Nicholas Arnold

In my conversation with Nicholas, we chat about being in the zone, and the feeling of having that spark – and just as importantly how it felt to not have that spark. Filmmaking taught him both.

We talk about honoring a promise he made to himself as a five year old – the ups and downs of sticking with that. This is an example of Steering from afar and the difficulties of setting a path from so far away.

Listening to our conversation you can see the progression of a job, career and calling and just hear how his true core skills have driven him in seemingly disparate directions. Sound familiar?

What’s it like to feel that you’re doing exactly what you should be doing?
How do you manage multiple skills?
What defines an “old soul?”

Check out his site: https://www.imnicholasarnold.com/

Find him on twitter: https://twitter.com/NicholasArnold

Check out a reel of his performances on youtube: The Nicholas Arnold Channel

Transcript of chat with Nicholas Arnold

You’re listening to the Mark Bradford Alchemy for Life podcast. Today I chat with Nicholas Arnold and we cover quite a bit, it’s pretty cool.

Introducing Nicholas Arnold: A Man of Many Hats

All right I’m here with Nicholas Arnold.

Nicholas Arnold: Hi there.

Mark Bradford: Hey thanks so much for having me.

Nicholas Arnold: Oh you’re very welcome and as I always say to everyone in the beginning, uh I’d like you to tell us what you do, which isn’t who you are and we’ll get into that later.

Nicholas Arnold: Sure, sure absolutely. So uh I I wear a number of different hats uh and it’s in a way a little difficult to Define what it is exactly that I do um because if you ask me on any given month it could be a different thing. Um but basically I’m a performer, writer, uh I I say performer, Entertainer, uh speaker, uh and filmmaker, occasional filmmaker and that that more or less covers it. That’s where I spend most of my uh my my skills and talents and passions.

Mark Bradford: Very nice, very nice.

The Early Promise: Grappling with a Childhood Dream of Filmmaking

Mark Bradford: When it comes to um the the film making, what what has that experience been for you? Has it been something you jumped right into or is it something you slowly built up?

Nicholas Arnold: Is it well interestingly enough and I mean this is something that I’ve had to to Grapple with just um digressing from from my earlier point about you know I could be doing any number of things any different month of the year. Uh film making was this thing that I had sort of promised myself when I was a a little kid. Literally I was 5 years old uh and I received my first toy video camera uh under the Christmas tree and I started making movies with my siblings and it was it was this uh not an obligation but because it was something that I wanted but it was very much uh my entire childhood growing up it was Nicholas the the movie maker, Nicholas is going to be the ne the Spielberg you know and so uh even though it was always Choice night loved doing it it was almost as though uh I felt like I had to honor that part of my early childhood.

And uh even when I I started in my early 20s grappling with the fact that I didn’t even necessarily enjoy certain aspects of film making, in fact a lot of aspects of film making, um I I I still push through because I felt like that well well but 5-year-old Nick said he was going to be a filmmaker I have to honor that uh you know yeah. Uh and so it took a really long time to actually uh figure out a) what about filming film making I actually like. And when I really sat down and asked myself that question what I realized was well I love telling stories and I realized that there’s a number of different ways in which a person can do that even within the guise of film making. You know you can be an editor which I really enjoy doing, I love uh being able to sort of create something you know more or less from scratch uh in the comfort of my of my home.

Uh I’m not a big fan of being on set so you know this whole thing of of Nicholas being a director when he was younger uh that was something I had to uh reconcile with was well how can I be a director if I hate being on Set uh you know I hate the hours and uh you know especially if the the locations aren’t very fun I don’t really like it and I hate the I don’t like the egos that develop on set either. Um that being said I did I I you know this these epiphanies didn’t come uh from lack of experience. I made two feature films and a bunch of short films and and um one of those feature films took about six years to make from the start of the script to uh to the time we premiered it. Um so so this took a lot of trial and error to actually figure out okay what am I but for the longest time the you know vast majority of my life I Define myself solely as a filmmaker.

Honoring Yourself vs. Honoring Expectations

Mark Bradford: Okay you mentioned uh actually you answered one of my questions that came up right away which is the uh I was going to ask who you were honoring because you said I needed to honor that so you were you were honoring yourself you were honoring okay because I want I wanted to know if that was expectation of someone or people around you.

Nicholas Arnold: But well I think it’s a mix of I think it’s a mix of both like there when you’re five and and people are are saying that about you everybody from your immediate family to Extended family to friends, teachers, there is then this sort of expectation you’ve grown up almost uh promising everybody that you become this thing right. And I was lucky enough to grow up in a very supportive household so it was you know supportive almost to a fault right where uh everybody’s saying oh you know one day you’ll be up there at the Oscars Nicholas you know and so you start feeling like you do actually in a way owe your parents it was more than me definitely but also when you when you look inward it um it’s easier to actually shed the obligations towards others I think uh what’s harder is the obligation that you’ve promised to yourself and so that that came a lot later with me going hey you know what it’s okay to change paths, right?

Mark Bradford: Absolutely you touch on on something important that you know something I say is is like when I when I started getting into coaching I realized a good coach holds someone a accountable to the most important and scary person in your life which is you you know and that it is and it works both ways and you’re saying the opposite in which you don’t want to disappoint that person even though you were surrounded by people who had this this sort of default expectation for you you still had to embrace that if you didn’t embrace it you wouldn’t really care you’d be like yeah they think I was going to be doing this but I’m going to do something else.

The Disillusionment of the Filmmaking Process

Mark Bradford: And yes yes you also said um there was a lot and I don’t mean to focus so heavily on on something you said wasn’t a big part but um the uh you said you didn’t enjoy there are a lot of aspects that you didn’t enjoy about that.

Nicholas Arnold: Care to expand on it yeah no I I I for me it it took a long time to realize why you know I would spend two weeks on a a shooting a movie and and come away from it more or less each night uh not that I wasn’t feeling satisfied but just that it wasn’t uh this you get that little spark inside of you when you know you’re doing something that you love and I’ll talk about that a little bit later when I did kind of stumble upon that and it none of that would never happen for me when I’d be on Set uh and I pushed that to the back of my mind over and over and over even when I was in film school and were doing all these projects I didn’t really like shooting any of the projects and I sort of was denying that I was ignoring it because well I’m supposed to be this filmmaker you know that’s that’s who I am that’s how I Define myself since I was five which is you know your whole existence really.

Mark Bradford: Well and that’s and that’s a really smart time in your life to to like plan your entire life when you’re 5 years old because you know.

Nicholas Arnold: Yeah yeah well and you know I have no idea what sparked it obviously there was something to uh ignite the something that had my parents thinking that a video camera would be a good gift uh but from then on I was making movies like that was it so you know.

Mark Bradford: So really was it did it solely hinge on the gift so like if it was like a butterfly net would you then be talking to me about your your 10 years of you know uh being an entomologist?

Nicholas Arnold: Or the only reason why yeah well the only reason why I say that is that’s all I can remember yeah in terms of the timeline like literally if you were to ask me what’s the earliest memory of that you have of the film making thing it’s it is making movies with my siblings okay. Um the the timeline that I have is that I know that I got that gift for you know 1995 when I was 5 years old and it so so I just don’t have a memory before that I don’t know what uh would have sparked or that sort of interest um but but yeah that that was it it was this this promise that I had to myself.

But back to your earlier question um yeah there were things that I didn’t like about it. I found when I as As I Grew Older and actually started training to be a filmmaker uh in my early 20s um and even late uh is that it’s like oh man this this it’s not even just about the hours you know I’ve worked long hours before uh sometimes it’s just it’s really not fun being on set and it doesn’t feel all the time like this this magical creative process. Like when you’re writing a book like when you’re writing a short story or even editing where you can see it kind of coming to fruition as it’s as it’s going. Um film making is this very you can spend 3 hours on on a shot that’s going to last less than 30 seconds in in the movie um or the piece or whatever it is that you’re making.

Mark Bradford: So the minutia was really annoying to you like the the minutia wasn’t…

Nicholas Arnold: I I I think that was the disillusioning point you know I I I think because obviously when I was making movies with my siblings we were just playing and there happen to be a camera recording there was magic kind of happening organically.

Mark Bradford: Instant gratification basically.

Nicholas Arnold: Instant gratification with you had 10 minutes of fun and 10 minutes of movie as opposed to seven hours of filming something and 4.2 seconds of okay I guess I got the right when he turned around and looked at the camera that was what I was looking for for for the last… yeah yeah. And then combine that with uh certain egos that develop the hierarchy that develops on a set you know uh especially if it’s like a union set it’s like this person doesn’t talk to this person you talk to this person uh and it just starts to strip away all that stuff that you enjoyed when you were five or six right.

Finding a New Path Through Performance

Nicholas Arnold: Um and and it’s not that I don’t like I love the creation of of movies and film making and that’s where I discovered you know ah editing is a skill I also have and and I really enjoy that uh because I edited one of my features uh and I spent two years editing it after being on set shooting it and and that and I found I was still directing as an editor you know and that’s where I I say there’s there’s ways in which you when you really kind of strip away what it is you enjoy yeah it’s okay I like telling stories you find other ways in which to do that.

Mark Bradford: Absolutely I think the skill always shows through and you uh you have a and I think you’re building up to this but you you you basically have a perfect example of being in the zone which is uh which was one of the other podcasts which talks about how when you do that thing that feels right and you feel it that’s being in the zone and then when you can actually get validation from others that’s the second facet and then when you get and then when you get paid for that then you don’t ever want to leave that area that’s in the zone and it sounds like you found your Zone and I think that’s that’s wonderful.

Nicholas Arnold: I did and I mean to Jump Ahead like uh performing had always been this uh thing I enjoyed obviously when I was 5 years old I was starring in all my own movies like it it was it was sort of a hobby in the background um and if there were school plays I I tried to be in them and all that sort of thing. Um and I had tried a little bit of acting once I moved to Toronto where I currently live in Canada uh um uh I tried a little bit of acting just acting in some student films while I was still trying to get my sort of film making directing career going. Um but again it wasn’t even necessarily the right projects I wasn’t in some cases I’d get that spark in other cases not.

Um and what’s interesting so I I had always always adored uh the comedian Jerry Lewis loved him uh loved him growing up we I watched all the re re runs I watched uh episodes of the Colgate Comedy Hour with him and Dean Martin and uh and when I was very young I actually started impersonating him and I would go around uh especially in my early 20s to retirement homes and do a little tribute to Jerry Lewis for them. Um so I was developing and honing this this skill of impersonation and physical comedy and vocal comedy and what happened out of the blue and again you talk about being in the zone and even talk about the Serendipity of certain things when you are aligned um with your path this show was created out of nowhere un benounced to me uh that was to a te everything I had been working towards and it was a Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis uh concert show. They didn’t want impersonators they wanted uh people who honored them and and adopted their Essence and their personality because they wanted whoever they chose to be able to portray themselves on stage but also tell the story of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis who had this very tumultuous 10-year relationship. Um became the hottest thing in comedy in the 1940s and 50s split up and didn’t speak to each other for 20 years so there’s a natural narrative to their story.

And I auditioned for this show sending all the footage from my retirement home bits and then blah blah blah blah blah and and I got it and I had this Epiphany Mark When I did that show because when I was on stage in front of 200 300 people and I was telling them this story in that moment I realized oh my gosh I’m doing exactly what I want to do. There was no question and no doubt in my mind and and it ties back to that storytelling thing I I love telling people stories and and for me where I’m hitting uh that sort of Joy the most is when I can have that immediate gratification of seeing the audience uh who who Who’s hearing the story I’m telling seeing their reaction telling it based on their reaction you know changing ebbing and flowing uh with them. And that’s when and so then I started getting into you know I I want to do some more public speaking I want to talk I want to motivate people I want to put myself in more situations where I can whether it’s telling Jerry Lewis’s story or my own I want to put myself in more situations like that. Um and the writing and doing the writing uh is is just a side effect of that you know because again it doesn’t have that instant gratification thing uh but it is just another way of of sort of getting myself out there but that honestly within the last like five years four years really uh was the biggest Epiphany moment for me where I was like holy crap I’m doing exactly what I want to do.

Uncovering Your Core Skill and Following the Yarn

Mark Bradford: That is that is a a real life description and and sort of story not to be too meta here but it’s that’s basically you just gave everyone a sort of a real life example of something I talked about um in that sometimes you have these disparate things that you’re doing and you think wow what is my problem uh where what am I supposed to be doing this this is not related to this and this is not related to this but I kind of like those things but what is that coming from and then you realize and you find your core skill or skills and the course skill is the thing that keeps producing these other things the the the the the the talking and the speaking and the motivating that all comes from your core skill of wanting to tell a story and that and once you look at it that way you think well I’m just doing the same thing you know I’m totally doing that thing I want and so that’s a really great demonstration that you just gave of how like your core skill drives everything but if you look at the you look at the result versus you look at the source you think well maybe I should just focus on a instead of Z and someone who it doesn’t know you well would say yeah let’s drop the Z and do the A and you’d say well I kind of feel a little empty because I stopped doing the Z and because your core skills still wants you to do Z along with a and that’s so nice that you actually figured that out on your own.

Nicholas Arnold: That’s true and and to that point uh one thing I remember even saying at one of my shows because I had a lot of uh family and friends there and this was I was headlining my own show at the big theater in my hometown which is like a 700 seat theater. Um and I at that point I was pretty early on in my performing career but it it had come out of just years of performing in retirement homes that you know to this right. And I remember saying at the end just because I had so many friends and family in the audience so I was really speaking almost directly to them but to everybody was don’t be afraid to stumble into things that seem a little strange at first. Because when you do that and when you follow that yarn and when you follow that path you’re going to be shocked at where it goes. It’s when we try and I know you’ve talked about this a lot but it’s when we try to steer the ship based on where we think it’s supposed to go and that’s where I spent most of my teens in early 20s right is well I’m supposed to be a movie director I’m supposed to be because I said I was since I can remember. And and and I I was steering and getting all this resistance not just from outside but from inside as well and and and and then of course you know you think as you’re performing in a retirement home like well this is weird and they’re not really you know it’s not the most responsive audience they’re not really getting it you know uh yeah you know you’re kind of just doing a service at that point which is a very important service but you’re not necessarily at no point did I think ah in a year a year from now I’m gonna be headlining my own show or I’m gonna be a part of this amazing tour that’s been touring for four years now you know with a live band and all this kind of stuff. At no point I mean maybe in the back of my head right but at the time you’re thinking I don’t know how A gets to B I don’t know how performing in a retirement home gets to professional theater scene but I’ll just keep doing it.

Mark Bradford: Yeah you just yeah you just touched on boy you’re just hitting all you’re just you’re you’re awesome you just hit on the whole steering steering from afar thing I mean you you just now you demonstrated steering from afar which is exactly right that like you can only steer so much from 800 miles away from the city you go I see that little dot I’m just going to point myself at it okay well looks you know versus versus going oh that’s right I may have to turn a little bit maybe there’s construction and if you just kept it on autopilot you would miss the City by 105 miles because there’s no way you can hit it from there and you may not even want to go to that City you get close to it and you’re like oh I kind of like this one better and so yeah it’s just you do yourself a disservice by letting your five-year-old steer you so much right so it’s nice that you said okay let’s see where we’re going here.

Embracing the Unfolding Path and Internal Resistance

Nicholas Arnold: That’s one of the things I mean when I have talk in schools and I’m talking to uh grade nines or 10 or even 11 and 12 uh you know because especially grades 11 and 12 they have these ideas of what they want to do and and uh or they’re starting to um and and one of the things I say is and this is from experience is your dreams aren’t going to unfold the way you expect them to. Doesn’t mean that they’re not going to happen. If I was just as hellbent on being a film director uh and the passion was there I’d still be on that that path but it wouldn’t it still wouldn’t be unfolding the way I expected it to and if I was trying to steer it in that direction I’d still get that resistance yeah. Um the only difference in my story is I was getting the resistance from inside as well which you have to take note of and you have to listen to.

Mark Bradford: Um and if you think that resistance is the resistance from inside is like this rare thing you’re you’re silly because that that happens with everyone with any time you just decide to steer a little bit to the left and a little bit to the right there a part of you the self-preservation say I don’t know if I want to do that that might be painful.

Nicholas Arnold: Oh my goodness yeah and I mean the the the the good stuff really doesn’t come without that pain you really have to if you’re going to experience dramatic change and shifts in your life uh yeah you have to let go of the wheel just a bit you know.

The Passion for Performance and a Love for a Bygone Era

Mark Bradford: Wow exactly exactly. So we’ve talked quite a bit about the um the uh producing of of of movies and so forth and and you said you did two full length films it took years for one of those but right now you’re not so much into the film making as you are into the Performing right?

Nicholas Arnold: Very much so that’s just where my I mean to one of your other points that’s where the money started coming in and I had to listen to that. Um it was aligned with the passion and that Epiphany moment so you know again yeah it’s that sort of three-fold thing right where uh if you can get paid to do it uh you should you should and and you love it you know you should uh see where that leads uh and that’s kind of where the the phase I’m in right now. I don’t see myself uh making another feature anytime soon but I do uh quite regularly support um my friends and colleagues who still are in that sort of who I’ve met through that film making world I support them. So I mean as recently as a couple months ago I was on set being a sound guy even though I’m not a huge fan of being on set and I hate the all night shoots uh you know I’m there because I’ve got the skill set and I’m a friend of theirs and blah blah blah. Um I I use my musical skills I’m scoring a friends film right now uh so providing the soundtrack for that uh so I’ve still got my my feet dipped in that world I just can’t see myself heading up a project as big.

When you make a film when I made that feature that took six years uh I finished it when I was 20 I premiered it when I was 24 um and so six years prior to that I’ve been working on it and and just that length of time and especially in my early 20s it probably took the wind out of my sails a little bit okay. Um and just because it was an exhausting process and it was a it really was a labor of love and it hurt you know in in all the good and positive ways it hurt make getting that creation out there it it was putting a lot of myself on the line and and and making myself very vulnerable and uh I know some people compare uh you know creation of art like that to giving birth and how you know you be forget it and then you you go and you make another one. I guess I still haven’t forgotten it and it still feels pretty recent. Um so I can’t see myself uh willingly it would have to be the absolute right story for me to willingly go through something like that again um especially when I’m enjoying this other aspect of Performing and entertaining and speaking so much uh it would have to be this story that just kind of hits me like a bolt of lightning and I go wow I have to make this I have to make this.

Mark Bradford: What if the form of media changed so in other words if you could throw off all the working on the set the long hours well not so much the long hours but the the off hours and this that and the and the other thing and what if the of media was not um a movie but rather a screenplay or rather a book?

Nicholas Arnold: Well that’s exactly it Mark and I have experimented with that so I made uh last year I spent the majority of last year making a podcast uh and it was a narrative um uh narrative uh documentary podcast uh and that was employing all of my film making skills but in a way that I really enjoyed so I was narrating the story I had interviewed people and I was using sound bites of their interviews so it was a full it was a full production and there was music and sound effects and and all that so you’re creating the mood as the per as The Listener uh listening to that it was called paying tribute uh and based on my experience of performing it was all about uh tribute artists and the legends that they uh uh honor. Uh so I had this guy from Canada who uh he he’s called the chaplain guy uh and and Charlie chaplain’s Estate regards is sort of the greatest in the world who uh who uh portrays him portrays Charlie Chaplain yeah he’s the Chaplan guy and so I told his story as well as Charlie chaplain’s and when you listen to that episode it reads like a sort of bedtime story or like an audio book. Um and that for me and so so I’ve actually when you say that I I’m very interested in that in the changing of mediums.

I think to your point even when we go back to what was I not enjoying about film I think I wanted to be a filmmaker in the 40s and 50s and when I got on set and realized that wasn’t the world it was it had changed I didn’t enjoy it as much.

Mark Bradford: Well you win an Academy Award for what I’m about to tell you just think of me just write me on that little piece of paper uh when you take it out of your pocket and the music plays because you thank too many people and you shouldn’t have thanked me but why what wouldn’t it be a crazy thing if you actually did that you said okay I’m going to restrict myself I’m going to make a film but I’m not allowed to use any technology that existed after 1945.

Nicholas Arnold: That’s exactly it yeah wouldn’t that be crazy I I love it and and that’s exactly it Mark I’m more interested I think in experimenting with things like that yeah and and crazy different mediums are different ways of doing it uh I’m not there yet you know um but I I’ve been toying I’ve been starting to toy with that in my head and in things like making a podcast a narrative podcast uh for the last year and a bit um because yeah that that’s where that’s where it starts to feel creative again otherwise you’re just part of the machine a little bit you know.

Mark Bradford: Exactly and yeah you were you were clearly held down more than once by the mechanics of the machine in which you wanted to produce your creation but you just wanted to produce your creation and throw that all off and I could I could easily see that being a very popular Kickstarter a surprisingly popular Kickstarter in which you said I’m going to make a movie here’s my background and I’m not using any technology above and beyond 45 so I’m going to need to buy this this this this and this so I I think that’d be one of the neatest things to follow and you could even do as you were saying a storytelling narrative podcast describing how you’re doing it along the way and and the hurdles because you could even get to the point where you say look in today’s world you can’t really do it it people would just see that as a learning documentary that would be fascinating.

Nicholas Arnold: Well and as you’ve probably seen from uh some of my stuff uh is doing impossible things or seemingly impossible things is is kind of a hobby of mine something I preach and talk about.

Mark Bradford: You throw over an ocean that sort of thing.

Nicholas Arnold: You exactly exactly yeah I think that’s I think that’s fascinating. You clearly have a good connection to beyond beyond your your birth because I know you’re not that old but you a lot of your references are like yes like a lot of your references from the past that uh so you clearly have a good connection to the to the Past beyond your years.

Nicholas Arnold: Very much so I think the past has a lot to offer us I mean we won’t even touch the political side that it can offer us but uh even just from an entertainment standpoint or or self-discovery looking honestly one some of the greatest teachers have been uh Memoirs for me and and biographies especially when it’s people I admire it’s it’s reading about or learning about what made them tick and how accomplish their goals and and so that from a very young age has probably uh been part of this building of an old soul uh you know that I’ve been told I have uh and feel I have too. Yeah I definitely don’t feel like I I was born necessarily in the right era uh you know or I’m making do in the era I was born but it is it is fun though to be in this era and sort of have the ability to draw from the things we do have to kind of make the things happen from the era that you feel comfortable in.

Reviving the Nightclub Act: A Shared Dream

Nicholas Arnold: And oh totally when we’re when we’re doing this show this Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis show and we’re essentially bringing back not just the story of Dean and Jerry but we’re bringing back an old art form that is dead and that’s the the nightclub act.

Mark Bradford: Here we go well exactly yeah and that’s that’s why I mentioned that is because that’s sort of a a private secret dream of mine is to create a Sinatra bar I want a Sinatra bar.

Nicholas Arnold: Oh no way oh my gosh we got to talk.

Mark Bradford: Bar and I want it I want it with the dress code you wear a suit hat and we don’t serve we don’t serve beer we serve drinks and you know all all that stuff and there’s a show nightly show the whole thing with the the band and so clearly someone like you would be very much one of the people who would be performing there.

Nicholas Arnold: So yes you would love this Mark as I’m sitting right here uh the thing on my desk that holds my uh house keys is an authentic ashtray from Jilly’s nightclub.

Mark Bradford: Oh wow.

Nicholas Arnold: Yeah uh where you know Frank Sinatra hung out quite a bit and a lot of the Mobsters from the day and all that sort of thing. Absolutely I’m an old soul when it comes to that and and I’m obsessed with the idea of bringing that art form back both both in the style of Performing and then I think you touched on it perfectly we need people who are also just interested in bringing the uh atmosphere back in a way you know it doesn’t necessarily mean people need to dress up in straw hats and all this sort of thing but like just that that nightclub type of thing where you head uh nightly performers uh who weren’t just you know uh doing standup or or or playing an acoustic guitar they were they were Triple Threat performers on these tiny little stages for these nightclubs.

Mark Bradford: And one of the guests I had not too long ago on this podcast was was a was a young woman uh who actually studied Opera but also has her own band and sort of takes that…

Nicholas Arnold: Oh I think I listened to her.

Mark Bradford: Yes yes yeah and so she’s she’s perfect for that sort of thing she’s the same kind of person that would be perfect to headline that and and you’re right you could and I shouldn’t focus on me at all so I apologize but I I think when it comes to this this fantasy of a of a nightclub I think you made an excellent point ahead and considered that you could actually take the essence of it but modernize it you don’t have to have it look and smell and sound like the 40s you can have it look like today but also still have that same essence where people come there to slowly smolder and and sip martinis and things like that versus just to get really loud and obnoxious.

Nicholas Arnold: Yeah I I think that would be the key right is it’s got to be this sort of uh Neo nostalgic uh thing when you do these shows and I think that’s actually why our show has been enjoying the success that we’ve had over four years and it keeps getting booked and audiences keep coming to it is there’s something modern about it uh Derek my co-star and I there’s something modern about us even though we’re telling these stories and sharing the essence of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis um and slipping into their personas a bit we’re also Derek and Nick uh who are two guys in 2019 performing and so we don’t pretend to be anything other than that and I think if yeah if you were to do a nightclub like that I think the key to its success otherwise you’d scare people off they’d feel like it’s some sort of Halloween thing or uh uh you know cosplay type thing where people are dressing up as uh their favorite 40s uh crooners.

Mark Bradford: Well you you underestimate the cosplay population or the people which is quite big.

Nicholas Arnold: Yes yes so yeah when you say that it is it is massive yeah I do agree with what you’re saying right that you wouldn’t necessarily have to be this thing is this tiny little bandwidth of this is all we are here versus no we have this kind of flare to it we just have this kind of personality that that shows through with everything I do which is very in line with your show and the way that you do it.

Nicholas Arnold: Yeah yeah I think when we’re talking like uh in terms of accessibility and and and Longevity that’s the way you’d have to go you would have to have a touch of the modern uh spark in it.

The Ongoing Journey of Self-Discovery and Learning

Mark Bradford: Listen to us Listen to It’s funny listening to you and and hearing your uh coaching side come out because already we’ve been talking 30 minutes and you’re uh you’re going yeah but if you just do this and adjust this make it happen which is great. Yeah I I want to make that happen that would be that would be fantastic and I think you’d be you’d be awesome at that so that’s that’s really that’s great and speaking of that I normally ask a number of time energy and resource questions because that’s really the overarching umbrella but we’ve already subtly touched on it a number of things it’s it’s clear where a lot of your time energy and resources go so I wanted to explain the absence of me asking those questions in this in this half hour because we actually you actually have done a really good job of explaining a lot of that.

Nicholas Arnold: Oh thank you well you know efficiency right it’s…

Mark Bradford: Or maybe being more in touch with with a lot of what you’re doing and the and the and the the path you’ve taken and not taken and why because you like I said I think you figured out your core skill and and it’s rare when people do that uh it it takes a long time for people to figure out their core skill because sometimes it’s really deceptive and like I that is true for me it took a long time in fact I mentioned that in my latest book about the whole core skill thing in fact I have a line in there that says I looked in the mirror and I said Mark grow up you know like you’re doing this this this these are not connected and you should just do this thing and then I finally figured out my core skill and I thought well I am doing that and it just manifests itself in this way this way this way and lately it’s manifested itself in books you know it’s it’s it’s really this the the kind of books I’ve written are not very connectable but they are if you understand my core skill which is to look at things from an angle that most people don’t see it in and then to to create build disseminate explain in that way so it it then it makes more sense and before that I thought well man I should pick a lane and I had been told you know just pick a lane Mark.

Nicholas Arnold: Mhm yeah that’s very well put and and I should also stress that even though you know it’s it’s a nice compliment to be told that you know you figured it seems you figured your core skill out and this sort of stuff I’m also still learning and I’m still very open to that sort of self-discovery and self-learning and I know I know just statistically uh and and also from peers and mentors and things like that that there’s more learning to go uh that I am young and that I there will be more things I discover about myself and my skill set uh and this sort of epiphany and discoveries that I have had over the last few years is really just the beginning right and and so I need to be open and ready and willing for what else is is to come you know.

Mark Bradford: Right and I don’t think you’ve discovered the talisman of the meaning of life I wouldn’t mean to suggest that but I do I do think that…

Nicholas Arnold: No but I do walk around like I have so you…

Mark Bradford: Like flash it around to people and say see this pretty shiny what do you think of that huh uh yours for 1995 but um yeah but I think when it comes to that whole core skill thing and you learning people it’s funny when people say oh yeah I’m I’m a lifelong learner well everyone really is I mean we all are if if you’re not considering everyday learning then you’re just silly I mean you know we don’t learn things and then just stop and you know I sometimes I have a little bit of a disagreement with Academia and the way that’s presented as if we have this intense learning and then we’re done and you’re on your own because now we filled your brain up where there’s a lot more learning to be done and there’s a clear difference between knowledge and wisdom you know.

Nicholas Arnold: 110% yeah and I learned I learned more from making my feature uh than I did from Film School hands down uh and it’s not that I mean Film School taught me the technical aspects and the skills to to get that made but the the actual going out I guess I guess that’s where the wisdom came out of it when I can speak to other filmmakers you know it’s because well I I was in the trenches and I made it you know yeah I literally…

Mark Bradford: Absolutely I I you know the technical side of me my you know when it comes to this podcast that’s my secret identity and vice versa but um the technical side of me so much that I had had self taught and learned when you couldn’t take a class on the things I was learning because you had to be in the environment learning it and creating and pulling Technologies together and figuring out Creative Solutions and things there was no such thing because because high schools and colleges were five years behind and five years behind technology is is is is irrelevant so that’s crazy.

Nicholas Arnold: Yeah it is because it moves so quickly.

Mark Bradford: So yeah getting your hands dirty and just that willingness and that I don’t want to say courage I don’t want to oversell it here but just the the ability to just throw off some of that fear and say you know I’m going to I’m going to do this and as as I I I literally posted on social media today that you know the the the pain and suffering of the experience that you might be experiencing today is is tomorrow’s wisdom and yes yeah that’s perfect when you look back like when you when you look at the wisdom that you currently have that didn’t come from you going oh on page 75 it says the following instead that was something that that may have frustrated you to the point where you thought I don’t want to do this anymore or oh my God this is so annoying and then and then a year later you’re like well yeah you know you’re telling your friend or you’re mentoring someone you say well here’s how that works and you just make it sound so simple and easy but it wasn’t simple and easy for you to learn.

The Courage to Take Risks and Adapt as a Performer

Nicholas Arnold: Yeah and I think I I I mean I don’t think saying courage is necessarily uh adding too much to it or overselling it it it when you are taking risks I mean it it is risks that you have to take and you have to be willing to a) fail or seemingly fail I mean it’s not necessarily a failure you’ve learned from it and and been able to readjust you know uh but also just go through the uncomfortable times you know the guy who and I’m not going to uh name drop and say like I know him because I don’t I’ve never met him but the guy who’s playing uh Aladdin right now in the in the big feature is from uh he’s originally from Egypt but he grew up in Canada and went to Ryerson University in Toronto so it’s a big deal in our community here in Toronto that the the live action Aladdin is more or less from our neck of the woods uh he took some risks right he moved to LA you know without knowing many people um to to pursue the acting and follow it you know and and now and within a few years he’s Aladdin you know but and and of course we see the shiny side of that all and I don’t know him so I don’t know the truth but I imagine that making those shifts and making those changes whether it’s trying to I mean I know actually in interviews he has talked about that the first chunk of his time in LA for quite a while about a year was on people’s couches uh friends and family so he’s you know living without an address while he’s pursuing this you have to be willing to and it does take a little bit of Courage because it’s it’s so uncomfortable to go through these periods right um to to get to that other side where you do obtain wisdom or or success in in whatever way you view or label success.

Mark Bradford: Right and and I and I’ve said many times and I’m not the first so I’m not going to take credit but you know the uh an overnight success takes about 10 years.

Nicholas Arnold: Yeah yeah yeah oh it absolutely does it it absolutely does and that’s where that’s where online presence uh is so important but also can be very um skewed you know because it does seem as though everything we’re doing happens overnight now online uh and and what we’re not seeing is the nights that you mark have slaved away at your books we just see that you publish them you know that you have you know four of them four or five four four uh that you have four of them out you know we don’t see the actual uh Blood Sweat and Tears that’s going into all of these projects we just see the projects right exactly.

Mark Bradford: And the same and the same for you you didn’t just wake up and say I’m just going to perform this you tweaked it and you you tweaked it again you tweaked it again you refocused and so forth.

Nicholas Arnold: You yeah so that it looks like I’m pulling it out of a hat you know and it looks like it’s coming effortless but it be yeah you’re right hours and hours and hours and hours of of literal sweat and and work have gone into it just like…

Mark Bradford: I’m absolutely certain that each performance is different because you are astute enough to perceive changes minute changes that you have to make to what you’re doing because of the vibe you’re getting from the audience.

Nicholas Arnold: Totally totally totally I that’s what probably makes a really good performer is to be able to do that is to is to read the audience and do do what they need you know they’re a little more rambunctious so you get a little more crazy they’re a little more subtle they seem to have a little more they’re a bit more astute and little highbrow you adjust accordingly just tiny tiny little things but and you do that while you’re also doing your internal script so that’s…

Mark Bradford: Exactly.

Nicholas Arnold: I mean I’m biased but I do think that’s what makes a good performer and I try very hard to implement that in uh in every show I do.

Mark Bradford: Well I think it’s clear if you ever look at someone’s real um they Sizzle reel as it’s called I think the when you look at you see the different differences because you see that one was on a big stage and one was somewhere else and one was somewhere else and you think wow each one of those actually looks different even though he’s pretty much saying the same words.

Nicholas Arnold: Right right yeah and he’s and he’s the he’s able to adapt you know and I mean we did a we we’ve had shows uh you know where we’re playing afternoon houses which is it tends to be especially just given our our content uh an older crowd and and they’re not necessarily reacting the way a Saturday night boozy crowd does right right right. Uh we still got to give 110% because they paid to see us they uh we are not owed a laugh from them and sometimes as comedians we uh you know we think that right we are not owed a laugh from that audience they paid to see us make them laugh but we’re not owed that laugh. Um so when we go out there we still got to give 110% and then they’d still be up on their feet at the end even though they weren’t uh so reactive you know. Um but one of the things I realized about that was you know for a lot of these folks uh they were seeing that material for the first time you know they don’t go on YouTube like I do uh and so a lot of it was a hu just a huge Nostalgia trip for them and bringing back personal memories and they’re just processing right uh but you still got to be working with that especially with our show which is very interactive with the audience you you adapt and then you do get the boozy night Saturday night crowd where the front row is you know just a won too many uh but you’re you’re working with it and you’re having fun and and it maybe is going to derail certain parts of the show but you’re going to get it back you know that that’s the fun of it all.

Mark Bradford: That’s perversely exciting isn’t it?

Nicholas Arnold: Oh my gosh well every night right you just don’t know eight shows a week you don’t know what each one’s going to be especially with this kind of show.

Mark Bradford: I love it. I bet more than once you’ve encountered something that was like and you’re pulling on your co your collar metaphorically and going and yet afterwards you’re like man that was kind of fun.

Nicholas Arnold: Yes absolutely oh my goodness yeah yeah I mean I have stories from the four years of doing this show that uh I mean I’d take an hour to tell them but they they are Priceless and they’re memories that’ll hold forever and and they’re and what’s Beauty beautiful about it is they’re not recorded so I have no choice but to just kind of uh it’s been a yarn for us right yeah just hold these stories you know uh which are so funny because of certain audience members you know.

The Diverse Talents of an Entertainer

Mark Bradford: Well speaking of this performing that you’re doing so what flavors do you have of this I I I know that some of it are are are shows but do you also do corporate events and things like that as well I mean you MC right that’s what I…

Nicholas Arnold: He yeah so we have uh both Derrick and I my co-star from uh just because we work very well together uh from the dean and Jerry Show we’ve we’ve done fundraising and um him being a singer uh We’ve we’ve worked fundraisers or corporate events where he’s been the entertainment and I’ve been the MC and we kind of work as a Duo outside of the dean and Jerry realm uh and then I’ve also mced uh various um and my MC Persona is a little different I don’t go as wild as Jerry Lewis I’m a little more I’m a little more Nick I’m a little more grounded uh but I’ve I’ve uh mced events for various Charities and things like that and that’s something I’m I’m you talk about following the yarn uh and and not steering the ship it’s something that I’ve enjoyed and I feel like I’ve been decent at and I’m interested in exploring more as I go and go. Um so I’m constantly kind of on the lookout for opportunities like that and ways that we can uh whether it’s dererk and myself or just myself ways that I can explore that world.

Mark Bradford: Right and I actually have some good exposure to the Dual identity role of uh semi crazy performances and things that are performance and then also a different Persona as the MC person so I totally get…

Nicholas Arnold: Oh I’m sure yeah yeah yeah you have to I think you know that that actually goes right back to your point about adapting to to not just the audience but what is the event. Yeah you know Jerry Lewis doesn’t work for certain things.

Mark Bradford: Right right right if you have if you have a you know a ballroom filled with CEOs that and you want…

Nicholas Arnold: That’s exactly it right you’re not going to go hey lady yeah so you got to read the room you read the room hopefully ahead of time so you’re not doing that on the Fly right.

Mark Bradford: You work accordingly. So MC um uh comedy uh performers you also sing and you also play the piano.

Nicholas Arnold: I play the piano and and and I act actually in about a week I’m going to start rehearsals for a show called Tuesdays with Morrie.

Mark Bradford: Oh sure.

Nicholas Arnold: Uh based on yeah based on Mitch album’s book and I’ll be playing Mitch album and that is um obviously heavy drama for anyone who’s read the book um and and and that that is going to be great it’s been a long time since I’ve done drama and that is a chance for me to really shed not just the Jerry image but the I’ve been working on this Nick image for so long as an MC and and Entertainer uh that now it’s like okay I actually get to dive into someone completely different and fully pretend to be them and it’s just straight drama no interacting with the audience yeah um just telling a story in that way so so so yeah I do that as well.

Where to Find Nicholas Arnold Online

Mark Bradford: I want to keep my promise to you I promised you that I wouldn’t take more than an hour of your time so I want give us a heads up to make sure you also get in some stuff so I will make sure that you and I communicate offline and you’ll give me the links to your site and and and performances and upcoming stuff so that people can contact you people can can hire you all that good stuff so uh that that has been said so now you know to make sure that I have that and I’ll make sure that’s part of the article. So in addition to that is there any kind of shout out that you want to give before we sign off?

Nicholas Arnold: Oh I don’t I don’t I don’t know I guess uh I mean hi Mom uh no…

Mark Bradford: Well you can you can interpret a shout out as in like hey how you doing yo yo or…

Nicholas Arnold: I know what you mean yeah a shout out as to hey everyone make sure you see this or make sure you see me here or something like that. Yeah no I mean there’s a list of of shows I’m doing if anyone is in particularly interested in that Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis show we’re going around and doing it a bunch at least in uh Canada uh and I’ll I’ll give you the link to my website is uh will be in the description and on the article you post um and that’s got all my show dates there over the uh next three or four months.

Mark Bradford: Feel free to say your your website right.

Nicholas Arnold: Yeah sure my website uh is I’m Nicholas arnold.com I am Nicholas arnold.com uh and that’ll get you right there that’s got everything the Tuesdays with Morrie show that I’m doing and then if I am booked for any other uh sort of things whether in the states or or Canada uh you’ll see all of that there but it’s ever changing you know so you have a hub for it as well so because when you have it’s important to have that Hub I realized that very quickly into this whole entertainment career is that uh you know if you do well enough people the first thing people ask is where can we see you next right and if you don’t have that Hub or somewhere else to sort of anchor them uh but with that yeah and and on that website everything I’ve talked about here my film making that film that I spent six years making you can watch it for free on my website um and all my writing and everything is is there as well so that that’s really the central place uh for everyone to go.

Mark Bradford: It’s wonderful and something I learned also from you is that you say your home town the same way that people from my hometown say ours so so you’re from Toronto but you say Toronto you sort of butcher that first just like people from Milwaukee say Milwaukee we just sort of we get rid of it.

Nicholas Arnold: Oh I I never noticed that about uh we sort of get rid of that first syllable we sort of just sort of slur it like we’re drunk and yeah.

Mark Bradford: It’s true true it’s very true and Toronto because you’re just tired of that syllable you’re just tired of it you know.

Nicholas Arnold: It’s funny though we have a big self-awareness about that in Toronto we everyone everyone points that out to each other uh so it’s not just uh it’s not just Outsiders uh bringing it up.

Mark Bradford: Although with Milwaukee I think I’m the only person that that seems to notice that here when I say that to people here they say no we don’t no we definitely do yeah there’s Toronto Toronto and Tiran I guess well now I’m overanalyzing it but Toronto Toronto yeah right yeah. I I love raising perceptions so that people get annoyed with me I always appreciate that.

Nicholas Arnold: Oh yeah no annoyance here no annoyance.

Mark Bradford: Yeah cool well this has been really fun and I really appreciate you taking your very valuable time out of your schedule to sort of sit down with me virtually and and chat through this this is some really good stuff and I really hope that everyone takes 20 seconds to at least either Googling you finds you pretty quickly as well along with a couple other interesting uh figures from history in the 17th century yes yes yes I read up on them yeah your YouTube videos pop up right away so they can kind of see you you have a nice reel that pops up too so people can see that and like I said I promise I will have uh the links in the article so people can get to you as well.

Nicholas Arnold: Yeah that’s great Mark hey thanks so much it’s so nice to have a conversation and kind of just chat about this stuff uh from someone who’s just as knowledgeable as you are uh so it’s really great.

Mark Bradford: Well thank you so much I appreciate it and and perhaps sometime you can come back and tell some of those stories that are only in your head.

Nicholas Arnold: Yes absolutely anytime.

Mark Bradford: Awesome take care.

Nicholas Arnold: All right thank you so much Mark.

Outro and Apology

Mark Bradford: So the incorrect microphone was actually active during this conversation. Fortunately Nicholas’s voice was just lovely but mine was a bit echoey so I want to apologize to you for that so sorry for the fact that it sounded like I was in the bathroom or something talking to him so again I apologize for that I even put the apology in the article. Hopefully it was still a good podcast I think it was an awesome conversation so again my apologies a thousand apologies uh I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry that’s probably enough. All right take care.

Hey there thanks for listening you know I always appreciate your feedback right well here’s a chance you can connect with me on Instagram via the Alchemy for Life site or most most other social media if you like this podcast you may love my new book Alchemy for Life formulas for Success the 239 page paperback is available on Amazon and everywhere else you get your books all this info is available at Alchemy for life thank you see you next week.

(Recorded on an alternate mike which caused my portion to be a bit echoey and hollow – 1,000 apologies for that)

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