The Constant Struggle

Happy New Year #Strugglies! A new year is upon us, and for your friendly neighbourhood podcast hosts; Nick Watson (@fivestergram) and Brie Watson (@briewats0n), that means fresh new Lighthouse Words!  (or "Words-of-the-Year.") YAY!!!!! Brie's frankly happy to be done with last year's word & Nick's new word has its very own mascot. Intrigued? Take a listen & check in with your trying-to-be-...

So what’s next? That’s the question of the episode in this edition of #StrugglePod. You’ll have to tune in for a bit more context. Co-hosts Nick Watson (@fivestergram) and Brie Watson (@briewats0n) are entering the dark, chilly, Canadian Winter, putting up their Ws where they can (dress for the job you want!) and bemoaning the struggles (passing out in a high school gymnasium,) along the way. Plea...

It’s hard for co-hosts Nick Watson (@fivestergram) and Brie Watson (@briewats0n), and brand new guest-host Michael Cervix, to get away from the excitement of the Blue Jays yes-anding baseball to chat creative projects, but nevertheless, they persist! Nick’s hunkering down to get some editing done, while squeezing out the last few moments of golf for the year and Brie’s getting more reps in and reh...

Host Nick Watson (@fivestergram) and Brie Watson (@briewats0n) reflect after respectively busy summers: one filled with parental obligations and the other with increased tourism volume. But with Back to School season comes a renewed sense of responsibility towards our creative endeavours, and in some cases, brand new projects and directions. Tune in to see where these creative siblings are headed...

Host Nick Watson (@fivestergram) graciously allows his co-host Brie and her cast-mates: Dan Dingwall, Dina Senior & Heather Eyman, on this episode to chat about their upcoming production at the Hamilton Fringe Festival: What If? Improvising Your Alternate Universe.   The improvised comedy premieres Thursday, July 17th at The Staircase Theatre in Hamilton, upstairs in the Brightroom, and featur...

Hosts Nick (@fivestergram) & Brie Watson (@briewats0n) are in it pretty deep at the time this episode was recorded. With feelings of stagnation, injury and loss, our two humble hosts are really feeling the name of the podcast. Although recording in the same room for the first time since Covid has added a level of irreverence towards life that might just help them get back on track. The hosts r...

Host Nick Watson (@fivestergram) is in a real pickle this episode as he and co-host Brie Watson (@briewats0n) find solutions to the doom scrolling rabbit hole that is US politics on YouTube. (There are two surprisingly easy solutions.) As the hosts review the second month of 2025, they continue to check in on their lighthouse words and constant struggles. It’s not all heavy though, each host bring...

Hosts Nick Watson (@fivestergram) and Brie Watson (@briewats0n) discuss their tank-fillers & drainers in the creative department of their ongoing struggle to make literature and comedy, (respectively.) They’re a month into 2025 and are checking in on the progress following their respective Lighthouse words. Are they still being guided in the right direction? Or did the longest January in histo...

Hosts Nick Watson (@fivestergram) and Brie Watson (@briewats0n) kick off the new year by sticking to their new podcasting format, therefore so far crushing this New Year Pod Resolution. They’ve also carefully prepared their 2025 Lighthouse Word, or Word-of-the-Year and strongly recommend you do too!   Nick’s Update: Tank Filler:  Checkmarks Struggle: The Demons   Brie’s Update: Tank fillers: On ho...

Hosts Nick Watson (@fivestergram) and Brie Watson (@briewats0n) are back after an unplanned hiatus to chat plans for the podcast going forward including new segments like: what’s filling the tank, what’s draining the bucket and what are we working on as 2024 comes to a close.    Nick's Update:  Finished “Infinite Jest” No more contests until his 3 books are edited Trying out new “Scrivener” softwa...

Our guest in this episode is mustard and smoked-meat wizard Zane Caplansky, founder of Caplanksy's Deli & purveyor of fine mustards . When Nick had the idea of interviewing a chef to discuss the artistic elements of food and cooking, Zane immediately came to mind. As it turns out, the struggles associated with balancing artisanal meats and mustards and attempting to find balance in life are hu...

The irony of this episode is that Nick's "Word of the Year" for 2024 is EDIT. And it took Brie four months to edit this dang file. Maybe EDIT should have been both our words! NEVERTHELESS. Here we are. It's 2024. We're the happiest new members of PodCavern . And we're ready to set and tackle our goals in the struggly world of Arts & Entertainment in Canada for this new year. (Aware that we're...

Jo Anne Tacorda is an actor, improviser, singer and one fifth of the popular sketch comedy troupe Big Chick Energy. In this episode of TCS, Brie and Nick find out what it was like to form a sketch troupe in the thick of Covid, what it takes to be part of the Hallmark "Christmasverse" and great tips along the way about embracing your inner-creative.  You're going to love Jo Anne's enthusiasm and it...

***DON'T MISS " Good News Toronto" at Montreal Sketchfest FRI MAY 12th! ***    Korri Birch is an actor, improviser, comedian, writer, producer, voice-over artist, puppeteer, teacher and self-proclaimed idiot based in Toronto. In this episode, Brie and Nick chat with Korri about his decision to stop producing, writing, and starring in the award-winning monthly news-themed live comedy show " Good Ne...

Belynda Thomas is an author of novels (Secrets and Silence, Secrets and Sorrow) and children's book (When Can We Get a Puppy,) a blogger, a visual artist, Toastmaster, wife, mother and consultant to Mississauga Writers Group.  In this episode, Nick and Brie chat with Belynda about writing, self-publishing and owning your artistic dreams.  We chat about the difficulties making the time to practice...

Heather Eyman is a fitness coach and improviser among many other things and in this episode, we see the path Heather took to narrow down on what's important when there isn't enough time to do everything and when you're the kind of person who enjoys the abundance of what life has to offer. We also ask her advice on how to fix Nick's darn back! Find out what kind of tips she offers Nick, and all of...

Our first episode in over four months! Why the break? Well you'll just have to listen to the episode and find out. HA! Masters of the tease.  But really, it's a doozy of an episode where Brie & Nick dig deep into some real talk about physical and mental health, motivation, relocation and the whole thing gets a little vulnerable. It's not all struggle though. There's life. There's travel. There's a...

Chicago's Mary Hynes is an improviser, actor, instructor, stage manager and tall lady. In this episode, Mary reminds us of the importance of leaning into and really living our core values as performers, and human beings. She offers tremendous insight into navigating the unsure waters of the performance industry, including her signature Lean Back.

All wordplay aside, this is a delightful and informative episode featuring Genevieve (Evie) Jones, playwright, actor, director and mom of Daphne. Evie’s located in the Niagara Region, and chats with Nick and Brie about starting out her artistic career in Niagara, spreading her wings beyond the peninsula and her parents, and the reason for her epic return. Evie provides us with some deep insight in...

Rhiannon Archer is a stand-up comic and instructor, a mom of two little dudes and is currently in school training to become a therapist. In this episode Rhiannon chats with Nick and Brie about her formative years, her ADHD diagnosis, and how it impacted her education and career path and how that path has changed now that better resources are available to assist neurodivergent students. We dive int...

In this episode, Nick and Brie chat with Wellesley Robertson III; a circus-artist, breakdancer, improviser, puppeteer, actor… self proclaimed “Jack of all trades, master of none.” Wellesley has spent the better part of the last decade travelling the world performing with various theatrical productions, seemingly falling into one amazing opportunity after the next.  Join us on this exciting trip ar...

Happy New Year Strugglers! We’re back with another great episode! This time, Nick & Brie chat with Toronto-based special effects make-up artist and instructor Megan Fraser. Megan takes us through her creative journey, starting in Calgary with papier mâché and glue all over her childhood bedroom floor to, probably a fairly similar floor-situation in present day - except with way more silicone finge...

In this Year in Review episode, Nick and Brie enjoy a host-cast chat about the year that was; what accomplishments we were able to achieve given the colossal mess of a year we all just collectively endured and what struggles (other than the colossal mess) we endured and attempted to overcome. Thanks for listening this year pals, and feel free to share your wins from 2021 and your goals for 2022! Y...

Chances are if you've performed comedy in Toronto, you're likely one degree of separation from this episode's guest; Gary  Rideout Jr., owner of Toronto's famous Comedy Bar & Director of Business Development at The Second City in Toronto. This episode dives into Gary's timeline as a budding comedian-turned-business owner and  tracks the many successes he's had along the way, the struggles that com...

Alan Belerique (or Alan Bee as many know him) is a live comedy producer, actor, improviser and writer. His production company This Is Not TV has been creating live comedy content for Toronto audiences for the better part of a decade. His show “ This is How We Duo ” is making its return to live audiences on September 20th at Comedy Bar in Toronto. Alan takes us on his journey through the world of c...