The Bold Acting Podcast

I spent this past week on the road with two dear, longtime friends as they needed some cheap labour for their comedy show they’re touring around Ontario. We improvised from Ottawa to Cornwall to Peterborough and back to Toronto. We stayed in Airbnbs, ate at questionable hours, didn’t sleep enough, and drove for days. We performed on nights there was a world series. We danced like monkeys for drunken animals. We took pictures after with the appreciative. We were making comedy in Canada and it was so much fun.There’s more. This Tuesday, November 4th, 2025, we’re screening all six episodes of a digital series three of us spent the last year-and-half making. It’s called Kensington Diner and it’s at the Paradise on Bloor here in Toronto. It’s about a down-and-out cook who opens a pop-up diner inside his ex’s occult bookstore. Don’t expect Hollywood. It has more heart, it’s more inclusive and it’s more Canadian which is a feature, of course, not a bug.As I write this, I’m at the library and a bug—a bumble bee—is leading a group of toddlers and caregivers in a rousing game of Ring around the Rosie. Obviously I’ve got something in my eye. That’s why they’re red and misting. Not because I miss the babies. Not because the young men in my house go to school of their own accord. I’m still needed … just in a different, less involved way. It’s fine. I’m fine.Out there in the hinterlands, outside my comfort zone, I met rural people and city people. The answer is exposure, I’d say. You meet people and then they’re not a stranger/threat/the other. You meet a farming couple married for 45 years. They’re funny and tired. You meet a group of twelve friends that take turns planning a monthly get-together and this month they chose your show. You meet the sister of a friend of yours from Vancouver who was instructed to attend. Which is what I am doing now to you.Attend the Kensington Diner screening Tuesday, November 4th, 2025. Doors open at 630pm.I hope you can make it. I want people to see it in the theatre. I’m not as interested in putting it online only for it to disappear into the modern media garbage gyre YouTube is. I wanted to make something people would watch together (and with me). I’m not going for “likes” or selling it or pitching someone with money and then having to listen to their suggestions. I just want to collaborate with the artists. I don’t need anyone’s permission anymore. Like that bumblebee over there. She’s doing it. She’s dressed as a bug and she’s buzzing around with a bunch of tiny humans. It might not be Hollywood. It’s something better than that. It’s a library in Canada. What a relief.Paradise Cinema is located between the accessible Dufferin Street and Ossington Street subway stations. The Paradise is fully accessible.It’s a pay-what-you-can event in support of the West End Phoenix which is also the presenting sponsor.Tuesday, November 4th, 2025 at 630PM. 1006 Bloor St. West in Toronto.See you there.J.B. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Somehow with all that’s going on the pressure is off. I’m reminded not to be surprised. Dogs are going to bark, baker’s gonna bake and humans are going to treat each other terribly. What’s important to you? For me, for now, it’s blood.Tonight I made some fake blood. Two tablespoons of chocolate syrup, one cup of corn syrup and some red food colouring. This is for a short film, a Western, I’m making with my old friend Mike and my new friend Shelly. There is nothing going on in Film & TV so there are a lot of people and equipment just sitting around Ontario.Last Friday we went out to the BadLands of Caledon. I thought it would make an excellent location to shoot a Western but I was outnumbered.  It was too muddy and too hard to get to. Shelly will be directing. She and I bonded briefly over how we were both equally annoyed by the Left, a group we both count ourselves members of. The Left these days spends all of the time getting angry at each other for not being the same kind of Left and in the meantime the Right are winning elections by the pant load.We got back into our cars and drove to Kerncliffe Park in Burlington. It’s an old quarry. We met Laney there. I’ve known her for ages. I met her on commercial shoots back in the day. Now she’s a DP whereas before she was pulling focus. It was so good to see her again. She is a real pro. And she said she is going to bring a fancy camera for this shoot because it’s available. She also mentioned getting a jib or a crane. I said nothing because my mouth had begun to water. A crane?? Are you kidding?I mean, it’s slow. The equipment is just sitting around.Kerncliffe looked a lot like one of my favourite movies, Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm. A movie my children saw far too early in their lives. But if you’re going to show them inappropriate content that includes teens like Christina Ricci and Toby McGuire exploring sex and drugs while their parents Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver hang out at key parties you might as well do it via Ang Lee. It could be worse. It could have been a Marvel movie.I’m sure someone has measured what we learn from Film & TV. As a child how much of my dialogue was cribbed from the shows I was watching? How was my sense of humour informed by SCTV and Family Ties? Did I get my love of the theatre from all those Muppet Shows on Sunday night? Certainly anything with Bill Murray, John Candy and Rick Moranis in it had me mimicking them, trying to figure out how they did what they did. While a show like Alf showed me the power of subversion. He was an alien from the planet Melmac living with a family in the suburbs. He spent his time hitting on the wife and trying to eat the cat. Wit Stillman taught me you can make a film where people just sit around talking. Same with Mike Leigh.Later Michael Haneke showed me the power of the wide shot when it isn’t muddied with coverage. Lucrecia Martel taught me you can go the other way and forsake an establishing shot for a close-up. She also beat cancer,  turned down the job of directing Marvel’s Black Widow and is married to the world’s most singular voice, Julieta Laso. I’m not into heroes but if I were Lucrecia would be at the top of my list. Every six months a longtime friend of mine, Denise, sends me an old photo of my ex-comedy partner and I, in character. We were Chris and Bev, two suburban divorcées that had moved in with each other after their marriages ended. We had a popular monthly show called It’s Good to Know People which in addition to being the truth was also a study in making people laugh without making fun. This was in 2006 I think — at the height of irony.There is a part of me that thinks, look at those two idiots. And both of them are still making things and looking for an audience all these years later. And shouldn’t they have learned their lesson by now?Or are we the persistent ones? The ones that will make our art no matter what. I mean, what else are you going to do with a life? My friend Rebecca (who makes her own theatre) once said “It’s a pretty good way to spend the time before you die.”Pretty good is pretty much the right yardstick. There is no Hollywood effusiveness here. No vocal-fried gratitude signalling from the insta grid. It’s just pretty good. Keep your expectations low. When we left each other in the parking lot of Kerncliffe I thanked Mike for connecting me with even more self-starting artists. Having left Vancouver 12 years ago I miss the actors I came up with. Now I am finally making a community of creatives here.So I stay up late making fake blood. In the hopes they’ll want to keep me in this new village I’ve found.Thanks for reading How To Be A Person. This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

We have shot two episodes of a digital series I have created called Kensington Diner. We have four more to go. I based some of them on some of my favourite films: Cleo de Cinq a Sept, In Bruges, When Harry Met Sally, My Son the Fanatic. I steal from the greats — I do not just let myself be inspired by — and then I put someone else’s ideas or filmic techniques or casting choices or story elements through my own neophyte gaze and out pops a dog’s breakfast unrecognizable to it’s estranged parent. Rob Reiner, Agnes Varda and Martin McDonough would not give their ugly stepchild a second glance. Kate Zeigler, Fiona Highet and Amy Matysio on the set of Kensington Diner. “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources,”  Albert EinsteinWhen I bang on about copying the greats to see how you can do a version of what they are doing I don’t mean you reverse engineer a performance in order to replicate their results, I mean by copying the best you are better able to find your own voice, your own way to the questions you want to explore. Nowhere are we searching for answers. As artists we just ask the questions. The more pointed the better. “The point is to be pointed.” - Terry O’ReillyWhat the greats do in performance, when they are at their most formidable, looks like magic to the uninformed but we know better. It’s technique honed by many hours of practice. There are no shortcuts to the hard work you have to put in. Luckily, a creative life only stops when you’re dead. So you have all the time in the world. The pressure is off to make it.“Good artists copy, great artists steal.” - PicassoThe writer and critic Jacqueline Rose speaks of translation as not about equivalence but about a re-rendering. The actor translates those words on the page into the thing that is most them. You re-render ideas that came from another world (the writer’s) into your world, the physical. Translation is not mimicry. It’s an opinion, an interpretation.The way we do this is by choosing a path. There are innumerable ones in front of you. There is no need to deliberate on which path to take first. Just take one. The learning is in the doing. Above is a theory on learning retention. As you can see the teacher has the advantage. But second to that with a 75% retention rate is Practice by Doing. The only shortcut to becoming a good actor is by acting. In class, in auditions, by yourself, with friends. You take the class to get better at auditions and then you meet your people in that class and then outside of class you get together and scheme. In a darkened bar, at a cheap restaurant, drinking in a park. In other words, my youthful charges, this won’t happen via the phone. You plan your next short film, your next digital series, your demo reel. You do this not because it is easy or because it will get you somewhere. You do it because making stuff is the very reason why we are here. To create. The meaning of life is to connect. Artists connect through making art. Auditioning for a laundry detergent commercial may not be enough. Booking two days on a Hallmarkian masterpiece may not scratch that itch. Shooting in a neighbourhood like Kensington Market is a dream. A filthy, graffiti-encrusted jumble of restaurants and vintage stores, empanada shops and cafés. Every episode I am bowled-over by the background and art direction that shows up in our frame. Our cast gets to act surrounded by the vividness and diversity that makes Toronto special. I didn’t have to invent this neighbourhood. I just had to film it with my phone and I have a copy of it and it is mine. Tai Young, lil’ ol’ me and Cheverny Baluca outside of Gallery 78 Books. So whatever art you’re making a shortcut to learning is copying someone that’s gone before. Make it your own. That great performance you copied was also copied. Picasso didn’t enter the world out of a void. Glenn Close doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Nor did Glen Gould. The electric vehicle is more than 100 years old. Before there was Elon there was Nicolai Tesla. Before Streep there was Sara Bernhardt. Before there was Putin there was Stalin. The world is unoriginal. These bad times are not unique. Our suffering is constant because we chose it to be that way. Because it’s easier.You have more agency than you think, I say to myself.Re-render your point of view and watch a whole new world open up to you.Thank you for subscribing to How to be a Person. You can find every issue podcasted wherever the podcasts are for you. Just search up The Bold Acting Podcast. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

From the Oxford English Dictionaryhypocrite, n.From the Middle English by way of Old French: ecclesiastical; and the Greek: One who falsely professes to be virtuously or religiously inclined; one who pretends to have feelings or beliefs of a higher order than his real ones: A pretender, a dissembler, an actor on the stage.It’s all about me, unfortunately. Every prescriptive pearl is aimed at me. I use the word ‘you” but I mean me. Do you? Don’t you? Don’t we all?1. You’ll Tire of MeA disclaimer. I’m on about peace now. But peace can’t come from me. It has to come from you. Help is the sunny side of control (Anne LaMott). So I’m not here to help. I’m here to tell you to be bold because you’re going to die much sooner than you think. Bold means being bold with the fear that is in front of you. There is no banishing fear. When I write these things I know I should shut up. I’m helping too much. You’re going to get turned off by me. It’s okay. There will be others.2. Be BoringWhen you turn your phone off, turn yourself off too. Unplug everything around you. Try to be with yourself once in a while. When you’re sitting there open up yourself to possibilities. They won’t come if you’re staring at that thing. They’ll only come if you’re bored. Being boring is highly underrated. It’s the cheapest, fastest way to inspiration.3. Bad MathWhen we compare ourselves we are using false models. We see the facade of someone else and we compare it to the inner workings of ourselves. The equation does’t hold up. You don’t know the whole story. X + ___ does not equal Z. You came up with Z all by yourself. But it’s not the truth.4. IdeasDon’t have them. They shut others out. Inspiration comes when you’re open, generous, slutty even. Be a slut with your growth mindset. Go to bed with any and all ways of doing things. Not to brag but I have a friend that is an anti-vaxxer. Top that. Not that we go to bed with one another. You know what I mean. You don’t have to agree with everyone at Thanksgiving for you to travel across the country to see them.5. Blame YourselfThe things that are our fault are the things we can control. If you played a role in your victimhood (and it almost always takes two to tango) then you have agency. We have little control over most things but ourselves. When bad things happen ask yourself What part did I play in that? Point the finger of blame at yourself. That’s where the learning is. The fetishization of victimhood is a wide net and it comes with a lot of bycatch. Recently I screwed up with my youngest. I can’t even explain why I was cruel last night over a game of Blackjack. I didn’t think I was that competitive. After I apologized I tried not to beat myself up but I couldn’t stop. I still can’t. This behaviour cuts me off from making stuff. I can’t stop thinking about it. My inner victim is highjacking my day. I did this once in university when I was wrongfully accused of something. I moped around for far too long. When I’m like this I’m giving away all of my agency. I’ve become rather useless to myself and others. Fatherhood or motherhood must have a lot to do with being useful. So as I wallow I continue to not meet the very responsibilities I had failed at meeting during the blackjack game.6. Frank O’Hara“And I am out on a limb, and it is the arm of God.” Frank O'Hara wrote that. Out on a limb means being in the unknown. You’re in a spot just off course from the trail you’re familiar with. This is where art happens. It’s uncomfortable, awkward, your face goes red when you’re there, you don’t quite know what to do. That’s where you want to be. That’s where it all happens. It’s stressful but it’s the good kind. And then it ends and then you breathe a sigh of relief and you look around and your people are there too. The clowns, the misfits and the fools. Those are the people you want to emulate. The ones that are making art for others in spite of a bottom line.7. The Life You Live is Yours to GiveThe things that happened to you really happened. This is your grist for your mill. If it happened you’re allowed to talk about it. If it’s useful to you then use it. What else is it there for? No more secrets. Secrets are bad. They fester, they protect Catholic pedos and corporate greed. Fuck secrets, they’re for crooks. (Shoutout to Dougie Ford!) The best thing about being a writer is that when bad things happen (and they always do) you can rejoice in the recent acquisition of more ammunition. Art doesn’t happen when everything is peachy.8. PurposeThe only thing that will fill the void is the art you make. That feeling of fulfilment is all. It’s not cash or publication or views or likes. You know this already because you’ve been there. If you’re creating something you’re doing the very thing that you are compelled to do. That’s peace right there. For what more could anyone ask of you? Nothing. You’re fulfilling your requirements. You’ve read all the way to the end of the instructions before assembling.9. FriendsYour friends will save you. Do whatever it takes to find your people and then regularly buy them dinner. Do it over and over. Don’t be stingy. I was stingy (see earlier post on frugalness.) until I realized breaking bread with friends is the antidote to pretty much everything.10. StomachsYou’re allowed to have one. These days stomachs have been banished. Big butts are suddenly okay — but for how long? Now we must all have visible ab muscles. This is incorrect. Your voice comes from your belly (aka your bellows). My singing teacher Elizabeth taught me this. Don’t strangle your voice. Bellows require air. Not a lot. Just enough. It’s okay to look the way you do. Keep those bellows loose. Being fixated on a flat stomach strangles your voice and more importantly it makes you talk about how often you go to the gym and that is the worst conversation topic around.The profligate spread of vocal fry comes from our incessant need for flat tummies. We think that if we stop breathing we’ll look better. If we just don’t let our stomachs out people will love us but the result is no one can actually hear what we’re saying.And yet social media is all about everyone explaining everything to us. We are a world of influencers.Of what? Of whom? 11. Intimacy IssuesLaughter is intimacy. When we laugh we show others inside of ourselves. When we make others laugh we can see inside of them. Laughter is to commune between hearts. It is the very best thing you can do with people. You don’t have intimacy issues if you can drag yourself to a comedy club with another person. You’re fine. You just need to take more of that medicine and then get your prescription filled regularly.12. Stop Drinking So Much WaterYou’re not dehydrated. If you were you'd be in the hospital. Just relax and quit weaponizing everything. Think for yourself for God’s sake. Drink water when you’re thirsty. The human thirst mechanism is alive and well. Call bullshit on yourself. You can get water from coffee or an apple or broccoli. And there’s no scientific evidence that caffein is a diuretic. Quit giving your kids water bottles as big as their heads. They have brains. They’ll get water when they need it. Just shut up for a while.13. Don’t Be So Surprised Everything is TerribleWhen faced with adversity know that that is the natural state of the world: a shit sandwich. It’s cold comfort so take warm action. That’s the required response. An action that will warm your soul, feed your creativity and generate community. Find your people. Create together. Remember why we got into this in the first place. It doesn’t have to add to your workload or your list of obligations. It’s not meant to get you into your head. It can be writing in your journal, or painting or singing in a choir or whatever. Start small. The key is art should be about others not just about you. Art that resonates leaves room for an audience.14. You Have to Give it for it to be ArtThe way you find an audience is by making art that means something, that says something. If you want to be heard you have to make a statement. Don’t worry about the hustle yet. You have to have something to hustle before you start hustling. We try, try, try and then we die. That’s the entire trip. When somebody asks you what your plan is you say, “Well, I’m going to try something and see if it works. And if it doesn’t I’m going to try something else. And if that isn’t quite what I want then I’m going to pivot a little and try something else. I’m going to keep trying and in this trying I’m going to find my people, my like-minded weirdoes and we’re going to make stuff together, and laugh together, and fall in love and fall out of love and we’ll vacation together and we’ll be there for each other all the while making art together and then when I’m old and grey they’re going to walk me home. And I them. And that’s it. And when we admit we must make art, whatever that may be, we then admit something truly empowering: we can’t fail. You can’t fail if you’re making art. You just can’t. It’s yours but you make it for others. It’s a gift. You are gifted. So give it.How to Be a Person is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

I found a book in a little library called Talk Like Ted. It’s annoying both because I’m easily annoyed and it was written by a finance Chad that’s more successful than me. One suggestion is when you want to engage an audience (like at a Ted Talk) teach them something new. Or at least frame it in a novel way. I’ve been doing this newsletter for a couple years now and I am ready for something new. So here is one:I’m doing a new podcast with my friend Preet Banerjee . He’s a wealth manager and personal finance expert. The show is called Pop Finance. Here’s the logo: That’s a nice logo. Preet did that too. Preet did a lot of the heavy lifting on this show. Which is better for everyone. I’m the fun-guy, the charm, the magic. In other words my skill set is narrow. We explain money concepts found in your favourite Film & TV. And by we, I mean Preet. Preet explains the financials, I tear apart Ben Affleck’s “phoning it in” and Henry Cavill’s woodenness. Besides making fun of celebrities I teach you how to serve your audience. For a couple years now I’ve been teaching beginners how to get out of their own way, how to be present and how to connect with another human being in front of the camera. Everyone has an audience to serve these days but not everyone has learned how to talk properly. So while Preet teaches you personal finance I teach you how to listen like Frances McDormand in Nomadland or how to act confident like John Travolta in Get Shorty. Here’s the link to Spotify but you can listen to it wherever the podcasts are for you. Leave us a 5-star rating and/or glowing review on whatever platform you use. (5-stars only.) Honestly, why would anyone bother to leave less than a 5-star review? Crusher of Dreams, don’t you have some puppies to drown or something? Isn’t there sunshine for you to pooh-pooh? Go onto your podcast app, go to our podcast, scroll down and where it says “Tap to Rate:” TAP ALL FIVE STARS.Thank you. Gawd. Oh and the other thing I’m up to is grad school. I begin a Masters in Psychology in January. I’m going to be a talk therapist … iiiiin two-and-a-half years. So I’ll be writing about that. I’m really excited. AND I’ve quit auditioning. The ROI had flatlined. It’s weird to not do what you’ve done for over a quarter of a century but when I finally pulled the trigger it was quickly followed by a great sense of relief. I’m not getting any younger and from here on out I would like the hours of the day to amount to either helping someone or earning a living or both. Personal finance is something I've had to get better at out of necessity. I wish I could have someone else take care of all the adult stuff but when I look around — there is only me. If you’re like me then let this podcast be a complementary part of your financial edutainment. Feel free to give us recommendations for scenes from movies and shows that we might use for a future episode. You can reach me directly at [email protected] or at Boldacting.com where you’ll find links to my corporate coaching business, videos and more. Not At All A Thematically-Linked Book Recommendation: The Buried Giant by Kasuo Ishiguro. In Arthurian England an old couple search for their son. On their quest they meet murderous monks, pixies and a dragon. In the hands of Ishi this becomes a book of fantasy for people that don’t read fantasy. I couldn’t put it down. It’s immersive and weird and very convincing. Thanks for reading How To Be A Person. This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

A pendulum is a weight called a bob suspended from a pivot so it can swing freely. In Math there is a simple gravity pendulum that swings without friction. This is so nerds can measure things like amplitude and bob’s trajectory. In real life there are other forces affecting the period of oscillation, like gravitational pull and friction. The pendulum is within us and without. A starving man overeats and is soon vomiting. A suicidal person gets a terminal cancer diagnosis. You fall head over heels in love but soon the head and the heels find their rightful places.Does the stomach learn? Is the depressive impatient for their death bed? Do we ever stop looking for love?Story dictates a massive bob. The greater the distance between adversity and victory the more satisfied the audience. When we tell a story to a friend we consider the beginning, middle and end, we exaggerate and we punctuate. We use expression and our voice and our hands to add the friction. Whether we are actors or not we are wired up to perform.Everyone has to know how to talk these days. Be it an interview, a podcast, a Lunch & Learn, a Tedx or a keynote. We all have an audience to serve. We are always on. Now we say things like The best version of ourselves and Very online because the camera is ever-present.The pendulum is political and social. Strong man politics is on the rise. The world is ending. Again. You can worry — but how will that help? Besides, fear impacts judgement. When faced with adversity the greatest revenge is to make art from the misery. We need more artists not less. Bob is swinging towards peak art.In authoritarian regimes the artists are the first to go. Stalin required art meet certain criteria. Hitler controlled artists because he knew they threaten a dictatorship. Art creates new pathways for subversion. It gives kids ideas.And it’s happening today. In 2017 the Trump administration wanted to cut spending to the National Endowment for the Arts. 180 kms south of Mar-a-Lago, in 2015 the Cuban artist El Sexto spent ten months in prison for his anti-Castro art. PEN America has reported book banning in America has tripled last year.Dogs gonna to bark. Haters gonna hate. And bob’s gonna swing. It’s up to the artists to remind us there is utility in the friction. T’was always thus. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Now more than ever actors have to make their own opportunities. On the first episode we talk about how ACTRA members can make their own stuff and how best to navigate the ACTRA Toronto Co-op agreement. Cohosted by Gord Rand and Jason Bryden. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

How to be a Person is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.In Judith Kerr’s YA novel When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit (based on her escape from Nazi Germany as a child) she writes about how leaving her home and moving to Switzerland, Paris and finally London was a great adventure.It was not, of course, for her parents. They managed to keep it together under terrible circumstances and shielded their children from much of the horrors of displacement due to war. This reframing of one’s situation is a worthwhile exercise for us, also. To treat the difficulties like a picnic. Look forward to the challenges life throws you for they are guaranteed and evergreen. Try pursuing hardship instead of happiness for happiness is fleeting. Hardship, not so much. Look for the obstacles. Become good at smiling in the face of adversity. Just try this on for a while. Audition this approach. You can always go back to the way you did things before if it doesn’t serve you.This idea was reinforced by reading a work of fiction. Novels access a different part of the brain. It is the same part that is responsible for nuance, subtext, sarcasm, irony, and charm. Reading fiction gets you away from arguable things like facts and delve into the truths that make up the human condition. A condition we’d do well to become acquainted with. The truth is what we’re after. It’s irrefutable. We know a truthful performance when we see one. We might not know why we like it. That’s why we’ll say things like How does Mark Rylance do it? He does it by bearing his soul in public. How does Meryl do it? She does it by practicing listening and connection. What do we practice day-to-day? Are we out there in the world being honest with one another? Recently I was at Cafe Pamenar in Kensington Market for an evening called Be ME with the Holy Gasp. The ME is an initialism that stands for Meaningfully Encountered and The Holy Gasp is a multi-genre ensemble. I encourage you to check them out online and in-person. This night the Meaningful Experience was founder and trained psychotherapist Benjamin Hackman calling on audience members to come up on stage and receive free talk therapy accompanied by the band. The outcome was a strange mix of the intimate and the performative as the male participants tried desperately to entertain (one fake-cried repeatedly, one threatened to) and the female participant managing to investigate memory construction with the plonking dissonance of a toy piano behind her. All in all, a great night. One that served as a reminder of how hard it is to show vulnerability especially if you are a man. What cannot be overstated is the difficulties of the world require such behaviour. There is a difference between victimhood and vulnerability though. The former takes away agency and the latter creates it. For it is only within a truthful existence can we establish boundaries, build bridges and forge alliances. We are collaborators but we’re stuck in an individualized society that fetishes He was one man … Against the rest.For too long we equate strength with a stiff upper lip. But strength is removing your family from Nazi Germany in spite of the fear you feel. And then when you don’t think you can take anymore you do. And you practice falling in love with it. You call it what it is: adventure. The starting gun has gone off. The runners run. The crowd is cheering. That voice inside your head telling you to stop is fear. Push it down into the mud. You’re older than you think.Thanks for reading How to be a Person. This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

2009. A party at a house in Silver Lake. A horror movie director, named Tom, in a white button down shirt. A fat man with an architect’s eyewear that knew Jack Kerouac. The living room had a billiards table. The parlour had a wet bar, a wine closet and a stripper’s pole.I had made the hosts bucatini in a red sauce the week before. They served a better version of the same dish tonight. She had a tick where she would breathe quickly in through her nose twice when she wanted to punctuate something she had just said.All were actors or directors or writers even if they weren’t. The host had a hair salon but was an actor. The fat man worked at the city but was a writer. Before the host moved into this house the composer and singer/songwriter couple Jon Brion and Aimee Man lived here. I saw Jon sing at Largo once. When he sings he sounds like he’s being strangled.How To Be A Person is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.The man with the glasses said, “Jack refused to use toilet paper. He would carry around a washcloth he would use on his ass instead.” The horror director laughed quietly. I looked over at him. There were a series of red dots forming by his collar. He had scratched open a wound on his shoulder and there was blood seeping through his white shirt.They were all here in LA either trying to make it or trying to hold on to their bit of success.What is the difference between insanity and perseverance?One definition of insanity has been described — ad nauseam — as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Perseverance is defined as persisting in doing something despite difficulty. But to identify where one is going wrong and changing one’s approach that is something else. That’s adaptability. And it is the key missing ingredient.Being adaptable takes insanity and turns it into persistence. You try, try, try and then you die.Later that night a few of us repaired to the TV room and watched a Patton Oswalt special. He was a regular at my host’s salon.“My brother-in-law babysits this really smart two-year old. One night the kid needed to be changed. And my brother says Do I need to change your diapers? And the kid says Diaper. Singular. That’s the confidence of a serial killer. If you are shitting your pants and correcting someone’s grammar you’re just neck-deep in the crazy pool.”When I compare myself do I take into account good luck? Patton had made it. A comedian and an actor who could fill theatres and showed up regularly on Television. But how do we value what we cannot measure versus what we can? Is there virtue in never giving up?I have applied for grad school. It begins in January. I will be pursuing a Masters in Psychology.It’s a departure. But it’s definitely an area of interest and there is some overlap. Learning to act like other people and learning to be a person can inhabit the same space. I’ll know more in a month or so whether I’m accepted. I can’t say I’m looking forward to going back to school but I am excited at the prospect of becoming a therapist. I just might be done with auditioning. I’ve been doing it for a quarter of a century. I’ve had it with asking people permission to perform. I’ve got thirty summers left. Better to make them as useful to others as possible.That night I rode back to my apartment in West Hollywood. The air was perfumed with bougainvillea. I rode past Marcia Gay Harden’s home, past El Cid, past the Egyptian Theatre and the Tiki-Ti. A whole city of people from away desperately trying to stay on the right side of perseverance.And the difficulties continue whether you make it or not. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich and famous. Sometimes you’ll still find yourself at a party with blood on your shirt.“Best way to get into Hollywood? Take Fountain.” - Bettie Davis.Thanks for reading How To Be A Person. This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Porn is no longer relegated to sex acts. If the definition of a porn compulsion is an inability to stop using it (and let’s face it, we’re not just passively watching porn) then porn is also the way we interact with social media, dating apps and the biggest streamer in the world, YouTube. If you’re swiping and you’ve thought to yourself, “I’m 30 minutes closer to the grave and I have nothing but shame and self-loathing to show for it,” it’s porn. Swiping up and down, left or right = pornography.Comparison pornTrauma pornFood pornCar pornCute animal pornShame pornNothing is worse than porn porn.I subscribe to a newsletter called Culture Reframed which advocates for greater measures in the U.S. to protect children from pornography. The newsletter is a pipeline of bad news, statistics that will leave you hopeless and reports from the front lines of advocacy that are all too familiar. Like “For young people today, pornography is the de facto sex education. It’s a scary realization, but when porn is more prevalent in society than comprehensive sex ed curriculums, there’s really no way around it.”This describes growing up in Ford Nation. Dougie repealed Kathlyn Wynn’s progressive sexual and health education curriculum and turned back the hands of time to the last millennium as a political move. This government’s regressive policies are transferring a previous generation’s hang-ups, prejudices and lack of experience as legislation to their children. Thanks mum and dad and the wealthy bully in charge and organized religion. Clearly, you know better.So instead of learning about sex, kids learn about how sex workers perform sex in front of the camera. That’s like banning math class and instead the teacher just plays Good Will Hunting over and over again and calls the section “Algebra with Matt Damon”.Performance can teach us many things but it is no replacement for things like sexual health education. Just like watching Tim Toks on yoga, cooking or My Little Pony is no replacement for living a life. The pornification of everything has happened. People think blowjobs must include choking. They also think going to a movie and looking at their phone at the same time is being a good audience member. What do we do about this? Well, using my two children as the world’s smallest and least representative sample size, I can tell you I’ve had some luck with making their smart phones dumb (no internet), and placing major restrictions on screen time (6 hours a week). I treat them and myself like addicts. Practicing healthy habits and regulation is key.Hi and welcome to another edition of Let Me Tell You How to Live your Life.We read together, we read to each other, we watch movies and sports. But we do not go off to our separate rooms and stare at our devices. We don’t bring devices out to dinner. The price of admission for someone else cooking, serving and cleaning means you have to learn to sit there and make conversation with boring adults. You better get used to it. The world is lousy with them.We do this because we know ourselves to be, at times, compulsive, helpless animals, governed by impulse and habit. And it’s no big deal. My kids are used to it. They aren’t jonesing for their devices purely because they’ve been acclimatized. Seriously, if I can parent like this, anyone can.The upside to being so flawed is if you can try-on a touch of self-awareness there’s a lot you can learn. I’m talking to you Dougie.I wonder what his search history looks like.Doug Ford’s Search HistoryThanks for reading BOLD ! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

27. How To Be A Person — A Second IntentionThe kids were dressed-up. The parents were sweaty. 14 was graduating from his tiny middle school  — population 58 students — at 1:30PM on a Wednesday in June. The ceremony was held in the gym at Shirley Street P.S. in the Portuguese neighbourhood of Brockton Village.Beside the school is 75 St. Clarens. The very first house we lived in all those years ago when we moved as a young family to Toronto. Coming back here triggers feelings of nostalgia and memories of that house: a wall-hanging of large lips made of hair, no A/C in our first Ontario summer (35 degrees/84% humidity), doors that wouldn’t close, creaky steps to wake your three month-old at nap time. And worse of all, the oppressive sound of other people’s children screaming during lunch break. Four students got up and sang a song accompanied by a tentative guitar that ended with the refrain, “Maybe I’m the problem” sung over and over again. Wow. And on their graduation day. A cry for help? Or one last shot over the bow. You adults have not done your job. Then two of the students singing held up a cue card each that read “Sing Along”. And so the sweaty parents sheepishly joined in. Now we were the problem. A second intention. Touché. We the quarry, unwitting then embarrassed. None could argue their complicity.The principal deployed the requisite effusiveness, gratitudes and the expected quote from MLK. A prodigy played the theme from Dawson’s Creek. Generation X looked up from their withered haunches. A town of prairie dogs smelling something coming in on the breeze.Big forehead. What was his name? James? Michelle Williams. What a career.The kids came up one-by-one to receive their certificates.-A young woman struggling in her mother’s platforms.-Raoul Julia shook hands like he was royalty. Expert in Myrmecology apparently.-A stylish 2020’s version of Susie Myerson with cane, mask and po’boy.-A charming rogue in an officer’s coat and an el bandito taped to his upper lip.-My sweet, sweet 14 with his big brain in his pressed shirt and a mouth full of metal.Live performance isn’t so much about whether it’s good or bad. It’s how you’re affected. The sound of other people’s children on this day was nothing short of thrilling.It was still 35 degrees on this day, our last day in Brockton Village. We were meant to mingle and eat cake but like father, the son wanted to go as quickly as possible. We rode our bikes to an ice cream shop on Dundas and toasted his commencement. Onto the Design School at Western Technical-Commercial School in September. A school the size of an airport with a student population of 1200. Good luck my dear.Have expectation. Prepare to be enlightened. Allez!Goodbye. Give that rare person in your life a gift commensurate with your feelings for them. The How To Be a Person Newsletter I snot only short, it has nothing to do with taxes, doomscrolling or comparing yourself to others fake lives on instagram. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

When I type the title of this newsletter there is always a grammatical negotiation that goes on in my head. Title case isn’t, as previously thought, capitalizing the first letter of every word. It is capitalizing just the major words — which suggests there are minor words. These are articles and pronouns. (Even in 2024 grammar doesn’t really care all that much about your pronouns.) But what of ‘be’? Isn’t the word ‘be’ major? It’s the subject of pretty much everything from Hamlet’s relentless monologuing re. his existence to all of the latest new age self-helpy be-here-now books, ‘Be’ is major.I’m at the airport. I sweated through this shirt by the time I got to the train that took me to the airport. I like an airport just like I like a hospital. The comings and goings, hellos and goodbyes. People of all different shapes and sizes and outfits (zipper pants) and economic classes. Except for those flying private or First Class. Ever notice you’ve never seen First Class? You’ve seen Business Class. You’ve called Business Class First Class. But it’s not. Where is First Class? I bet they have a separate entrance.It’s the planes I don’t like. It’s traveling I can’t take anymore. I don’t fit anywhere. I can’t afford the seat I so richly deserve. I’m too tall for economy. Even the exit row doesn’t provide enough girth for my thoroughbred-size hips.And then Chuck comes on the blower - ‘cause he’s hands-free — and brags about us being up at 40 000 feet. I wanna say Chuckles, why don’t you put the PA down and quit filling me with fear? Your Hey-isn’t-jet-travel-great is my Bring-on-the-holodeck-tout-suite.40 000 feet up in the air with nothing between you and certain, protracted death but a couple engines built by Boeing, a company best known for planes that shed parts mid-flight. Why don’t you just put me in an open-air dinghy heading out to the reef for some snorkelling only for the Australian guide to exclaim The water is just frothing with sharks. Thanks Bruce. This is a right rippa.Both planes and sharks account for far less deaths than cars I hear you say and to that I say Fuck off. I’m not interested in your reason. When has reason ever worked for you? When is reason a reasonable response to someone having emotions? Have you learned nothing from that old battle-axe in the corner you call Honey?I don’t fly a lot. Not like a I used to. I love that. I love not going places. I love staying home. When the kids leave I’m going to leave too but it’s not to travel. It’s to go to another gigantic city and live there. Deep and narrow, that’s how I like to see a place. Deep and narrow.I’m trying to think of a That’s what she said joke but nothing’s coming.Anyway, back to the zipper pants. When are those gonna get stylish? You see all kinds wearing other atrocities like Crocs or fleece or an adult wearing a baseball cap backwards of all things. Often that animal will have paired a pair of wraparound sunglasses perched either on the brim or on the back of their neck (not wanting to block the tattoo on the side of said neck.) The zipper pant hasn’t made the jump from the Tilley crowd to the Cool crowd. Yet.Whose legs all of a sudden get so hot they have to unzip just the 30% from the knees down?I just saw a couple devour a couple of foot-longs in total silence. They sat across from each other, between them at least thirty years of marriage. I thought of the beautiful couple in Tampopo passing a raw yolk between their mouths.Tampopo. I think it might be perfect. Across from me there’s a tattooed couple from Quebec that favour deep, rich tans, muscle shirts and jarhead haircuts. The one with the thyroid condition cannot leave his phone alone. Oh now he’s taking photos of the crowd in front of the gate desk. Now an Air Canada employee is talking to him, asking him why he’s taking pictures of his co-workers.The footlong wife just handed her bottle of chocolate milk to her husband to open. That’s sweet. Both the move and the drink. Surprising because she’s got the arms of a linebacker. She’s holding her phone up. I wonder if she’s taking my picture? No one takes my picture anymore. Getting older means becoming invisible. Maybe that’s why we die our hair blue and vote conservative. Everyone just wants to be included.Chuck can drop dead at the controls for all I care. We all know it’s a computer that flies these birds. I just hope the emergency door I’m sitting beside stays put. I do like being here.A human being at 40 000 feet above the Earth, praying he makes it to an age where zipper pants are not only expected but make sense.Be here now. How can I not?How to be a Person, What I learned from Reading and the Bold Interview are supported by you. Consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Everybody knows the polls look terrible for Justin. Everyone knows Pierre Poillievre will be our next Prime Minister. But there are three things that Justy Trews could do differently that would afford him a more elegant exit.By virtue of Pierre’s runaway popularity I find myself hoping the lengthy run-up to the next election is just enough rope for the Calgarian. And by the way, he IS a Calgarian so the Anglos trying to pronounce Poillievre’s name Frencherly can stop. Thanks. You’re fooling no one. I can’t stand being in accordance with popular sentiment however the evidence is overwhelming. Watch for Pierre to enjoy a landslide victory come next Spring.The Top Three Things Justin Can Do so he Loses with Grace1. Distance yourself from Jagmeet SinghIt’s over. And the NDP are always the bridesmaids. Go out on your own Justin. Start swinging for the fences. It’s Hail Mary time. Do something radical! (That doesn’t mean you should start wearing capes again.)2. Get a GirlfriendHalle Berry is single. So talented, so beautiful. Also has three kids.3. Learn How to Talk.What is with the hushed drama-voice? Justin, you’re not narrating a nature documentary. You’re not David Attenborough sneaking-up on an Ibex giving birth. What’s with all the stilted and breathy emotion? No one is buying it.Check out this cringe-worthy Christmas video for example:One YouTube comment said “Only Trudeau would manage to turn a Christmas message into a lecture.”How does he do it? He still wants to be an actor, that’s how. But when we add a thick layer of mustard to our communications we lead the witness. Audiences don’t need to be told how to feel. The less editorializing the better. Politicians are the worst at this. Leave room for the audience. When we’re watching a performance we don’t want it handed to us on a silver platter. We want to be a part of the alchemy. Prime Minister, the minute you quit acting is the minute people will stop rolling their eyes at you. Tighten the cap on your bottle of effervescence. Watch the great performances. Take your cues from Frances McDormand, Gene Hackman or Michael Stuhlbarg. They don’t spell it out for you, they don’t hammer you on the head with it. Put thine eyebrows down, Justin. We get it. You’re a feeler. And put the cape down too. Dress-up time starts again summer 2025.BOLD is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

What stories are you telling yourself?Victimhood is the neighbourhood I used to live in (but I’m not talking about trauma. I’m just talking about how the ego hijacks.)A favourite story I used to tell myself was the one where I absolve myself of all responsibility for bad things happening. It was in 1993 and a friend of mine accused me of hitting on his girl. I would never have done such a thing. He was way stronger than me, older than me, I looked-up to him. I remember mooning about Banff (I don’t know why we were in Banff) horrified at the charges. Why was this happening to me? I had done nothing wrong. I would never consider such a thing. Even though it was right around this time I was hooking-up with Shawna … who had a boyfriend named John.Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill. I wasted so much time feeling sorry for myself.Some Other Stories We Like To Tell Ourselves:- We’re dehydrated and we need to carry around water bottles the size of pony kegs or we will turn into dust and blow away. The truth is the human thirst mechanism is alive and well. You’re not dehydrated, you’re just thirsty. Dehydration is a serious medical condition. As a rule of thumb, try not to take health advice from the Nestle Corporation.- We still threaten our children that Santa won’t come if they’re bad. Idle threats, much? My children have gotten everything they asked for no matter the behaviour.- Recycling. Absolute horseshit. And deep down you know it.How To Accept An ApologyHe apologized to me. He was drunk. I still couldn’t believe the injustice of it all. But I was young. When someone apologizes to you and you accept it that should be the end of it. If accepted the apology wipes the slate clean. Apologizing is the most self-full thing you can do. It gives you your life back. And life is short. Apologies are a fast track to the present moment. They are a French Exit, an Irish Goodbye. Hank Snow movin’ on.Hank Snow. You can tell he’s a hoser by the size of his cherry. If it’s our fault then we have agency to change the way we respond to things. Apropos of a disappointing exchange with a stranger my ex-mother-in-law once said “The things people say to me.” Identifying the common denominator in that statement is a highly underrated way to remind oneself we have far more control over how we feel about things.John had a ponytail. Shawna had the cutest moustache. It’s funny the things you remember.MartyrdomIt’s my fault is a tool for freedom. It’s not said with a heavy sigh as we go back into the kitchen to scrub the floors, Cinderella. It’s more like a — Well that didn’t work out the way I was hoping. How can I come at this from a different angle. It’s lighter. It’s less work. And I’m always interested in the path of least resistance. Besides, have you noticed no one ever asks for a martyr? They are foisted upon us.I want more recourse, not less. I want all the recourse. I don’t want to be defeated by something or someone. I want to win.Life As A GameA couple weeks ago I got nervous about having to volunteer at the ACTRA Toronto Awards. There are people on council that I disagree with. They disagree with me. Some of us want change faster than others. Also, I don’t like crowds.Imagine being the Prime Minister. Or a surgeon with someone’s life in your hands. I can’t handle two hours of volunteerism. Meanwhile, my friend Dr. Mark goes around replacing people’s hips for a day job. Perhaps it comes with practice. Maybe gaming everything could help. I’ve noticed high functioning people often speak about treating life like a game. They do the things to win the game but more importantly they know if all else fails they’ll probably be alive when the whistle blows. After all, it’s just a game.If I’m still alive then I’m doing great.The opposite of victimhood isn’t a British stiff upper lip, it’s going easy on yourself. It’s not thinking so much, it’s not trashing yourself, I say to myself. Over and over.Volunteering at the awards was fun. I love actors. They dress-up, they love posing for their picture, they love each other. They’re demonstrative and loud and funny in spite of a lockout by Scott Knox and the ICA that has just had its two year anniversary.I wonder what Shawna’s up to these days.After my shift at the registration table was over I walked through the ballroom filled with hundreds of fellow performers. I pretended to talk to one person I was introduced to. Then I went outside, got on my bike and rode to Etobicoke as fast as I could. I began breathing again right around the edge of the city.Maybe I never liked crowds and I just didn’t know it. Or maybe it’s just a story.How to be a Person, The Bold Interview and What I Learned from Reading … are three streams of content under the Bold Acting umbrella. They are all written, produced and edited by me, Jason Bryden. BOLD is a reader-supported publication. Consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Born in 1970 in Lviv, Ukraine Dmitry Chepovetsky’s family moved to Regina when he was a baby.He began acting in high school before attending theatre school at Ryerson now known as Toronto Metro University.Chepovetsky is best known for his recurring role on ReGenesis as Bob Melnikov, the show’s lead biochemist and a person with autism. The role garnered him two Gemini Award nominations for best actor in a dramatic series once in 2005 and once in 2007.Chepovetsky has also played Nikola Tesla in CBC’s long-running Murdoch Mysteries. Picasso in Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile but these days you can find him as Bo on Kurt Smeaton’s Children Ruin Everything on CTV.I got a chance to speak to him on Victoria Day 2024 at my house in Toronto.BOLD is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Eric Peterson is one of Canada’s most iconic actors. With a career that spans more than 50 years. Best known for his roles in Corner Gas, Street Legal and onstage as the WWI flying ace Billy Bishop in Billy Bishop goes to War which he co-created with writer and composer John Gray.We talk about how at age 77 he doesn’t have any work lined-up. As well as what makes for great performance and what was his best year. Peterson lives in Toronto with his wife Annie Kidder, sister to the late Margot Kidder.He came over to my house and we talked at my dining room table.You can listen to the Bold Acting Podcast (the Bold Interview, the What I Learned from Reading …, and How to be a Person Newsletter read aloud) wherever the podcasts are for you. If you like the Bold Acting Podcast talk it up at your next dinner or book club. Word-of-Mouth is the best form of advertising. If you don’t like it maybe just keep that to yourself.Rating and reviewing the thing is also greatly appreciated. It goes a long way to spreading the word.BOLD is a reader-supported publication and podcast. Consider becoming a paid subscriber.At my house in West Toronto May 2024. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Thanks to my paid readers. I appreciate you more than you know. I brag about you in social settings. You don’t have to pay for this but you do. The future looks brighter with you in my corner. If you like this newsletter consider upgrading to paid. Doing so gives you license to complain to me about spelling misteakes, grammatical errors, etc. Consider becoming a paid subscriber. Apples to OrangesI recently spent an hour on instagram and deleted the app once again from my phone. I would quit the phone altogether if there weren’t such a thing as podcasts and audio books.Am I doing this right? What of this grind? Is this a good way to spend what’s left of my short, little life?Dr. Saras Sarasvathy, professor of business at the University of Virginia speaks about effectual entrepreneurship, specifically Affordable Loss. Break down costs: How much will it cost you to start a new venture? 80-90% of start-up costs are human capital. The way to do it is to convince people to help you for deferred payment.Predicting the future is difficult. Figure out what you are willing to lose rather than what you expect to make. Forget profit projections. Try stuff on the cheap if possible. Call this your business school. You can learn so much by the doing without going into student debt.“Cultivate opportunities that have a low failure cost that generate more options for the future.”Sarasvathy cites Richard Branson starting an airline with planes leased from Boeing instead of buying his own. He didn’t seek investors, didn’t give away his company to venture capital. He kept costs low. James Dyson built his cyclonic vacuum prototype  5,127 times in a shed and lived on bank loans for more than 15 years. Don’t buy an office before you have to. Don’t get a partner before absolutely necessary.Be kind to yourself. Remember that when you have to do it all on your own it’ll take longer but you’ll learn more.The first Dysons were made from cardboard. You can fail in business. You can’t fail when you’re making art (Even Chris Gaines sold two million records). Bad art is still art. You try something then you evaluate it. You have to listen back to that song or podcast. You have to re-read the thing you wrote. And not with love in your heart but with the cold, sober eye of the editor or critic. Ask yourself, did I fully get what was inside my head out into the world? Could I make it better?SatisfactionismIs it not strange that perfectionism is a word but satisfactionism is not? There is a line somewhere between the two, between making something great and beating it to death. When is a child fully whelped?Apple launches their products before they’re ready and then comes out with fixes.Google beta-tests projects, gets feedback, quits things (Google Glass, Google Plus, Google Trips, etc.)I left home at 18 then came back at 19, then left home again at 21 and then came back at 26. This went on a couple more times. Anyway, my parents were (are) incredibly generous.With my latest venture (a new podcast with personal finance expert Preet Banarjee) we are excited to pair complementary skillsets. Preet likes to dot the ’i’s and cross all the ’t’s. My preference for a premature birth means that together we’re hoping his mature chocolate and my juvenile peanut butter might add up to just right.Analogies have never been my strong suit.Comparing my Navel orange to someone else’s Granny Smith is just par for the course. The trick is to not be too hard on yourself. Sticking your neck out there is exhausting. Here’s hoping that equals a better sleep tonight.A ream of newsletters means no one is looking for another. If you find How to be a Person a worthwhile read then please share it. Find me on insta: @jasonbrydenofcanadaYoutube.com/jasonbrydenboldacting.com This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Getting advice from comedians is like getting advice from a funny person that has managed to survive one of the most difficult vocations around. I don’t have to tell you that comedians come out on stage, into what is historically a hostile environment their only weapons a mic and their words. Who better to give survival tips? Jimmy Carr is a British stand-up comedian known for his offensive one-liners and deadpan delivery. “I could have phoned in a showbiz book of 60,000 words, stuck a couple of pictures in, cash the cheque, great. But I didn’t want to shortchange anybody and in the end it became a labour of love.” - Jimmy Carr. Carr turns out to be a huge fan of self-help books. He read lots when he was in his early 20s, trudging to his marketing job at Shell each day, dissatisfied with his life and longing for some excitement. “Self-help opened my eyes a little bit to the idea that the rules that affect our lives aren’t written. — The Guardian’s Tim Jones, September 2021. I too love self-help books. I don’t care if they say the same thing over and over. I need the reminding. I’m not especially prone to joining cults so there’s no danger of me sending a charismatic all of my money. I’ve taken 12 pages of notes and recorded them here but I can recommend this book as a great listen. I got it on Audible. I hope you like it too. BOLD is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

"What I Learned ..." is one of three different streams of podcasts you’ll find under the hospices of The Bold Acting Podcast. The other two are the Bold Interview (upcoming talks include Eric Peterson) and this newsletter. Find all the episodes wherever the podcasts are for you. Friday, May 3rd, 2024Advice from a stand-up doesn’t seem so wrong. British comic Jimmy Carr had a boring life, he didn’t want it anymore so he stopped working for Shell Oil and started doing stand-up instead.Now he has an interesting life.What is your path? If you want to be a doctor the path is clear. But what if you wanted to be a comic or an actor? The path is less clear. It might take longer. There might be crashes along the way. There might be detours. Some people take the scenic route and then get lost altogether.What road are you on now? Bumpy or boring? Heading in the right direction or have you thrown the map out the window. Who is in the car with you? Are they helpful? Are they good navigators? Or are they complainey backseat drivers?Jimmy Carr loves a good crisis. Crisis has a bad name. Crisis needs some crisis management. Crisis is just change. We should look forward to it because change is the only guarantee.True education is not what to think but how to think. What nobody teaches you at university is how to be a person (my words). Why do you do, Jimmy asks? Not what but why do you do the thing you do? Do you know?Ever wondered why trust-fund kids are such fuck-ups? They don’t have any purpose. That and nobody likes a white person with dreadlocks.Find your purpose and then pursue it. That’s how you do it according to Jimmy Carr. But Jimmy is a millionaire with a career and possible name recognition. I don’t think he’s saying do as Jimmy does and you’ll be happy. He’s saying he changed everything and he’s just an average bloke. It’s not easy but it’s not rocket science either.I’m saying, me, JB, I’m saying make art. Big, small, doesn’t matter. Make the art. Remember why you wanted to perform in the first place. Go back to that feeling. Don’t wait, don’t ask for permission, start small and for God’s sake don’t think about it too much. Just paint. Or Tell jokes. Or act. Do it with others. And I guess I’m saying this, all of this, every time, because I want to hear it. I just get scared or complacent or tired or overwhelmed.Why am I so adamant the world needs more artists? Because if a million people begin bucking the trend  towards the bottom-line within a capitalist society we might think about consumption less. I think we’ll fill those holes in our souls with creativity and community instead of stuff and likes. I think others will see us doing it and they’ll want in. What if we stopped doing so much? What if we made stuff without expectation?I’m just talking about art. Whatever that means to you. For me it’s performance. I was wired up for it. And when I’m not doing it, it’s a much more boring life.That’s how I talk into cell phones. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Thank you to the paying customers, you golden few that have upgraded to paid. I really appreciate you. Do you pay for other newsletters? If so what makes it worth it? I’ve included a poll here for paid subscribers. I’d love to know what you think and how I can make BOLD better.This is an excerpt from my upcoming book: Be Bold ‘Cause You’re Going to Die. (When it comes out you have only one choice: buy in bulk. I have your email address. I’ll know if you only buy one. I’m dying okay? So you better heed me.)In Ian MacEwan’s novel Amsterdam one man takes his terminally ill frenemy to progressive Amsterdam to have him euthanized.In the Denis Arcand film The Barbarian Invasions Remy, the cancer-ridden protagonist retreats to the countryside with his friends before getting Marie-Josée Croze to inject him with heroin until he is dead.In The Last Doctor a man in chronic pain sits in his SRO hoping for Death but he has no friends or family to help him. Until a rebellious MAID doctor (Medical Assistance in Dying) comes along and saves his death.Everyone wants to know how to have a good life. This should include a good death.I think the answer is: Swing for the fences ‘cause life is short. Swing every day. Don’t get angry with yourself if you strikeout. Home-run hitters strike out a lot. Just keep aiming for that fence.This book is really just a post-it note to myself. Keep trying stuff, Jason. Don’t go and get a job. You weren’t meant for that and besides, you’d be a terrible employee.I have died 52 years. That’s 52 years I’ll never see again. Those 52 years are gone. What have I done with them? Enter: Rampant Rationalization. No, no J.B. you’ve done a lot, I hear you say. You’ve helped whelp two functioning children. You’ve managed to maintain a much leveraged position within the lower-middle class. You haven’t killed the cat yet.These are true facts and it would add up to accomplishment but for the relativism (everyone around me has also not killed their cat) that reminds me the real yardstick is elsewhere.In Margaret Drabble’s short story The Merry Widow a woman goes on a vacation her domineering husband had planned. He had done her the immeasurable kindness of dying prior to take-off. At her B&B she sees an old man cutting the grass next door with a scythe and thinks it must be Death calling for her. But it turns out to be Father Time. Death shows up as a skeleton. This was “only Time, Time friendly, Time continuing, Time healing… And when he had finished cutting the grass he had gone harmlessly away, leaving her in possession of herself, of her place, of her life.”She breathed deeply. The sap began to flow. She felt it flow in her veins.   All at once the stakes are high and there’s no need to worry. Worrying doesn’t help but it does hurt. I want to be mindful of my impending doom so I can prioritize. Sometimes I can do it. Sometimes not.Places I’ve Succeeded in Prioritizing in the Face of Death:- I don’t reply to emails or texts if I don’t have to. I just delete them. I don’t care anymore. If you message me and I don’t reply it is not because I think you’re a terrible person. It’s just because I’m busy walking with death.- I don’t hang-out with people I don’t like. I used to do it regularly. I’ve wasted a lot of other people’s time over the years being nice. Niceness is a waste of a life.- I try not to spend a minute on shyness. I try to talk to strangers but being rather introverted I find it stressful. Nothing ever happens to scaredy-cats sitting in the corner.- I don’t get in my car unless completely unavoidable. I’d rather be scared for my life on my bike than angry and behind the wheel.- I don’t go to sporting events unless it’s soccer. (A seventh inning stretch? Are you joking? That should be the end of the bloody game!)- I am a solitary man. This means I don’t have to maintain a romantic relationship with a woman. This has freed-up huge amounts of time, energy and money. I can honestly say I am the freest I’ve ever felt.Places I’ve Failed in Prioritizing in the Face of Death:- I got elected to my union council. This means more emails and meetings, more stress and more adult business. Gross. I can’t wait to quit or be removed due to scandal.- I still have to earn a living. This is a huge failure. What a lot of hustling. I’d much rather be reading and writing.- I live in an old house. This takes a lot of resources. I meant to have already moved into a rented apartment where I would have to do little in the way of upkeep. I have no interest in gardening, mowing lawns, raking leaves. I don’t even like plants. Somehow I’ve got myself a large backyard with grass and trees not to mention the above-ground lap pool and the hot tub I now have to maintain.- I have a cat. The cat-litter situation is the worst part of cat ownership. She’s lucky she’s entertaining.- I am a solitary man. This means I am not in a romantic relationship. Which definitely leaves a bit of a hole.28 SummersA walk with Death reminds me it could end at anytime. But if all goes well I might have another 28 good summers left. What kind of fun would I like to have between now and then? I don’t want to get married again. I’d rather my children leave the house in a timely fashion. I should like to move to Stockholm or Copenhagen if I can swing it.Ingredients for a Good LifeIn order to kick it up a notch I think I should:- Introduce more bad behaviour. Truancy, day-drinking, dogging.- More pranks. I’ve recently bought a fart machine. I’m on the hunt for googly-eye glasses.- Risk-taking: Get back into stand-up, start doing drugs again or go to a sex club.- Self-publish all these books I’ve written. Stop waiting around for someone else to give me the go-ahead.- Make shows, onstage and in front of the camera with fellow creatives. That’s what it means to be an actor. An actor is not someone that waits around by the phone.- Get a Maine Coon. But only after Nala is dead. Well dead. I need a break.   And include my children in as much of this stuff as possible (minus the sex stuff obviously). Show them how to live a life in the face of a horrifying inevitability that is hard to talk about. Besides, it’s not really death that is so bad as much as it is the prospect of dying, all this anticipation of how it may or may not go. And what of suffering? What of pain or forgetting who you are or who anyone else is? No, I’d rather walk with Death than walk with dementia if given the choice.Death doesn’t sound so bad in the face of losing your marbles. When I’m really old will I look back and think, I’m so glad I played it safe. Or will I be able to honestly say I tried it all. Success doesn’t matter. Nor will it ever come if not for trying. And the only failure is to fail in making the attempt in the first place.We try, try, try and then we die. Until then, the man with the scythe is a gentle reminder to care for the one thing that is yours and yours alone: a life. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

14 and 11 (almost 12) are keeping their cards close to their chest. I am always asking them if they’re masturbating yet in an attempt to normalize it. I am beginning to think I have failed. You know when someone talks so much you can’t hear them anymore? I think that has happened.I haven’t used porn since September 2022. I wasn’t hooked on it but I did rely on it and I wanted to have my house in order before my children came of age.I miss it. So convenient. Not like a miss cigarettes. Now those things are addictive. But we already knew that.A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) demonstrated that the same genes subserving addiction craving are also associated with salt craving, a natural instinct. In other words, addiction is disordered wanting at a very basic, cellular level.(Dr. Donald Hilton, Culture Reframed, March 13th, 2024).A couple summers ago I bought my children an online sexual health course to bolster the education they weren’t getting here in regressive Ford Nation. (Read about it in this charming piece called Canada Province Cancels New Sex Ed Curriculum After Protests from the BBC.) 14 and 11 didn’t like the course. They said the jokes were terrible. I watched a little and thought their review was overly kind. The jokes were unspeakably bad. I almost wrote the organization for a refund.Both of their phones are dumb. Just a phone, text and Spotify on them. And the laptops are on safe-search, which probably doesn’t do much. Abstinence doesn’t work. I should provide them with an alternative. So I’m scouring vintage shops and Facebook Marketplace looking for old porn mags.I mean, she’s wearing a Christmas tree. Not exactly XXX. Growing up we had a porno bush. It was a rhododendron tree on the west side of the West Van Ice Arena. It always had porn in it. We called it the Porno Bush.We also had a vodka stump. But anyway …I am hoping that old-timey soft core porn is a good idea. Better than them not hearing anything I say. Definitely an improvement over the things they can see online. Besides, there’s interviews with Kurt Vonnegut and Maya Angelou. Plus, all that great advertising.Zig When Others ZagExploring the opposite can unleash a lot of potential. If you’re at least not doing the same thing everyone else is doing you’ll separate yourself from the pack. You’re not being afraid. And fear impacts judgement so you’re making less mistakes. You’re thinking for yourself (I tell myself). Rather than wringing my hands and telling my kids porn will ruin your future sex-life I am recognizing the lay of the land and I am showing them another path forward.Other People’s ParentsThe value of my children being with adults that aren’t me or their mother is also underrated. The importance of having friends isn’t just for companionship, it’s for their companion’s parents and caregivers too. Other adults who have lived a life and learned something from it. And whose voice they can still hear.In 1994 I got my first email address. In 1995 my cousin built me my first website. Fatlamb.com. (So old it predates the wayback machine.) In 1997 Ontario got a new sexual health curriculum. And that is still the same one that is taught to our children today because Dougy Fresh didn’t want to piss-off the religious. So our kids aren’t being taught by other people’s parents how dangerous the internet can be.I’m going to do other things to encourage healthy habits for my two male children. I’m going to buy them beer. I’m going to suggest they can party at mine. I’ll help them procure fake IDs. They can have their own Uber accounts. Whatever it takes so they aren’t in their rooms staring at TikTok.I just hope they don’t come home with cigarettes. I’d be hard-pressed to say no.BOLD is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

This week on the Bold Acting Podcast I read my notes gleaned from Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. One of the things he talks about is why we get ourselves into trouble: because it’s easier than finishing what has to be done, Pressfield says. Everything from being late to blaring loud rap music, drug addiction, compulsive screwing up and jealousy is resistance (his word for the universal force that is at war with the creative spirit).Obviously there is a lot wrong with the above statement. Addiction is an illness not a choice. And I would suggest listening to Hip Hop at whatever volume level is more a matter of musical taste than anti-creativity. He has a preponderance towards the angry old-manisms to be sure. Those aside the book for the most part acts as a tome of encouragement. A rarity these days when it comes to the Arts and artists.But this trouble we get ourselves into is also living a life. To be jealous might not be the best way to spend all of your time but it also means you care about someone that someone else seems to care about too. One man’s screw-up could be another man’s risk taken. What seems bad at the time can end up being excellent. Like the dissolution of my marriage.That is not how you work an elipses, Esquire. Shame on you. The working artist harnesses the urge for trouble and puts it in their work, says Pressfield. Sure. Maybe. Not all the time. If you’re out there engaging with other humans there’s gonna be trouble. At least you better hope there is. Without it there is no grist. And then what will you feed your mill?One of the best things you can do for your performance is to be an actor that gets themselves into trouble. We don’t want to watch polished as much as we want to watch actors deal successfully with a lot of problems. That’s why you see Brad Pitt eating all the time and Sam Rockwell dancing and check out Kyle Maclachlan talking on his CB radio while driving a car and reading his notebook as he enters Twin Peaks.For your next audition see if you can’t load yourself up with props. Try eating convincingly on-camera. Give yourself a couple marks. Add an eye-line if you can. All this will give your performance a dynamism that others will not.The responsible actor shows up early with their lines memorized and then they jump into the manure as quickly as possible and see if they can’t come up smelling of roses.BOLD is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.I’m going to ask you just one favour, if you like reading this thing then sign up your entire contacts list to it, would ya? Just kidding, that would be cheating. Okay, how about just five of your friends. Share this post with them and suggest to them they might like to read it on a weekly basis.Thanks so much.For more information go to https://boldacting.com.Find my podcast The Bold Acting Podcast wherever the podcasts are. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Steven Pressfield is a cheerleader. And we need more of those in this world. There are too many naysayers out there and inside our heads. We don’t need someone else telling us we’re getting it wrong. What serves me as a teacher? To position myself as rarefied? To conflate experience with wisdom? To profess my way as being the only way?In separating myself from the pack, I want to remain a student and a cheerleader. We didn't get into this mess because we've been making too much art. We've been focusing on the wrong things.It's time to play.“Some things are too important to take seriously.” - Oscar WildeBOLD is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.If you like the Bold Acting Podcast talk it up at your next dinner or book club. Word-of-Mouth is the best form of advertising. If you don’t like it maybe just keep that to yourself.Rating and reviewing the thing is also greatly appreciated. It goes a long way to spreading the word.To get in touch email me at:  [email protected] on Instagram  @jasonbrydenofcanadaThe song used in this podcast is called Sure and it was made by Braak which is electronic and cinematic music made by Øyvind Strand Endal from Norway.Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/braak/sureLicense code: AVTXANAUYZXHSHB0 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Rebecca Northan has been improvising and working as an actor since the 1990s. I met her at our illustrious alma mater The University of Calgary. She got her start at the famous Loose Moose Theatre Company in Calgary. There she met founder and improv master Keith Johnstone whose teachings would shape Northan’s career and life.In 2004 she was nominated for a Gemini Award for "Best Ensemble in a Comedy". Northan is also a five-time Canadian Comedy Award nominee, and one time winner, for "Best Female Improviser". She has made several appearances at the Montreal Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in the World Improv Games, and was a member of The Second City Toronto mainstage cast. She has also appeared as a guest host on CBC's This Hour Has 22 Minutes.In 2016, she won the Dora Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female for her popular show Blind Date which has been performed over 1000 times.With her performing partner Bruce Horak she created their wildly popular interpretation of the Scottish play in mask, Goblin Macbeth which has recently had sold-out runs at the Stratford Festival and Bard on the Beach. In February of 2024 Goblin: Oedipud debuted at One Yellow Rabbit’s High Performance Rodeo in Calgary. You can see the Goblins for yourself at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton in January 2025.I spoke with Northan over Zoom from her home in Stratford Ontario.The BOLD Interview is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. That way you’ll know I’m not quietly resenting you. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Gabrielle Zevin wrote in her novel Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.“The alternative to appropriation is a world in which artists only reference their own cultures … Where white European people only make art about white European people, with only white European references in it. A world where everyone is blind and deaf to any culture or experience not their own.”The slogan Nothing about us, without us was first used in 1505 as a political motto that helped form and establish  constitutional legislation in the Kingdom of Poland. It was also used in pre-WWII when the Munich Agreement was signed between Nazi Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy effectively giving good chunk of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland to Hitler. Guess who wasn’t there? Czechoslovakia. Thanks a lot Neville Chamberlain.In the 1990s the term was popularized by South African and then American disability activists. In 2004 the UN used the phrase as the theme for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Which is every year on December 3rd.A beautiful map showing Nazi settlements in Czechia. Ahhh, settlements. Rarely a sign of geo-political good. For a long time I was an at-par actor with some comedy chops. Coupled with my look meant I got all the commercials. It was a wonderful life. Until it ended. Now the thing that helped me get work (the colour of my skin) is no longer in demand as it once was.How to respond to my little struggle? In front of friends, my family and most of all my children my response might more readily take on a philosophical approach than if I were alone.“What other people think of me is none of my business.”“I’ll just have to become so good they can’t not hire me.”“It was a good run. Now it is time to work harder.”The flame of my anger diminishes under the cooling influence of witnesses.But what of my white, male children? They never had a good run. Maybe they won’t be actors and so it won’t matter so much?I was used to a life and now I must get used to another. But if I make stuff with too many white people I might be accused of a thing. And if I make stuff without white people I will be accused of another. And if I make stuff about my people versus other people or vice versa I am still walking in a minefield.Malcolm Gladwell said on Talk Easy:You can’t just have stories about Black people written by Black people. You can’t just have stories about white people written by white people. You can’t limit the human imagination. Sometimes the most interesting perspectives on one group come from someone who is not of that group. Their perspective does not have to be congruent with the thing they are describing.He also said Hollywood got themselves into this mess by having all the stories told by white guys for the last 100 years or so. (I do find it interesting that the majority of those “white guys” were Jewish but that’s another newsletter I think.)So what is helpful? Joining the brigades of the angry that have weaponized the word woke? Woke, from what I can tell isn’t a bad thing if it just means you’re awake to the struggle of others. I want everyone to have a fair shake. If that is wokeness then that is I.If I did embrace my angry-guy potential I certainly would not be alone. But the quality of the witness (aka the choir) would not necessarily foster growth or learning in me. Preaching to the choir no longer satisfies.I would rather be on my bike and afraid for my life than in my car and be angry. So for the most part I stay out of my car. This is my self-imposed binary. I saw a dad with a stroller the other day in a crosswalk try to punch a car that was passing too closely to his mewling charge. I used to be that dad (I used my foot though).Art is there to push boundaries. Which boundaries? My boundaries? Yours? I don’t know.What I do know is that art will happen no matter what. And if you join in the making of it eventually, with practice, you’ll worry less about the moving targets of public opinion.The great art comes from when you’re open and relaxed. You don’t want to clutch your stick too tightly. Or be worried about hurting someone else’s feelings. There are a lot of feelings out there.One day, many years from now, after much hand-wringing and blood shed, the living will look back and shake their heads at us. We always do.We chip away, we stay fluid, we write nothing in wet cement. If I err on the side of love and listening, add a dash of my powerful charm/humour offensive, my intentions will be clear.Remember that scene in This Is 40 where Debbie and Pete are fighting? And Debbie, exasperated, says “Cancel my 40th birthday party I’m not in the mood.” And Pete says “No way, I’ve already booked the caterers and I’m not calling everyone back when in two days you change your mind.” We are Debbie. We’re riding a pendulum. It’s hard not to overcorrect. It’s hard to find the bullseye.Journalist Saathnam Sanghera author of Empireland (a great read) talks about how the British Empire is still important today even though it’s dead. Even though the ersatz American Empire is in its death throws and taking all the oxygen. What England colonized between the 17th and the 20th centuries informs how we speak, the food we eat, where some of our money comes from, what’s in our museums, our immigration rules and historical, religious and governmental policies.We can’t not be affected by other cultures. The aim is to do it while giving credit instead of just stealing everything.Change is the one thing you can count on. And that’s hard. But that is also where the art is. Lucky for us we are in a golden age of adversity. Make art first. Ask questions later. And for god’s sake don’t end up a Czechoslovakia.I’m going to ask you just one favour, if you like reading this thing then sign up your entire contacts list to it, would ya? Just kidding, that would be cheating. Okay, how about just five of your friends. Share this post with them and suggest to them they might like to read it on a weekly basis.Thanks so much.For more information go to https://boldacting.com.Find my podcast The Bold Acting Podcast wherever the podcasts are.The song used in this podcast is called Sure and it was made by Braak which is electronic and cinematic music made by Øyvind Strand Endal from Norway.Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/braak/sureLicense code: AVTXANAUYZXHSHB0 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Having lost over 90% of his eyesight to a childhood Cancer, artist and actor Bruce Horak has has been making stuff in the world of the fully-sighted for over 25 years. Bilateral Retinoblastoma is a cancer which appears on the retina of the eyes, the treatment of which left Horak completely blind in one eye, with only 9% sight in the remaining eye. He has performed across Canada, the United States and Europe with Monster Theatre and his own solo shows This is Cancer which won a Betty Mitchell Award 2007 and Assassinating Thompson which explores the unique way he sees the world and the mysterious death of one of Canada’s greatest artists Tom Thomson all while Horak paints a picture of the audience.Horak also originated the role of Hemmer, the sightless alien on Paramount’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. On stage you can see him regularly perform with Spontaneous Theatre in their two hit shows Blind Date and Goblins Macbeth.Go to brucehorak.com for more information on his paintings and to sign up for his newsletter. As a longtime fan I know you’ll enjoy it.I spoke to Bruce from his home in Stratford Ontario where he was surrounded by his paintings and kitchen renovations. I asked him how the renos were going and how important is a new kitchen to a visually impaired person.How To Be A Person is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.To get in touch email me at:  [email protected] on Instagram  @jasonbrydenofcanadaThe song used in this podcast is called Sure and it was made by Braak which is electronic and cinematic music made by Øyvind Strand Endal from Norway.Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/braak/sureLicense code: AVTXANAUYZXHSHB0 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

As far as cuisine is concerned one must read everything, see everything, hear everything, try everything, observe everything, in order to retain in the end, just a little.” — Fernand Point, father of French Cuisine.The future is not here yet. Why are we so enamoured with it? And the past? What is so bad about the present?Do you remember that voice-over in Terrence Malick’s The Thin Read Line?Who's doin' this? … Robbing us of life and light. Mockin' us with the sight of what we might've known. Does our ruin benefit the earth? Does it help the grass to grow, the sun to shine? Is this darkness in you, too? Have you passed through this night?What does it mean to take nothing for granted? In performance it means notice everything about your scene partner, about your environment. If you are really listening you’ll see and hear and feel everything. You won’t be worrying about the lines because to be truly present you can’t be worrying about what you’re going to say next. That is in the future. And it does not exist."One of the most important things distinguishing man from other animals is that man can take pleasure from drinking without being thirsty" - Fernand PointeMany of us suffer from the mental illness called nostalgia. We listen to the same Pink Floyd songs rather than exploring new music. We watch the same Shakespeare plays instead of trying on a new writer that might also have something to say. We would rather watch Love, Actually every Christmas or go see the Nutcracker rather than branching out and trying on Arnaud Desplechin’s Un Conte de Noël (Catherine Deneuve presides over familial seasonal dysfunction) or Mike Bartlett’s play Snowflake (A Brexiteer argues with his daughter and her friend).But we miss out on so much when our heads are in the clouds of the past or our brows furrowed over a future that may never come. We suffer twice. We loose time. I have maybe thirty good summers left. Maybe. How many do you have? Will we look back and go Ahhh! The times I spent worrying over global heating was some of my most precious memories.Here’s a photo of me biting my nails!And look at this entry in my Courage Journal. I spent a whole weekend worrying about a thing I said at a party!Thank God I posted that black square that time. It made such a difference. And now I can die at peace in the knowledge that I did my best.People are a huuuuge pain in the ass. But being with people is still the most fulfilling way to pass the time before time runs out. Not that I don’t love being a solitary man … sometimes. Opportunity for growth, intimacy, connection are much harder when it’s just you and the cat.Who happens to be an evil pear-shaped killer, the colour of an apricot.In your scene work forget about the lines. Fuck the lines. Those are someone else’s hopes and dreams. The acting happens in the white swaths of paper those same damn lines are written upon. Be with your scene partner and see everything they are doing, hear everything they are saying and not saying. Try everything! And then cross your heart and hope to die that you may just retain a little.How To Be A Person is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Oscar Wilde said some things are too important to take seriously. And this is Rick Rubin’s stance on creativity.For me the pragmatic act of making art is the destination. And if we’re wary enough of inspiration we can get down to the business of getting our reps in. Art isn’t about thinking or even about being in a state of mind. It’s about doing it. And most of the time it’s better to be out of your mind and in your body.Just make art. Quit waiting to be visited by the Great Muse. Like everything it takes practice. If you’re spending too much time reading books by artists on how fucking magical everything is you might be procrastinating.Just turn off your brain and start making stuff. But first, listen to this podcast. How To Be A Person is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.To get in touch email me at:  [email protected] on Instagram  @jasonbrydenofcanadaThe song used in this podcast is called Sure and it was made by Braak which is electronic and cinematic music made by Øyvind Strand Endal from Norway.Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/braak/sureLicense code: AVTXANAUYZXHSHB0 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

A Guyanese-Canadian actor Nicola Correia-Damude is best known for her role as Dr. Lucy Di Silva on Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent. Nicola came over to my house to talk about how, up until six years ago, she didn’t have a career in Film & TV. Since recent cultural shifts she has never been busier. In the before times she said she was “too ethnic, too mixed race, too fat, too tall, too this, too that, too everything.” But the birth of her child put that “everything” in perspective. And as she freed herself from the need for other’s approval she was able to step into her own as an artist. For more information go to boldacting.com/classesTo get in touch email me at:  [email protected] on Instagram  @jasonbrydenofcanadaThe song used in this podcast is called Sure and it was made by Braak which is electronic and cinematic music made by Øyvind Strand Endal from Norway.Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/braak/sureLicense code: AVTXANAUYZXHSHB0The Bold Acting Podcast a listener-supported venture. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

This week I went to the Comedy Bar here in Toronto and I did not get my money’s worth.We went to see the 9:30 standup show called Point Break Comedy because we didn't have time to go to the 8 o'clock improv show “Nice Time” that has a lot of heavy hitters in it.The first Comic got up and was the picture of a young stand-up comedian. Odd, bad with eye contact, lots of inappropriate humour. He told jokes. They weren't always great, but they were jokes. That's something that one would expect a standup show you're saying to yourself. Me too. That's what I expected. But I was to discover with the subsequent comedians, there were very few jokes to be had. Instead there was mostly something called crowd work.Crowd work is when the comedian interviews audience members and then mines the interaction for laughs. Todd Barry is a master at it. My old friend Phil Hanley is really good at it.Crowd work has become a contentious element in comedy because of how lazy it is. So many comedians rely on it these days. Crowd work is great in the hands of a pro. And when that pro has earned the privilege. You have to earn it.The second comedian was in dirty clothes. Unwashed jeans, an unwashed baseball cap worn backwards atop an unwashed face. The hoodie he wore he had sweat through so thoroughly his pit stains were almost down to his elbows. He didn't have any jokes, but he did have crowd work. He asked Larry the lawyer in the front row, all about his life. It didn't seem like he had prepared any material for the evening. This is lazy. And when you have a paying audience this is contempt. For people, for comedy. He even mentioned there were only 12 of us, as though it were our fault.Perhaps he doesn't realize how hard it is to get out of the house these days, to find a sitter these days, to buy tickets, to find parking and to find the energy to take a risk on a bunch of unknown comics.The second comedian came out with a basketball and handed it to an audience member. There was no joke attached. Just a ball. And then he announced he too would be doing some crowd work. Terrific. This started off as the same interviewing of Larry the lawyer. As though he wasn’t aware of what brilliance his prior compatriot had just perpetrated mere minutes before. Like he was fucking around in the green room with a basketball perhaps.And then when he moved on to me I said I wasn't interested. I said I was interested in jokes than in more crowd work. This did not go over well. This was not what he was hoping for.I’m a terrible liar. I have no poker face. I am not to be trifled with by a man-child, half my age that thinks they are above comedy. That put no work in. That feels they are entitled to more.I clearly rattled the young man and for that I am sorry. It was not my intention to go to a comedy club and speak to the comedians. If I wanted to interact with the performers, I would've saved that for the improv show that had ended an hour earlier. That I had wished I had gotten to in time. Little did I know that there would be so much shitty improv at a stand-up comedy show under the guise of working the crowd.The third comedian whose name is Abhi Pamnani was charming, funny, with an infectious energy. He spent the whole time trying to gain my approval in spite of himself. Contempt for the art form you are practicing. How confounding. How can you put in the reps? Contempt for the people that show up for you. How can you serve your audience when you revile them? I hope I got to that young man in a way where, after he cools down and stops resenting me, he thinks, maybe that asshole has a point. Maybe I should start writing some jokes once in a while. Because as it stands I’m not getting my money’s worth.How To Be A Person is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

This episode previously aired on In the Dark, July of 2017..WARNING: Topics discussed include suicide and depression. While in Bucharest, Romania I spoke with the acclaimed commercial director while we were working on a male incontinence campaign. I loved making these commercials. Jeff will be guest-teaching in my online class this Sunday March 10, 2024. Email me at [email protected] if you want to audit for free. Thank you for reading BOLD . This post is public so feel free to share it.If you like the Bold Acting Podcast talk it up at your next dinner or book club. Word-of-Mouth is the best form of advertising. If you don’t like it maybe just keep that to yourself.Rating and reviewing the thing is also greatly appreciated. It goes a long way to spreading the word.Thanks for listening. I wouldn’t do it without you.Jason Bryden in TorontoTo get in touch email me at:  [email protected] on Instagram  @jasonbrydenofcanadaThe song used in this podcast is called Sure and it was made by Braak which is electronic and cinematic music made by Øyvind Strand Endal from Norway.Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/braak/sureLicense code: AVTXANAUYZXHSHB0 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Once I had a friend named Ben. He was really nice. I value friendship over most everything else and I wanted to be a man that makes friends easily. But Ben was boring. So boring. I felt terrible for leading him on. But not as terrible as I did hanging out with him. I ghosted him but he wouldn’t take a hint. Then he caught me in front of the butcher shop and confronted me. It was an amazing time, two middle-aged men having a hurt-feelings spat on the street like we were in high school again.I love a youthful experience. For fifteen minutes all civility and age-won appropriateness was gone. It was two children breaking up with one another. It felt exhilarating and awkward and pitiful. I was alive. Present. Loved. Thrilled to be the victor, the perpetrator, the one in charge. I felt guilty for hurting him. I probably could have done that better. And then ashamed. But then defiant and righteous. Fuck him if he can’t read a room. People have broken up with me. I’m not everyone’s cup of tea all the time. When someone distances themself from me I know the best chance I have of being with them again is if I give them space. Play it cool. It’s not something I’m historically good at. But it pays off. The world isn’t looking for needy. The world isn’t looking for provocation either.Unless it’s the world of performance.Have you watched Phantom Thread? It’s Daniel Day Lewis and other people. He’s an uptight fashion designer who is cruel to his muses. The way he does it without showing us he is doing it. The way it’s always about what the audience is feeling and not about what he’s feeling. This is great acting. The famously-method actor must have been a real peach to work with. Which I would love to experience. To be affected by a fellow actor so much you wonder if something is wrong. Did I say something, you think? You go up to them at the end of the day and say “Is everything alright?”“Yes, darling. I was acting.”And they put the emphasis on the last syllable so it tings across the room like an olive pit launched from the toothy mouth of a Bertie Wooster: -ting!But it’s an other, a jobbing actor that really impresses in the film. Harriet Sansom Harris as a proxy for the real-life Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton. Drunk, fragile, unendingly rich, Harris plays victim and perpetrator all in the space of two minutes. Smiling through unbearable sadness, laughing, coquettish, stopping herself from crying, ending with quiet menace.Harriet Samson HarrisThat’s what you want in performance. Provocation. It’s not what you want in real life. Life is hard enough without buttheads breaking up with you in front of the butcher’s.Still, a scrape is followed by a bandaid and a treat. And then it turns into a story.And a story is always better than being boring, isn’t it?How To Be A Person is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Guy MacPherson was a friend of mine. I only reconnected when I heard he had cancer. He didn’t seem to mind hanging out together. Guy was a lover of comedy and comedians. (He would object to me using the word lover.) He was Vancouver’s first comedy critic (The Georgia Straight), The world’s first comedy podcast and the longest running comedy radio show (WSF?) His legacy is large. You can read and listen to a lot of it at guymacpherson.ca. RIP GMacP. The World Keeps TurningOkay, onto Isaac Butler’s The Method — How the 20th Century Learned to ActHoly shit this felt like a long book. I like short books like French Exit by Patrick DeWitt, 12 Bytes by Jeanette Winterson and an all-time fave A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler. Butler does however give a thorough overview of a group of disparate artists collaborating on a big idea. The biggest of them all is that we are post-Method. Nothing has come along since. There are no Stella Adlers, no Lee Strasbergs to carry-on an American tradition. There is no Stanislawski to sow the seeds of change. But if art is born of adversity then there must be big ideas coming. We just don’t know about them yet. But we will. I for one can’t wait. Art is forged of blood, sweat and tears — but mostly blood. We are in a golden age for art. Herein is a reminder that it has always been. Thank you for listening to the Bold Acting Podcast. This post is public so feel free to share it.If you like the Bold Acting Podcast talk it up at your next dinner or book club. Word-of-Mouth is the best form of advertising. If you don’t like it maybe just keep that to yourself.To get in touch email me at:  [email protected] on Instagram  @jasonbrydenofcanadaThe song used in this podcast is called Sure and it was made by Braak which is electronic and cinematic music made by Øyvind Strand Endal from Norway.Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/braak/sureLicense code: AVTXANAUYZXHSHB0Rating and reviewing the thing is also greatly appreciated. It goes a long way to spreading the word.Thanks for listening. I wouldn’t do it without you.Jason Bryden in Toronto This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Anyone can call themselves an acting teacher. In 1898 in Moscow that’s exactly what an actor named Constantine Stanislavski did. Stanislavski and his crew came up with what turned out to be the most enduring acting system in the world. And it needs a refresh. Actors are savvier these days. As are audiences. It’s 2024 and we are post-method.Anytime everybody is doing the same thing move in the opposite direction. If the hills are on fire soon come the chanterelles.. Stanislavski was responding to Commedia dell'arte and stayed Victorian performance traditions. 125 years ago The Method — or The System as he called it — was a radical change from the status quo. Now, not so much. We don’t have to get so thinky about things. The truth is in us. We just have to be still and quiet enough for it to come out and show itself. Audit for free my in-person class and see for yourself what an encouraging but no-bullshit approach looks like. Email me at [email protected] Find me on instagram @jasonbrydenofcanadaGo to boldacting.com/classes for more info. Thanks for listening. If you’re feeling it, throw me a 5-star rating. I couldn’t handle anything less. JBThe song used in this podcast is called Sure and it was made by Braak which is electronic and cinematic music made by Øyvind Strand Endal from Norway.Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/braak/sureLicense code: AVTXANAUYZXHSHB0 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

There is so much Ven overlap between investors and actors. So this week I’ve cribbed from the best, Warren Butler’s partner, Charlie Munger. And then, because I love talking about me (and acting and teaching) I use Charlie’s wisdom as a jumping-off point. Because Charles and I are equals … in the pantheon of mind.Charlie died a couple months ago but not without leaving a wealth of great advice. Here are some of the highlights from his book Poor Charlie’s Almanac: the Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger.- Good ideas are rare. When you find one bet heavily. But to get to the good ideas you gotta wade through the bad too. And when you find the good one then the work really begins. Everyone has ideas. They feel good to have. They’re a dime a dozen. You have to put the work in.- Avoiding stupid mistakes is more important than being smart. So dither. Dilly dally. Be slow to pull the trigger. Make a decision deliberately. Avoid stupid mistakes. Don’t stay up late. Mistakes happen late at night. Don’t hang around lazy people. Lazy people make a tonne of mistakes. Same with nervous Nellies. Fear impairs judgement. Avoid unforced errors by using your brain slowly and fully.- Don’t work with anyone you don’t admire. See above lazy bones. But remember there is value in working with people that aren’t as good a you or have less experience. These are opportunities to lead. But when you’re making your own stuff work with people you look up to. I am working with a bunch of big brains at the union these days. It’s impressive. Normally I don’t like a roomful of actors. That can be too much for me. But these folks are so smart.- Work on your best idea. Don't diversify. Do one thing and do it well. Do it until you’re a master and then teach others to do it. That’s it. That’s the end. That’s your whole life and I also think it’s the definition of happiness.Thank you for reading How To Be A Person. This post is public so feel free to share it.- Learning is changing behaviour. Everything changes. Why are we so intent on fighting that? We go on-and-on about how hard change is and yet it is inevitable. If you get good at looking for adversity you’ll never plateau. You’ll always be on a steep learning curve. And what is more thrilling than that?- Do the unpleasant tasks first. Get them out of the way. In stand-up comedy they call this The Bullet. Take the bullet every time. Expectations are lower in the beginning. You can set the tone. And then you can sit back and enjoy the rest of the show.- Stop multitasking. Concentrate. You might have ADHD because of that supercomputer burning a hole in your pocket. I don’t know. I didn’t do any research but the onset of those four letters that everybody bandies about followed the advent of the smart phone, did they not? Put that thing away. Focus deeply on one thing at a time. You know who doesn’t have ADHD? People who are moving mountains.- Clip your business and personal expenses. Small leaks sink big ships. Stop going out. Life is expensive. Stay home and work on acting. And stop networking while you’re at it. Networking is a waste of time. Think of your money as workers. When you spend a dollar you fire a worker. When you save a dollar that worker keeps working for you. It keeps earning for you. My friend, Jeff Low once said Money is hard to find and easy to lose.- Steal ideas from dead people. They don’t need them anymore. No need to reinvent the wheel. Read biographies. Try stuff on. Look for shortcuts to learning. Find evidence that corroborates your instincts and then try things out on a small scale. Keep the stakes low.- Bad things will happen to you; it’s inevitable. So practice not being surprised. The way we do this is by welcoming adversity. When it shows up, high five it, hug it and then bide your time and when adversity least expects it kick in the balls. But try not to take it personally along the way. This is hard because we always compare ourselves to others. We think other people are having a better time than we are. They’re not. They may look like it but they have diarrhea too and their kids are a disaster and even though they drive a BMW their marriage is falling apart and she’s cheating on him and he’s addicted to Tik Tok.- Self-pity doesn’t serve. Get over yourself. Be kind to yourself. Put your head down and keep moving with your ears open and your complainy mouth shut. Suddenly you’ll hear and see other people instead of yourself and that’s what being an actor is all about. It’s not about us. It’s about us getting out of our own way.- Avoid group think. Avoid dogma; nothing is really incontrovertible. A growth mindset means you hold loyalty only to the truth, not to any one set of ideas. That especially goes for any acting teachers you might run into. Always get a second opinion. And a third.- Self-improvement has no end. But that doesn’t mean you’re broken. We often conflate wanting to hone skills with I’m not good enough. Don’t forget your self-worth. You had it as a kid. It’s along the lines of being. Just be. Don’t be demonstrative about it. No need to show us you’re grateful or you’re good enough. Just put the phone down. You got one shot at this. Go out there and serve people. That’s how you make your mark.How To Be A Person is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.This unsolicited advice is brought to you by boldacting.com. New classes are ongoing. Go to boldacting.com/classes to find out more. Or email me at [email protected] This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Stella Adler was a giant within the modern method acting movement of New York beginning in the 1950s. Her book although prescriptive and judgemental still has many practical insights that apply to surviving showbiz these days. I've read it and made copious notes that I read to you here.If you like the Bold Acting Podcast talk it up at your next dinner or book club. Word-of-Mouth is the best form of advertising. If you don’t like it maybe just keep that to yourself.Rating and reviewing the thing is also greatly appreciated. It goes a long way to spreading the word.To get in touch email me at:  [email protected] on Instagram  @jasonbrydenofcanadaThe song used in this podcast is called Sure and it was made by Braak which is electronic and cinematic music made by Øyvind Strand Endal from Norway.Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/braak/sureLicense code: AVTXANAUYZXHSHB0 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Gambling Actors gamble with their feelings, their egos, humiliation. But you don’t want to bet the farm. Not every time. You’ll become depleted. Always keep one hog back. The winters can be long in this neck of the woods.We deal in feelings and feelings are the reason we are all here however, we cannot be ruled by said feelings or we become victims instead of observers. Lemme explain.To be a responsible actor means you have to show up early with your homework done. We can’t hope to be employable if we’re having a hard time with everything.“Choose one thing to be outraged about not the 17 you’re currently juggling.” - David Sedaris.Our job is connection. The most biggest, bestest amazing thing consistently at the centre of our being is our desire for community. We the actors just have to show that. All of its embarrassing, awkward, messy stuff — the weirder the better. So even if you’re auditioning for shredded cheese if you connect with the other person in the commercial the people at home will see it. They won’t know what it is but they will feel it. Here’s an example: have you ever cried at a commercial? Yes, of course. Maybe not the shredded cheese one but the hospital ads with the sick kid, the phone ad with the daughter and mother separated by geography, the one with the soldier coming home reunited with their spouse (if you’re into marriage).If it’s humour you’re after then connect in a grounded way with the dialogue or the other actor. If you make it about them and about something other than being clever you will become funnier. First step: stop acting. Stop talking loudly. Tighten the cap on your bottle of effervescence. Dry out your performance. Take it off of your face. We don’t want you to indicate when we should laugh. We the audience wants to discover that for ourselves. Don’t map it for us and for you; live it. If you know the end, if you have a bunch of great ideas you negate the moment. Just stand there and listen. Maintain eye contact. Don’t look away.How To Be A Person is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.The Responsible ActorIf you are the exact same person in all situations then you are a trustworthy performer that people can count on. Show up early with your lines memorized and the go in any direction. Every direction. You are a purveyor of feelings but you are not a victim of them. What we feel becomes our perspective on how the world works. The problem with a singular perspective is that it can become confused with the only truth. That’s called dogma. Intransigence means we no longer entertain other human’s realities. If we let ourselves become calcified we are no longer open to human experiences. We kneecap ourselves both in our acting range and in our confidence.To create the artificial connection between people — which actors must be able to do— you must tap into your ability to compartmentalize: feelings are a tool not something that takes over. Learn to manipulate yours and you can manipulate others. Have you seen Godzilla Minus One? It’s incredible in spite of many elements: For one: the acting is overwrought. Two, there’s a giant lizard terrorizing post-war Japan and Three sometimes the CG leaves you with a hollow feeling circa The Abyss. But between the story and the music and the sheer humanity of it all you are moved. Even though you can predict what will happen next. Speaking of predictions: It’ll win the Oscar for best visual effects even though they’re not entirely consistent. Why? Because it’s such a great all-around movie. I’d say, masterpiece even.Why Story Is OverratedIt’s not about the story. There’s plenty of shit movies out there that are incredibly popular (Marvel Universe) that have no story. We are interested in biopics even when we know how it ends. Because we’re really interested in character and behaviour. It’s why we watch our favourite movies over and over.So compartmentalize the feelings. The feelings are there. They are predictable. Create a relationship where you are in control and get the thing you want from your scene partner. And hopefully they’ll be doing the same. Now you have two people with goals, agendas and desires. Watch sparks fly.If you’re out of control and feeling it all. All the time you won’t be able to hear or see the other person. Acting doesn’t have to hurt. We don’t have to live our characters pain. We show the audience ours instead. Take after take. Night after night.Don’t ever bet the whole farm. Always keep one hog back.Subscribe to the How To Be A Person Newsletter.Rate this podcast five stars.E-transfer me your life savings or just get in touch at [email protected] your free 15-minute discovery call today!https://scheduler.zoom.us/bold/free-15-minute-discovery-callThe voiceover I do for this newsletter is always a little different than the written version. Even more of me for you to enjoy! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

David Rotenberg died recently in Toronto. He was a legendary acting teacher with a lot of big name students that came through his doors over the years. I lasted three classes with him before he emailed me and told me not to come back. I was missing the very basics of acting he said and there was nothing he could do for me. He didn’t offer me a refund.When I was a kid my mum left for a month to hike in the Himalayas. She did this from time to time. A Mrs. McKay came to help around the house. One day I couldn’t get a jar open. She took it from me and said “It’s all in the way you hold your tongue.” Now I understand that to be metaphor for concentration. Focus on the jar and your hands. Or maybe perspective. It’s just a jar. You can do this. Relativism? Compared to kids in Beirut you got it easy.In the 80s it was always Beirut.   The angry people that feel threatened by diversity is a crowded field. In 2020 I certainly fell into that category. I have lost a lot of work to the push for inclusion in commercials. But I also lost work because of the pandemic, because I work in an agist industry and because I priced myself out of the competition.Anger is an emotion I am all to familiar with. It has hurt me (loss of a marriage, loss of friends, alienation of family members) more than it has helped.My students here in Toronto include a visually impaired social worker, a stand-up comedian in a wheelchair, a retired consultant, a truck driver a BIPOC project manager that is also a model, a BIPOC salon owner. My online students are virtually all performers with a disability. I’ve come to them through a talent agency out of Edmonton called Kello Inclusive.My singing teacher Elizabeth Davidson suggested I teach. And she said I should go after students with day jobs. Because there are much more of them, because they have money to pay for classes. She doesn’t aim to teach the professional singers so much as those that have an interest or a passion for it.Exposure to groups you wouldn’t otherwise have experienced does two things: it reinforces stereotypes or it breaks them apart. It’s all in the way you hold your tongue.Why Is Change So Hard?Change comes inevitably and endlessly. So why are we so bad at it? One of my students had vision four years ago. Now he’s legally blind. He still gets on a GO train for an 1.5 hrs to come to my class. He’s managed change. Was it hard for him? Does the level of difficulty or ease matter? What else are you going to do?Change on a microlevel can be mitigated. We get into routines and when we have to change them we find it difficult. We insulate ourselves in the West from macro change by avoidance, acceptance, our busy schedules, the insularity of the nuclear family. If your dance card is full you’re not going to be marching in the streets. As long as I have a good excuse I’ll let someone else do that.“Yes it’s not fair. And don’t be late.”We think we can predict the future but we can’t. We think patterns will go on forever. That’s just the way my people do it, we say. We ask questions without question marks. The human need to be right and to be agreed with is strong.This past weekend I talked to a Meisner teacher of mine, Shaun Benson. He said a lot of good stuff. You can hear the whole conversation at the Bold Acting Podcast. He’s a proponent of not knowing how things will end. The actor looks at a script and knows the words but what you don’t want to know is the behaviour. When you’re performing you don’t want to know how it go. I don’t want to map my life, I want to live it.The very basics of acting I was missing was presence I discovered. I kept starring off into space. I was in my head and out of my body most of the time. A teacher of mine in Vancouver Ben Immanuel told me to read a book by Patsy Rodenburg (no relation) called The Second Circle. That and going to my first Meisner class with Shaun and I was present again. And I’ve never not been. It was so simple. Not nearly a firing offence.To be included means a person keeps learning, keeps working, keeps engaging with their community, keeps hope alive, keeps leaving the house. To be included — to just be given the same chance as others — can make an immeasurable difference.Lessons come from many places. When I got that email from  David Rotenberg my feelings were hurt. Now I am thankful someone saw something in me and gave me feedback that I was eventually able to respond positively to.The gap between anger and perspective is narrowing albeit incrementally. Who knows how it’ll end. Not me.What I do know is there is so much to learn. Consider the tongue.Life is short. Make your move.How To Be A Person is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.To get in touch email me at:  [email protected] on Instagram  @jasonbrydenofcanadaThe song used in this podcast is called Sure and it was made by Braak which is electronic and cinematic music made by Øyvind Strand Endal from Norway.Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/braak/sureLicense code: AVTXANAUYZXHSHB0 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Shaun Benson was born in 1976 in Guelph ON. The son of an English professor and a German literature professor. Shaun started his creative career as a ballet dancer and a musician. He completed his undergrad, a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry at Western University. But fate intervened. Upon seeing a play at the Stratford Festival starring national treasure Colm Fiore something switched on in his brain.His early acting work includes roles on General Hospital, Being Erica, And the Associates. Career highlights include the films Bitter Harvest, Trench 11, Arq, Populaire, and the CSA-nominated Kept Woman.Apart from acting Shaun holds black belts in karate and Brazilian Jui Jitsu, and he writes and directs his own projects.Recent acting work includes the Boys for Amazon Prime, Mayans MC, Tiny Pretty Things and MGM’s Billy the Kid which is shooting in Calgary and that’s where I caught up with him today.For more information go to boldacting.com/classes. Sign up for my free newsletter at boldacting.substack.comIf you like the Bold Acting Podcast talk it up at your next dinner or book club. Word-of-Mouth is the best form of advertising. If you don’t like it maybe just keep that to yourself.Rating and reviewing the thing is also greatly appreciated. It goes a long way to spreading the word.To get in touch email me at:  [email protected] on Instagram  @jasonbrydenofcanadaThe song used in this podcast is called Sure and it was made by Braak which is electronic and cinematic music made by Øyvind Strand Endal from Norway.Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/braak/sureLicense code: AVTXANAUYZXHSHB0 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

YVR Jan 4, 2024This morning walking back from the gym through the gloom and rain I saw that someone had written in marker on a large hydro box “All comparison is odious”.I compare myself frequently to others. On instagram, at the gym or even in conversation. Like when I feel someone losing interest in me. I shut up as soon as I realize it now. I didn’t always have this self-awareness. But I wonder in the shutting up do I diminish myself? Am I just deferring to someone more confident?On the other hand, if I’m bored in conversation I’ll start acting out. Once I was being far too blunt with an old friend and they said “you’re kind of autistic in your honesty, aren’t you?” That was a good one. It’s also true.Things I Don’t Like About Vancouver- Traffic is terrible.- No one does u-turns.- No one knows how to drive.- There’s bridges everywhere. And water ‘neath those bridges. This makes traffic — as I think I’ve mentioned — more terrible than any other place on Earth.- Also, they don’t have sun. Ever.Thank you for reading How To Be A Person. This post is public so feel free to share it.I look out the window at the comings and goings of those tiny airplane support vehicles; turning left then right according to lines painted on wet tarmac. Beyond is Richmond BC. Or the Rich Mound as my brother calls it. A rich mound of sand; river delta, once farmland now houses all below sea level. When the big one hits this city and the airport will be the first to go.A mother over to my left is telling her young charge repeatedly what a good job it is doing. It, I’ve decided, is also a pronoun. I used to do this; praise my children wildly for things completely natural/insignificant. There’s a difference between a child progressing as they should and a child arrested in their development. The parents of the latter are allowed to lose their shit if the kid stops drooling for once.I read a Swedish parenting book and it was annoying in how the author compared her mostly American readership, I imagine, to the much more capable Swedish parent. According to her we are total idiots over here and we’re doing everything wrong when it comes to whelping progeny. The other thing I learned from this book was overt praise is just as helpful as blame. We need to prepare kids for the real world and giving them a false sense of incredibleness isn’t the way to do it. I stopped good-jobbing my kids immediately. I was still startled daily by all that they accomplished on the swings or at daycare or at the dinner table. With the first child at least it’s a fucking miracle when they stop shitting themselves or eat more of their pre-masticated slop than they mash into that weary high chair. But you push down the effusiveness just like, in my family, you do with emotions.There’s an old dad in front of me. Or a young grandad. He’s three steps behind the kids. He’s French. The kids are adorable. He’ll be 70 when the girl is 20. Aging is a such a ripoff.At the gym I saw a man my age or close to it. He looked like a million bucks. So lean and muscular. I wanted to ask him how he did it but I didn’t because I knew the answer would be so unsatisfying.“I only drink smoothies made of boiled chicken and kale and I work out twice a day seven days a week.” He’d say and then he’d continue to want to talk about his exercise regiment well into the night and I’d put my hand up to stop him and call an Uber and on the way home I’d be looking out the window and think “That’s the biggest drawback to people with ab muscles is they always want to talk about their ab muscles.”And how did I end up back at his place?The final boarding call is made before boarding had even started.I approach the gate personnel: “Was that the final call for boarding?”“Can I please see your boarding pass, sir?”“No, I know what my boarding pass says. Do you know what the announcer lady just broadcasted to gate B27?”“Oh, I pressed the wrong button. Boarding will begin soon.”“Terrific, my confidence is restored.” Sometimes at an airport or a walk-in clinic or the cable company the customer service screams there’s plenty of top candidates for when the fascists take over and require their own Stasi.Sun! The sun suddenly makes an appearance! I rush over to the large windows overlooking the tarmac as the sun streams in. This is the second time we’ve seen the sun since getting to Vancouver ten days ago. What a great day to fly.While here I sat with a photographer named Rob for some new photos for my new website. What do you think about this one?Photo: Rob GilbertIn my ears Sam of the Talk Easy podcast is talking to Willem DaFoe about acting. And it’s edifying to hear Defoe speak of acting in spite of not exactly knowing how to describe what he does.- He speaks of publicly creating opportunities. His time at the Wooster Group. And he uses the word practice. The practice is all. There’s no arrival, no final performance. Michael Phelps winning his 33 gold medals did the thing at the Olympics that he did in practice. The practice continues, the venue changes. This is supposed to take the pressure off.— Willem truly doesn’t know what the stuff means. He feels irresponsible. Knowing what all the words mean is not as important as him being engaged, present and fully committed. It’s called a leap of faith. You’re diving into something you don’t exactly know what but the quality of going towards that thing is what’s important. If you know exactly where you’re going you tend to race towards it. Then it’s mapped but not lived.— Everything is based on doing as opposed to showing. The audience can be with you and have a flavour of that experience. Rather than telling us something we already know. We are looking for the “Wow, I never thought of that.” That’s what you want. Give yourself to something or someone and then surprise them.At the end of the interview I stop learning and start feeling sorry for myself comparing me to Sam the interviewer who was twenty the first time he interviewed Willem at TIFF. How does a twenty year old interview Willem Defoe at TIFF? And how does he have a great podcast that’s not entirely annoying on Malcolm Gladwell’s network? How do I not compare myself to that?Suddenly an airport genius decides we’ve had enough of the sunshine and the view of the Rich Mound and lowers all the automatic blinds along the large windows. This is Vancouver in winter. We just can’t have sun, people. We just can’t. It’s not the Vancouver way.How To Be A Person is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Boarding finally starts for real and me and the kids sail passed the throngs of unwashed to our premium economy seats at the front of the plane (I require legroom goddammit. If I must pay extra due to height discrimination I will.) It’s amazing how little it takes for relativism to kick in. To Sam (I can’t remember his last name) I feel inadequate. But to the host of CBC’s Writers & Co., Eleanor Wachtel — the greatest interviewer alive — she probably doesn’t even know Sam’s first name let alone his last. To others waiting in zone five, they watch me swan past and resent me. Then they’ll resent me again when they see me stretched out in row two sipping a free OJ. What’s that saying again … about fighting for scraps at the bottom of the barrel?As I luxuriate in my free premixed Ol’ Fashioned the rich mound disappears beneath us and is replaced by the Pacific Ocean before we make a u-turn (the pilot must be from Toronto) and head East. Ahh Toronto, how I miss your broad but ugly shoulders. Your jerk chicken, your clear blue skies, your lumbering street cars, your criminal premier. I shall soon be in your cold, dark embrace once more.Let the comparisons to New York City begin.Schedule a free 15-minute discovery call with me at calendly.com/bold-acting. Let’s talk about your acting goals for 2024. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

There are two streams that make up the Bold Acting Podcast: How to be a Person — The Newsletter which I read aloud and publish, and the Bold Interview. Today I speak to Gord Rand. Gord Rand is an actor and creator. He has performed on stages such as The Shaw Festival, The Stratford Festival and the Worldstage. He won a Dora Award for his portrayal of a naked Ukranian plutonium dealer.Gord Rand writes and directs both films and plays. recently completing his first feature documentary Goodness in Rwanda. He’s penned plays such as Orgy in the Lighthouse, Pond Life, and the recently published The Trouble with Mr. Adams.Screen appearances include: Stephen King’s Chapelwaite for EPIX where he played alongside Emily Hampshire and Adrien Brody, a lead role in the indie film Impasse, and most recently his recurring role in NBC’s Transplant.His bio on CBC.ca says: He lives in downtown Toronto, grows his own hot peppers, has a lovely wife, two beautiful boys, a very large dog and that he is lucky. Gord Rand starts off speaking about his best creative decision that came at the age of 13 when he auditioned for a school production of A Christmas Carol.When you’re next at your weekly podcast listening party consider talking this way up. Word-of-Mouth is the best mouth around. The Bold Interview and How To Be A Person Newsletter are reader-supported publications. To receive new posts consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.If you look hard at your podcast app you’ll eventually discover you can rate this podcast. I only accept 5-stars. Thank you in advance. Go to boldacting.com/classes for more informationReach out on instagram: @jasonbrydenofcanada This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

I am not a great teacher yet. I haven’t been doing it long enough. I’m a great student but that’s because of mentors like Ben Immanuel and fellow actors like Michael Teigen and it’s also because I’ve started teaching. The teaching makes me a better actor. The teaching gives me so much. The students do too. If they only knew just how much. (But the click-through rate of 66% on this newsletter means that some will still remain in the dark about this.)“The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources,”  Albert EinsteinI still talk too much. I don’t ask enough questions. The teacher I will become I imagine is more of an interrogative sniper: from a chair off to the sides in the shadows I launch a well-placed query that spurs on shortcuts to learning.So let me ask you this, Are you excited about the future?When I bang on about copying the greats to see how you can do a version of what they are doing I don’t mean you reverse engineer a performance in order to replicate their results, I mean by copying the best you are better able to find your own voice, your own way to the questions I might not always be so good at asking.What the greats do in performance, when they are at their most formidable, looks like magic to the uninformed but we know better. It’s technique honed by many hours of practice. There are no shortcuts to the hard work you have to put in. Luckily, a creative life only stops when you’re dead. So you have all the time in the world. The pressure is off to make it.“Good artists copy, great artists steal.” - PicassoThe writer and critic Jacqueline Rose speaks of translation as not about equivalence but about a re-rendering. The actor translates those words on the page into the thing that is most them. You re-render ideas that came from another world (the writer’s) into your world, the physical. Translation is not mimicry. It’s an opinion, an interpretation.The way we do this is by choosing a path. There are innumerable ones in front of you. There is no need to deliberate on which path to take first. Just take one. The learning is in the doing. Above is a theory on learning retention. As you can see the teacher has the advantage. But second to that with a 75% retention rate is Practice by Doing. The only shortcut to becoming a good actor is by acting. In class, in auditions, by yourself, with friends. You take the class to get better at auditions and then you meet your people in that class and then outside of class you get together and scheme. In a darkened bar, at a cheap restaurant, drinking in a park (In other words, my youthful charges, this won’t happen via the phone). You plan your next short film, your next digital series, your demo reel. You do this not because it is easy or because it will get you somewhere. It isn’t and it won’t most likely. You do it because making stuff is the very reason why we got into this business in the first place. You’ve just forgotten it in yourself.Proximity is Everything with HumansWhatever concerns us it is almost always the thing we don’t have to go looking for. We’re lazy. So if it’s happening in our backyard or if it is splashed across the internet headlines we refuse to pay for we will react. We thrive on anecdotal information: better to generalize grossly with. We don’t want the whole story. Better to paint with broad strokes; he’s evil, she’s good. Russians are bad, Ukrainians are good. We need this to make sense of the world. We need self-righteousness when we lack confidence.Have you noticed the person that accomplishes big things doesn’t get bogged down by how people drive? I want to be like that. To have the confidence to not react to the small things that are right under my nose because I see the big things coming on the horizon. There’s gold in them hills.How To Be A Person is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.To re-orient, to respond instead of reacting, to re-render. That’s what actors do. That’s what the calm, the sage and wise do. They stand back and when something happens to them they don’t ascribe meaning, instead they say “Good thing, bad thing, who knows?” Because we don’t. Maybe that person that comes to my class and copies the things I say and then regurgitates them online is the very person I need to make my education wholly unique and proprietary. Maybe the person that wouldn’t let you into that lane on the expressway is the one that gets clipped by the speeding truck and you don’t. Maybe that great performance you copied was also copied. Picasso didn’t enter the world out of a void. Glenn Close doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Nor did Glen Gould. The electric vehicle is more than 100 years old. Before there was Elon there was Tesla. Before Streep there was Sara Bernhardt. Before there was Putin there was Stalin. The world is unoriginal. These bad times are not unique. Our suffering is constant because we chose it to be that way. Because it’s easier.You have more agency than you think, I say to myself.Re-render your point of view and watch a whole new world open up to you.And don’t think for a moment that I’ve figured this out. Only on paper am I a master of anything. I am a student at this. The more I teach, the better the teachings. The more I study the better the student. The more I beg/borrow/copy/steal the more lead I have to amalgamate into something possibly worthwhile in them hills. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

They are all around us. They drive without signalling. They talk loudly on their phones in the library. They holdup the line at the bank with all their dumb complaints. They write newsletters. But instead of letting a perfect stranger highjack your happiness perhaps they can fuel your creativity? If annoying people are inevitable then we should learn to use them to our advantage. Like Soilent Green. It’s people. Finally, someone found a use for people.How To Be A Person is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.10 Ways to Use Annoying People to Win at Life1. Remember that you are annoying too. When you talk politics (which you’re not even an expert on). When you drink, you often lose perspective. When you’re angry you’re just an unreasonable asshole. This will cutdown the amount of annoying people in your life by half when you see that you have something in common with them.2. Annoying people are grist for the mill. Don’t let them get your goat. They’re not even looking for a goat but quite often you’re foisting yours upon them. Pay attention to the annoying. Take notes. Jerry Seinfeld has become the richest comic in history by making that which annoys him entertainment.3. Believe the annoying. Don’t be surprised at the weird shit they say. You know they’ll do that. Look for it, hope for it. Then you’ll be proven right. Your expectations will be met.4. Laugh at them. They’re telling you a story about their shortcomings and what emotional midgets they are. This is great. You’re better than someone today.5. You’ll never change them. You know this so stop wishing they were different. They are fools there for your entertainment. So you can go home and talk about the idiocy you witnessed at the No Frilly’s.Ed Sheeran. Not annoying at all. 6. When you complain over and over about them you’re staying angry. We’ve already established they’re annoying and you’re right. We don’t have to expend any more resources in this department. Don’t let them hijack your happiness. They don’t even know who you are.7. When you point out how ludicrous they are to their face you’re asking them to change. Humans don’t like change and they certainly don’t like being told what to do. You’re setting yourself up to fail. Don’t let the annoying turn you into a failure.8. Annoying people will be annoying people just like you will be you. Just like dogs will be dogs. Your cat is your cat. She can’t be anything else. Fuck’em. Fuck’em all as Robert Evans said. Just go with it. Be free! Freedom is in the not caring. Besides, not caring is way easier. First of all, it’s less work. Secondly, it leaves you wide open for good things to happen if you’re paying attention.9. Practice responding to adversity. Annoying people are adversity dressed in a man-bun and Crocs. They are there as your opportunities for personal growth. When you see one, breathe deeply, stay calm. Be present. Watch as they spin out of control.10. Annoying people need your compassion but they’re not ready for your help. Once I was doing standup at Yuk Yuk’s in Toronto and it was an awful night of comedy. An open mic night where the cynical host would play a video of plane crashes in the middle of a comic’s set if they were dying. It was punishing and petty. The kind of abuse that gives standup a bad name. The very reason Alt Comedy came into being. A young man that looked a lot like he just split from a Ren Faire went up and bombed horribly. The plane crashes began on the Television sets above the stage. He was appalled and dejected. I followed him outside. I wanted him to know that the host was at fault, that this was a horrible show and Yuk Yuk’s is an awful organization. He lost it on me. He was angry and I was a readily available target by virtue of proximity. He wasn’t ready for my help, nor did he ask me for it. Annoying people will remain annoying even if you want to help. Stop helping. Start offering quiet compassion. I should have just bought him a drink. I wonder if Yuk’s stocked flagons of mead.   11. Practice being easy going today so that you can embody it tomorrow. This won’t come easy. But once you get better at dealing with annoying people you’ll have more friends, more peace and more space in your brain for things that matter.Seinfeld has made nearly 1 billion dollars on turning annoying people into laughter. What can you do with them?Thank you for reading How To Be A Person. This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

On a podcast I heard a founder of a startup say “Day one, your product is never worse.” He was talking about encouraging early adopters to sign up for their product even though it wasn’t complete. When you admit that today the thing you have to offer is only going to get stronger and better you enter into a covenant with yourself (I’m talking to me right now): I must improve and grow Bold Acting Studios or no one is going to come. So …Welcome to HOW TO BE A PERSON. I'm re-branding the Bold Acting newsletter as such because although it’s a little to prescriptive and a lot presumptuous, when any of my content tends towards the self-helpy I get the most likes, views, follows. And I like to talk in this manner – and people respond to it. So, I’m going to stop hiding my light under a bushel as Madiba was fond of saying. RIP. It's still Bold Acting Studio, but it's also how to be. Not according to me necessarily but in a corroborated effort, as I have to learn to be a person too. Still. Over and over. I have only been a teacher for a year, but I’ve been a student of acting for 30 years. This is my strength. Everyone is bragging how long they’ve been doing it. I’m betting people want someone that has been too busy acting and producing his own stuff to teach until now. I've always been in a class of some sort or another. A through-line in all these classes is if you want to become a better actor, one must become better attuned to the human condition. Many of my students come and ask me for advice: on confidence, on work ethic, presence, on how to start, on what's important. It’s weird to think that these days in this influencer era we’re in real mentorship is in short supply. I see plenty of people with nothing to hustle, busy telling people how to live their lives. My aim is not to make return customers but to launch independent creatives. What is taught is crystallized into a cohesive nugget that hopefully spurs on more learning and an antidote to being in a state of want. So welcome to day one of the HOW TO BE A PERSON newsletter. Even though I've been doing this for almost a year, it feels like a new beginning and not just because it's a new year. Never skip over an opportunity to reinvent. No matter how many times you've already done so. Tell people you’re something and then prove it to them every day, every day, every day.The Bold Acting Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.You’ll still find the weekly newsletter in your inbox and on the podcast feed. It will just have a different name. Separately, the Bold Acting Podcast will continue, but will be interview-based as I speak to experienced contemporaries on how they've survived in showbiz. I've got a new website coming at the same address: boldacting.com. On it you'll be able to avail yourself of classes, coaching, and a weekly AMA happening Wednesdays at 9:30 AM (Starting January 17th, 2024). Click here or the calendar link below to sign up. Ask me how to get an agent or if I think you need new head shots, or how to save money even if you don’t have any. This will be a weekly state of the industry chat that is free and open to anyone. You can also book a free 15-minute Discovery Call: https://calendly.com/mail-wey/15-minute-free-discovery-call. Let’s talk about your acting goals for 2024. I’d love to connect with you. Lastly, there are two new in-person classes starting January 21 at Groundglass Casting here in Toronto. From 1 to 4 PM is the Commercial Audition Class. Here I put my experience acting in over 300 commercials to work. I will teach you everything I know. And from 5 to 8 is the On-Camera Scene Study Class. A new scene and a new scene partner each week using scripts from recent film and television. Email me directly for more information at [email protected] or go to boldacting.com.I’m excited for 2024. Welcome to How to Be a Person: Day One. Let’s reinvent. PS — Here’s your unsolicited advice for today: “It’s not fair, and don’t be late.”Here’s the Calendly link again. I’m new to this app. Thank you for your patience. https://calendly.com/mail-wey/wednesday-morning-amaThe Bold Acting Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

The ROI on DDL Daniel Day-Lewis is a highly ineffective actor when you consider his Return On Investment. It’s a good thing he’s retired so we don’t have to put up with further reports of his methodology. If only Jeremy Strong’s wholehearted admiration for Mr. Day-Lewis would also have him knock-off to Ireland to renovate a castle or Kirk.You cannot argue with Day-Lewis’s results. I am an acting teacher not a critic. I make stuff, I do not solely disparage. But I regularly extoll to my students the virtues of doing the right amount of work in an attempt to meet your lofty goals. You have to dream outrageously big in this business. Chances are you won’t become a star. Chances are you don’t really want that anyway. Look what it can do to your life Tom Cruise. You have to set massive goals in order to just make it out of the middle. But then the trick is to not kill yourself trying.If you want to die at work there are plenty of finance jobs out there. Perfectly legal — if not ethical — ways of making a lot of money. When you’re in your twenties you have the energy to work all day and all night. Go ahead and spend these years making money. Become an actor in your forties. Then act for forty years. But you won’t. We don’t often have that kind of forethought or aptitude.DDL does DDL. You can’t be the next him. You can only be the next you. So when you decide to make that short film to showcase your ability to play that Oscar-winning heroine hooked on heroin who still somehow has the heart to run a cat shelter there is no need to actually do heroin or be in the possession of a cat. DDL will become Lincoln, live in a cabin, vote Republican and insist everyone call him Abe for the entire six month shoot. Where does it end, Dan/Abe? Are you getting a ride back to your hotel room in a horse and buggy? Are you bathing monthly by candlelight? Are you sharing a bed with a certain doe-eyed Joshua in that log cabin?Does any of it help?How are you working? What’s your investment? Can you adjust it to increase your return? If something isn’t working then try something new. You can always go back to the way you were doing things after. It takes more energy to climb out of the wagon wheel ruts we carve for ourselves than it does to maintain a comfortable stagnancy. Get yourself out of the same-old, same-old by radically changing your state, be it physical or mental or whatever. In your performance do things hugely different. Do this by seeking out the embarrassing, the awkward, the ugly, the loud, the inappropriate, the provocative. You’ve got to burst out of those groves you find yourself in. And you must do it over and over again.Once you’re up and out of the rut feel how easy it is to maintain cruising altitude. Enjoy that. Then, sooner rather than later, become suspicious of it. For, inevitably we are now creating new groves that will eventually become a new rut.When he was younger Jeremy Strong was DDL’s assistant and clearly this tenure left an impression. Now he adheres to the Method wholeheartedly. In my class I tell beginners we’re here only to get out of our own way. To get out of the way of the parts of our performative selves that do not serve. Perhaps the Method can come later, that’s up to you. But for now, run from all that is precious. Avoid anything that makes it about you. Instead make it all about the scene partner and the audience. When we serve others we truly find communion and connection. Perhaps it’s different when you’re playing a self-serving scion of a billionaire asshole like Jeremy was in Succession. Perhaps it’s different when you’re carrying a big budget biopic directed by Stephen Spielberg. Perhaps I’m talking out of my ass. Check-in with yourself. See if this rings true. Don’t take my word for it. Get a second opinion. When next you have a self-tape try on some efficacy for a change. Do you over-prepare? It’s not all about memorizing the lines. You can be holding your script. Are you stressing over not fulfilling the wardrobe notes to a tee? Ignore them. Your job is not the wardrobe department. Nor is it lighting or sound. Focus on performance. Focus on behaviour and connection. Film yourself a few times and then send it off. Then, most importantly, forget you ever did it in the first place. Move on to the next one. And if you don’t have another audition make something yourself. Get sides from the Bold Acting Dropbox and prepare them. Film an audition you gave to yourself and that no one has asked for. Practice. Every day, every day, every day. Your return on investment may not be monetary. It will, however, be nothing short of creative fulfillment. And that’s an investment that can really pay off. The Bold Acting Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Gerry and I went for Korean on Wednesday. We ordered a beef dinner for four instead for some reason. The appetizer was thin slices of beef cooked on our table. All the smoke blew into Gerry’s eyes. Then there were mushrooms — the only vegetable I saw all night except for the kimchi. Which was delicious.Gerry’s dog had just died. Or Ger had just put her down. We cheers Poppy. I’m not really a dog person. Not a cat person either although I have one on the premises now. I can finally understand we have an infinite amount of love to give and we must get it out. And that why we succumb to such lapses in judgement.Toxoplasmosis is a real thing. I love my cat in spite of her personality, her girth, her loudness, how entitled she is and the shedding not to mention the hunting of rabbits and red cardinals and mice and rats and baby squirrels. On paper a pet feels like such a good idea. But paper has little to do with reality.“Your whole house smells of dog, says someone who comes to visit. I say I'll take care of it. Which I do by never inviting that person to visit again.”― Sigrid Nunez, The FriendAfter eleven courses of cow of various formats they bring us a ribeye for dessert. We then rolled ourselves down Bloor to the Comedy Bar where we saw eight hapless young people stand up on stage and tell nary a joke. Some would yell at the audience, some would belittle, one begged us to love her. All were dressed as if they just fell off a couch in a dorm room.Comedy is hard. Half the time I couldn’t look. Why do we do it to ourselves? My mother asked me that once in 1998 when I was having a panic attack over a one-man show I was performing. Why do you do it, Jacey? And I said, I don’t know. But I can’t stop.Performers are compelled. We do it because it’s in us in the beginning and for some it never leaves. We do it because connecting in the real world is much harder. At a party where you don’t know anyone there is no separation like there is on a stage. You’ve got a mic that makes you louder and a light that makes you brighter. The audience knows they are supposed to sit in the dark unnoticed. The performer stands up high, in the light, safe from those below.The last time I did stand-up comedy was November of 2013. I had two children under the age of three. I just couldn’t stay up late anymore. And I didn’t love heading downtown to do five to seven, fair-to-middling minutes in front of 12-15 mildly interested strangers.The last time I did stand-up the man that went up after me was named Andre. He was about three feet tall. He approached the green room of the Rivoli on Queen in a mobility scooter, parked it at the stairs leading up to the back of the stage, threw his tiny crutches up on the landing and then heaved himself up. Grabbing his crutches he places them under each arm and walks out towards the crowd when introduced. Then he would lean his crutches against the chair, heave himself up and take the mic.I watched him that night in November of 2013. Normally I would rush home in an attempt to get as much sleep before the onslaught of whelping young children began again at five or six o’clock in the morning. Comedy is hard for me. But Andre was an expert at suffering. Comedy wasn’t hard for him. Slinging jokes was the least of his concerns.Since that night at the Comedy Bar with Gerry I’ve been writing jokes. And they are terrible. I know deep down I am a fan of stand-up more than I am a practitioner. But whatever I do or don’t do “easy” is not a deciding factor. It used to be when I was younger.My children are still at that age of thinking Well, if it’s hard I don’t want to do it. I tell them ease or difficulty is not necessarily a part of the equation. Being an adult means you have to do a lot of things that turn your stomach.The beef and the booze hit at about 3AM. I look out the window at a large moon above the high-rise in the backyard. Someone else’s light is on. Then nothing happens. How am I supposed to go back to sleep? I re-listen to a podcast on the birth of Costco. It’s surprisingly interesting.Andre died in 2017 of a lifelong struggle with Morquio Syndrome but before that he died a 1000 times on stage in front of a bunch of mildly interested strangers. If only we treated each other with the compassion we do our pets.Long live Poppy. Long live Andre.The cat … we’ll see if she gets such a send off. Or maybe she’ll end up at a Korean restaurant.She’s as big as a cow.The Bold Acting Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

I got strong opinions. And I say the same thing over again. Sometimes these things bear repeating. On this week’s episode I repeat myself mostly because I know what the click rate is of my newsletter. 63% of you open the Bold Acting Newsletter so I can record audio versions of four of these and there’s a good chance you’ll be hearing this content for the first time. I hope you get something from them. I wouldn’t do it without you. Jason Bryden in Toronto This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

“The rate at which a person can mature is directly proportional to the embarrassment he can tolerate.” — Douglas Englebart - Father of the computer mouse and digital pioneerComplaining is a human need: the transfer of information, much like gossip, between village members is a survival tool we’ve come to abhor incorrectly due to there are too many of us doing it. This is a product of us losing our village perspective (we live in giant cities and are exposed to too many humans) not it’s efficacy. To complain is to warn others - Fuck that guy. I don’t shop there after I pointed out to the proprietor he roles his eyes at me every time I ask a question about cheese. Or - I’m not driving to Old Town to get my haircut at 130pm when that puts me squarely in rush hour traffic on the expressway and it’ll take me three days to get home. So as I lead with complaints know that I’m doing this fully aware of how petty it sounds and how I don’t think that discounts it one bit.Besides, positivity is annoyingly popular. And I am allergic to that which everyone is talking about (shoutout to intermittent fasting, drinking gallons of water and misusing the word caveat).Joachim Nin, Anais’s father, with whom she had an affair … when she was 30 years-old. If you like the Bold Acting Podcast talk it up at your next dinner or book club. Word-of-Mouth is the best form of advertising. If you don’t like it maybe just keep that to yourself.Rating and reviewing the thing is also greatly appreciated. It goes a long way to spreading the word.To get in touch email me at:  [email protected] on Instagram  @jasonbrydenofcanadaThe song used in this podcast is called Sure and it was made by Braak which is electronic and cinematic music made by Øyvind Strand Endal from Norway.Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/braak/sureLicense code: AVTXANAUYZXHSHB0And I’ve also used “Chinatown” by the world’s greatest rock band Do Make Say Think. I do apologize for not asking permission. I don’t know how. And I don’t have any money. But I love them.Thanks for listening. I wouldn’t do it without you.Jason Bryden in Toronto This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

Catchup on newsletters you haven’t read yet. Let me read to you instead. Thank you for reading The Bold Acting Newsletter. This post is public so feel free to share it.If you like the Bold Acting Podcast talk it up at your next dinner or book club. Word-of-Mouth is the best form of advertising. If you don’t like it maybe just keep that to yourself.Rating and reviewing the thing is also greatly appreciated. It goes a long way to spreading the word.To get in touch email me at:  [email protected] on Instagram  @jasonbrydenofcanadaThe song used in this podcast is called Sure and it was made by Braak which is electronic and cinematic music made by Øyvind Strand Endal from Norway.Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/braak/sureLicense code: AVTXANAUYZXHSHB0And I’ve also used “Chinatown” by the world’s greatest rock band Do Make Say Think. I do apologize for not asking permission. I don’t know how. And I don’t have any money. But I love them.Thanks for listening. I wouldn’t do it without you.Jason Bryden in Toronto This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe

I don’t like Shakespeare. Mostly it’s our outsized reverence for Shakespeare that I don’t like. Reverence for anything makes me roll my eyes. A preciousness for the old where it leaves less room for the new makes me suspicious. The bard takes up a lot of space, still. Would he be so popular if we had to pay his estate for the rights to produce his plays? Not likely. We don’t like paying artists these days.I went to Stratford to see Goblin Macbeth. It’s a truncated version of the Scottish play where three goblins play all the roles and do the music and the sound effects and it was very good. From the word go they had the audience in the palm of their hands.It was created by old friends Rebecca Northan and Bruce Horak. We met at university a 1000 years ago. They’ve been making theatre ever since. That night Rebecca and I stayed up late and spoke about the good old days in Calgary, Keith Johnstone, the Loose Moose and about teaching and the little wisdom we’ve gained. She spoke of old lady necks and I didn’t have to speak of erectile dysfunction because something inside me reminds me that I talk about it all the time on podcasts and blogs and I could just sit and listen once in while.To come all this way only to realize that it’s all about sitting there and listening.I hope you enjoy this listen. Thank you for listening The Bold Acting Podcast. This post is public so feel free to share it.If you like the Bold Acting Podcast talk it up at your next dinner or book club. Word-of-Mouth is the best form of advertising. If you don’t like it maybe just keep that to yourself.Rating and reviewing the thing is also greatly appreciated. It goes a long way to spreading the word.To get in touch email me at:  [email protected] on Instagram  @jasonbrydenofcanadaThe song used in this podcast is called Sure and it was made by Braak which is electronic and cinematic music made by Øyvind Strand Endal from Norway.Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/braak/sureLicense code: AVTXANAUYZXHSHB0And I’ve also used “Chinatown” by the world’s greatest rock band Do Make Say Think. I do apologize for not asking permission. I don’t know how. And I don’t have any money. But I love them. Thanks for listening. I wouldn’t do it without you.Jason Bryden in Toronto This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe