in a way that invites the audience to join in on the success. When the risk fails, it exposes the artists vulnerability and invites the audience to recognize the humanity necessary to create. Making the decision to pursue a creative life is also a monumental risk with significantly less romantic realities. Given how difficult it is to grow old with dignity in this society if you are not financially stable, it is a scary risk to take.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My wife Muriel and I co-host two podcasts: Hella In Your Thirties (which is a comedy podcast about navigating this modern dystopia… recently we did episodes about our first trip to Disneyland and completing a Couch to 5k) and Muriel’s Murders (which is a comedic true crime podcast where each week Muriel researches the wildest true crime stories she can find in an effort to blow my mind and turn me into a fan of the genre). At the moment I am most excited about the animations I have been creating to accompany Muriel’s Murders. During the pandemic I taught myself how to use After Effects and reengaged my childhood love of drawing.

I got to where I am today by adding fuel to any creative fire that sparked inside me. It has been easy for me to create stuff, but it has been very hard for me to feel good about my life. I am still striving to be able to make a living doing the things I love. Along the way I learned it is very easy to think poorly of yourself if you are still struggling to achieve a career you can be proud of. I learned that is remarkably important to do everything you can to practice self-compassion, to extend the same love to yourself that you would extend to a friend of yours that was also doing their best, imperfections and all.

I want the world to know that I am thankful for all the pieces of art that have inspired me and that I live everyday to add my contributions back into that energy.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Karaoke at Brass Monkey. Stand up at The Comedy Store. Dim Sum in the San Gabrielle Valley.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to shout out my wife and collaborator Muriel Montgomery. The woman is hilarious and every project I am inspired to create is centered around her.

Instagram: @nickcasalini

Twitter: @nickcasalini

Image Credits
Nick Casalini