Nicole DuBois aka Nicky Doobs stops by to chat!!

Nicole DuBois – Video Interview

Jeff: .[00:00:00]

Hello listeners, a spoiler country today on the show. We have the fantastic Ms. Nicole Duba how’s it going? Ms. Duvall is probably saying it wrong.

No, that’s really all that matters here. Right? I, I got within the realm of correct.

Nicole DuBois: Well, as I caught myself, Nikki doobs online. So most people are used to saying that. So the name is a shocker sometimes.

Jeff: For the sake of protecting me from looking too stupid. Can I say referred to as Nikki or Nicole for the interview, I’m going to get the name, last name, wrong a thousand times.

So the one thing that I was looking at do some research on, you know, before the interview, as you know, we, we tend to do I noticed you had a career as both an actor and a comedian, which you love.

Nicole DuBois: Which love came first. I mean, acting probably came first. I think comedy develops later in life anyways.

So I would say when I was a child, it would be called

Jeff: acting. All right. Very cool. So, when you you eventually [00:01:00] attended the pre pronouncing it wrong to the lawyer, Marymount university.

Nicole DuBois: Yeah, Loyola.

Jeff: Where do you got a BA in business marketing. So how did that come about, how did you go from business marketing to eventually pursuing your current performance

Nicole DuBois: arts?

Well, I was already always in performance art. I was doing it since I was little. I went to a performing arts high school for a year and a half, and then kind of decided really. Impulsively that I didn’t want to get a degree in acting and I wanted to go to business school. And you know, most kids have to like come out to their parents being like, I want to go to school for theater, but for me, I was like, I want to go to school

Jeff: for business, but thank God we thought we were going to acting for a little while there.

Nicole DuBois: I think I think they were happy. I think I was doing so much acting and I was doing so much training. Before, and I just felt like, I felt like a degree in acting. [00:02:00] Do much for me, like, I felt like if I was going to act, I shouldn’t even probably go to college. I should just get into acting classes and start auditioning.

So I got a marketing degree because I figured, well, I’m going to be my own boss if I’m an actress. So I’ll just figure out how to do business for a little bit.

Jeff: Well, I, I met her. That’s been a huge help to you as, as you said, as an actor and comedian, being able to understand your own marketing have be honest in your own business, must have been a huge help.

Nicole DuBois: Yeah. And especially now I am a business. You know, I ha I like I have a, I am incorporated, so it’s definitely helpful. My think it’s made me more confident too, going into meetings and just, you know, I’m not just an artist. I have some knowledge of what’s going on.

Jeff: It must be great to be your own corporation.

You are your own business. You are the product as

Nicole DuBois: well. It was so silly when I like incorporated myself. Like, what am I

Jeff: doing?

No, [00:03:00] but still, that’s kind of impressive when the combo on the side and my company had to be a Becker. Maybe, you know, incorporate in the business for tax purposes. I guess it’s all the reason why we do any of this and it’s weird feeling. Cause you’re, you know, you’re kind of feel like you’re real now, but at the same time you’re like, but it’s just me.

Nicole DuBois: Right? And I’m like, well, damn it. Now I was like, run a business

Jeff: and figure out how to do taxes. That’s gotta be. Yeah, that’s gonna be stuff that people never think about when they want to go into acting or comedian or comedy. They’re like, you’re literally going to figure out an entire business model just for you.

Nicole DuBois: Yeah. And I think for any artist, you know, eventually the goal is to get to the point where there’s a business behind you. And it, I think it’s really important to be a part of that process and not have someone doing all that for you. Cause it’s easy to get taken advantage of. I think, as an artist,

Jeff: it must also be nice that you are marketing yourself as the person who [00:04:00] understands you the best.

Like have you ever before you were fully incorporated, did you have an agent or anyone else who you felt was not selling you the way you felt marketing you the

Nicole DuBois: best? Oh, I’ve had, I mean, I I’ve been at it for a long time and I didn’t even start really having it. Significant success until about a year and a half ago.

So I have had so many I’ve I’ve cycled through different managers who didn’t get it. Didn’t get me. I’ve had agents that don’t get it. Yeah, I’ve been through. A bunch of different teams in the years before I found now what I have, it’s like a dream team. They like totally get me. And it’s awesome. But yeah, for sure, I had so many, so many of those experiences, so I feel like I really learned to advocate for myself cause I had to.

Jeff: Well, early in your career, you were a grumbling, is that correct?

Nicole DuBois: No, I’m actually still going through the Groundlings [00:05:00] program. I was up to take the last level before COVID shut everything down and then the classes just stopped. So I don’t even know eventually I’ll probably take that last level of class, but they’re still not.

Okay. I’m

Jeff: apparently extremely ignorant. And I know it was a class. I thought it was just like a thing.

Nicole DuBois: Yeah. So like the way you become a grounding as you go through the whole Groundlings training program and then certain people get you audition and you get picked to be able to perform. So the first stage of performing and Sunday company, and those are the people who get to perform on Sunday nights and then like one or two people from Sunday company a year, get into the main company.

So,

Jeff: what does it take to be a good Groundling then or someone who is, or in the program, did you up to supply for it? Did you, is it like a college where you just pay your tuition you’re in, how does

Nicole DuBois: that work? You audition for the core track [00:06:00] program. And then you go through basic improv and you have three, I think, three chances to pass that class.

Then you go to intermediate, you have three chances to pass that class advance. You have three tries to pass that class, and then you go into writing lab. You have one chance to. Advanced writing lab one chance to pass. And that’s how you get into Sunday company. But a lot of people will have to take the levels multiple times before they

Jeff: pass.

That sounds so incredibly involved. I thought it was a simple thing. You just get on stage and do your thing. And then you’re like, Hey, good job.

Nicole DuBois: Everybody know this world. It’s so intense. And it was actually kind of a blessing to take a step back from it during the pandemic and just realize there’s so many other things.

To success, because I feel like when you’re in the Groundlings program, it’s like Groundlings or nothing like Groundlings, or you’ll never succeed so stressful. And like everybody wants to get into Sunday company. And then once you’re in some Sunday company, you get six months at a time [00:07:00] and then the most you could get are three, six months.

Stints. So then after your first six months, you’re hoping you get your second six months, second, six months, hoping get your third, six months there, six months hoping you get into main company. Like it is a rollercoaster. So I feel like it’s been nice to take a step back and just realize, oh, there’s other paths to success.

Jeff: Bunch of therapy to make it through all that stress and

Nicole DuBois: anxiety. Yeah. People freak out it’s the comedy is stressful over there, but it’s also a fantastic education.

Jeff: So, well, I mean, you’ve managed to become, you know, massively popular without the Groundlings. I mean, you’ve literally within the last, like I said, year and a half and you, and also before that you’ve done other things that we’ll mention briefly, but you became.

A massive star online. And not just going from your previous word from over a year ago when you were a, you played Hartley, we in a, well, that’s simply not to the fans. You obviously know you were Holly Queenie and what was called a Harley Quinn and the, and the joke in versus the [00:08:00] real world series of a video, which I saw.

And it was hilarious. You did a great job as Harley. So before we get too much into. Your, your massive fame on your top videos on YouTube, what was it like to be Harley? And what was the goal of those videos?

Nicole DuBois: It was cool. I mean, it was definitely really fun to play a character that already exists in a lot of other capacities and sort of get your own spin on it.

I came in, there was a Harley Quinn in that series before me who quit the series. And then I auditioned in and ended up replacing her. Which was a whole thing in itself because people were, are already used to the first actress and we’re like, what are you doing? And changing are really good. But it was really fun.

I liked it. It was super like YouTube filming, like really fast, not, not necessarily like all of it. As professional, but like we just got it done and it was really fun. It was cool.

Jeff: So there was a casting controversy and on the, on the side of the Harley and [00:09:00] joker thing, apparently,

Nicole DuBois: well, I don’t, I actually don’t, I don’t really know what happened.

I just know the first Harley Quinn who was in the first season. And then they did auditions to replace her. So, and then there was a joke made in the first episode about how Harley looks different and then we just ignored it from then on,

Jeff: well, you may just how popular they are. I mean, they get thousands and thousands of views online.

I mean, that is massively popular videos.

Nicole DuBois: Yeah, it was, yeah, it was really popular. I think some of their videos have like millions of views too.

Jeff: What was that like your first taste of, I guess we’ll be celebrity at that point. I mean, did people recognize you?

Nicole DuBois: Nobody really recognized me. But it was my first taste of, yeah.

Like any sort of actually, no, you know what I was in, I was in these videos for another YouTube channel before that called just like that. And that was sort of like a tween YouTube channel, like tween girl, [00:10:00] YouTube channel. And so I got recognized maybe like two times, but. 11 year old girls out somewhere.

Before that, then, then Harley Quinn. I don’t think I ever got recognized, but I did start getting this. Online attention, like random people commenting on pictures of that. Cause this is before I had a following, like random people commenting on pictures of like me and my family.

Jeff: That must be a dual edge sword getting online attention because as anyone who’s had any time on social media, which we all do nowadays, that is a rough, rough place to be on online.

Nicole DuBois: Yeah, I actually, and I found that Harley Quinn and joker fans are extremely aggressive.

Jeff: Oh, seriously.

Nicole DuBois: It just, you know, some of my most like weirdest, DNS and weirdest comments and like most sexually aggressive, most like.

Violent come from [00:11:00] the Harley Quinn and joker fans. And I don’t know what the psychology behind that is, but

Jeff: people who are in love with two psychopaths would have a much more healthy lives,

I guess, I guess that there is a connection there, I guess they would be in the few fans that are like, yeah, I can, I can say that they love the joker. I guess they wouldn’t be a little, yeah. Yeah. The confusion of thinking that’s a healthy relationship Harley and the joker,

Nicole DuBois: right? Exactly. Yeah. They’re like, we love Harley.

Like we love Harley because of the way the joker tree.

Jeff: Right. And that’s not healthy at all. So, so you went from, from YouTube to now going to what has made you just like a massive online celebrity is a ticket. And I will say someone like myself, I’ve never had an understanding how to make tick-tock work for me.

So what is the key to being great on take dog? And how do you focus your comedy towards Tik TOK or [00:12:00] the platform?

Nicole DuBois: Yeah, I think tic talk, it’s not necessarily a hard and fast rule, but I find that things that are very relatable to other people do better jokes. Relatable or trending or an angle on something that people are already talking about does really well.

And once you find something that’s hitting find something that people like. They want to keep seeing it over and over. So like my first thing that hit a million views was a hallmark parody. And then for the next two months, all I did was hallmark parodies. And that’s how I started growing my account because people just loved this one.

And they want to watch it over and over and over. So, yeah.

Jeff: So, so was it on the pandemic that made you move to K talk? Was that something you already thinking about and thinking about pushing prior to the pandemic? [00:13:00]

Nicole DuBois: Yeah, so I actually posted my first tic talk three weeks before. The shutdown. So I didn’t even know COVID was coming when I posted my first couple tick talks, but then once we shut down, I had literally nothing to do, but make tick talks.

So yes, yes and

Jeff: no. So in a weird way that Tommy was perfect for you, it was a perfectly timed pandemic for your career. So. If it depend DEMEC hadn’t occurred the way it did. Do you, would you have followed the same path through it far as your videos

Nicole DuBois: and whatnot? I think so because when the shutdown happened, I was working on a live show.

I had a show going up on the comedy central stage, like in three weeks and I was working on a lot of stuff, taking classes, doing all this and the way I grew my ticked off account. So. Well [00:14:00] was, I was posting three to five tech talks a day and I just never would have had the time or energy to devote to that because I was doing so many other things.

So I might’ve grown somewhat of a following, but I don’t think I would. So,

Jeff: so, so for comedy central, you had a w was that. Especially that you head on comedy central lining up, or what was that you said with

Nicole DuBois: comedy central? Yeah. So comedy central stage, which is like, a venue for comedy in LA. Oh, wow.

Yeah. It’s, it’s really awesome. They, they allow comedians to. You know, you pitch a show to them. If they approve it, you just get to put it up on their stage and they check it for you and they light it and they do everything. It’s amazing. Oh, wow. Yeah. It’s such a cool thing that they do for comedians, but it was a sketch show.

It was an all female. Sketch comedy

Jeff: show. Oh, wait. Well, that’s very cool. Are you considering going back to that now? The pandemic is that over, but I wouldn’t say it’s slowing down, but I guess maybe it’s not, I don’t know [00:15:00] that people are allowed back outside again. Are you considering going back

Nicole DuBois: to that? I would love to.

I hope so soon. I know standup has started again, but sketch comedy, not so much as far as I know, because a lot of standup shows can happen outside and stuff. But I would love to, and I think it’ll also be really interesting to see if I sell more tickets now, because

Jeff: I would imagine, I mean, some of your Tik TOK videos, I thought were some of your funniest and it was all, I guess it was YouTube on YouTube as well.

You had the wedding venue video, and you also have the Russian soldiers, Simone Biles DNA one. So those were, I just thought they were hilarious. Where did those ideas come from?

Nicole DuBois: Well, Florida girl, she always does whatever trend, whatever is trending in the news. And Simone Biles pulling out of the Olympics was trending.

So I was like, how can I, how would Florida girls see this? And obviously she sees it through a conspiracy theory. So that’s where that one came from. The wedding venue, I just got engaged two months ago. Thank you. I’m planning a [00:16:00] wedding. So that’s where that came from. Okay.

Jeff: So you’re talking about yourself.

You, you were, so the, the, you said the one that’s for the Simone Biles one. Why do think that one connects so well with viewers? Do you think that everyone, people, everyone feels like they know someone who’s kind of like this girl, conspiracy theorist.

Nicole DuBois: I think so. I think also I’ve been doing her for a long time.

And so people it’s familiar to people and people like to see her again when she comes back because a lot of people followed me for that one character.

Jeff: So let me, do you find that people fairly get confused? Are things like you’re that character, are they, or do you think they are the, are smart enough to understand the separation?

Nicole DuBois: Most people understand the separation. There will be like one or two people that don’t know him.

Jeff: That’s scary to meet those people and be like, oh guys, just joking, please go away.

Nicole DuBois: Yeah. But as soon as somebody comments that they, and they don’t know, other [00:17:00] people are quick to. Fill them in, in the comments.

Jeff: So you got some good protection online

videos that have just been killing it. I mean, you you’d also do the country club. People they’ve been viewed. It looks like 1.5 million times. Is that that’s an accurate 1.5 million?

Nicole DuBois: I, yeah, I think so. I think there’s a lot of them. Probably more than that. If you go back through and like really look at them all,

Jeff: oh, talk about one particular video.

And in this area, like single videos have been viewed 1.5 million times. And if you’re wondering for our listeners. For someone who lives in Rhode Island, that would mean that every single individual who lives in Rhode Island technically has equal the number of views that Nicole has, what you’re thinking it, that way.

That’s an absurd amount of people that is crazy. We fill a state with the amount of people who watch your video, that one video. So when you’re [00:18:00] making these videos, can you. Tell which ones are going to hit it. Like, are you able to like touch that moment? I know like this video is going to be the one that gets this many millions of views.

This one is going to be maybe not quite as big. Like, are you able to just tell when they’re made, which ones are, those are the special ones?

Nicole DuBois: Not always. I think I have an idea. When I’m posts, I think I have an idea when I’m posting them, if it’s going to do well, but. It’s not really. And a lot of it has to do with algorithm too, which isn’t exactly transparent.

So I w I would say no, but obviously I don’t post anything. I don’t think it’s funny, but I would imagine that. And then, so then if it doesn’t get a lot of views, I guess that’s on me.

Jeff: So, so what do you mean the algorithm? So it is. I mean, that’s something that you factored in or you figured out how to work around or

Nicole DuBois: with so [00:19:00] tick talk is really not very transparent about their algorithm and they change it all the time.

So it’s not something you can really strategize around. Instagram is more transparent with creators about like what they’re pushing and what they’re doing now. So that’s a little bit easier, but yeah. Well,

Jeff: that’s, that’s, that’s where that’s in many ways. Tik TOK itself is, has some control over the success or failure of a particular video based on whatever algorithm they’re playing with at that time.

Yeah, completely. Yeah. I mean, I personally never figured out how to make Tech-Talk, like I said, I’d never been able to figure it out. Take talk. What is, do you think that the main audience of take talk that you can connect with? I mean, is it an age group? Is it, did you, did you find that more female oriented or male oriented or eight younger, older?

Nicole DuBois: Mine is mostly female. It used to be 80% female, but now I think it’s 70. I think it’s, I, I think I trapped some more men into my account, but and then it’s like mostly millennials [00:20:00] and then I have, but it’s like pretty much from 18 to like 35 as my

Jeff: age group. Yeah. So it’s when you’re making your comedy, you’re aiming for.

Yeah, that’s right. That’s right

Nicole DuBois: in there. I think so, but I think also I’m just making fun of what’s in my immediate viewpoint and I am in that category.

Jeff: Oh dude. With the pandemic closing in, do you think that will have an effect on the Tik TOK? I mean, because now that we all have free more free time and you can leave her house, does that have an impact on you think Tik TOK as well?

Or is that something that you’re now Kind of planning to combat, you know, the openness now that we all live in.

Nicole DuBois: I think it opens up a lot more opportunity to go out into the world and make videos and have backdrops that aren’t my own home. I don’t think people, I think people are so addicted at this point to tick-tock that they’ll just keep watching [00:21:00]

Jeff: addicted to, to, to your shows, your videos.

Nicole DuBois: That is just tick-tock in general. Like, I feel like all last year we. So many videos and so much chick talk, like I personally am addicted. I’m probably watching the same

Jeff: amount. So as, as your fans, you, you were actually like, just like your fans while you cannot cut them so easily.

Nicole DuBois: Yeah. Like I’m consuming as much content as the people consuming my content.

Jeff: That’s good. That means, you know, your audience means, you know, what they’re dealing with now, is there a way to like, to make, to monotonous? Tik TOK videos or is that, is there like, is there like subscriptions work towards that or is it just you’re the fan that you’re building up the moves onto your next projects?

Nicole DuBois: They do have a creator fund. I left the creator fund because they, it seemed like they were capping views. If you were in the creator fund, I think that they didn’t want to pay us as much as they were. So I left the creator [00:22:00] fund and now I, I make all, all the money that comes from Tik TOK and Instagram comes from brand deals.

So

Jeff: that’s awesome. I can’t believe they kept, they kept views. That sounds, that sounds

Nicole DuBois: insane. They claim they claim that they didn’t. It was a whole thing. Everybody left the creator fund and their views were all of a sudden up again where they were

Jeff: that’s. That sounds so bizarre on their part. Okay. So one thing as I was looking up research on you is that you have an upcoming project called love in 2020, is that correct?

Nicole DuBois: Yeah. I have a very small role in that series. It’s actually a friend series and I, they did a Love is blind spoof in the middle of the series. Like that’s the show that they’re watching. So I just went in and I played did an impression of, one of, of Jessica from love is blind. Oh, that’s

Jeff: very cool.

Well, when will it air, is it already airing or

Nicole DuBois: I know that they’re doing some premieres [00:23:00] and stuff. I don’t know. I think they’re entering film festivals and stuff like that. So I don’t know if it’s. I have no clue,

Jeff: but

Nicole DuBois: sometimes as I’m rambling, I realized I have no answer.

Jeff: That’s no problem. At some point in the near future, this thing will be able to be found.

Nicole DuBois: Yeah, I, I do have something coming up. There is a new. Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd show coming out called the shrink next door. It’s based off of that podcast. And I’m in an episode of that.

Jeff: Oh, very cool. So what was it like to work? Did he get to work with either Paul Rudd or

Nicole DuBois: welfare? I got to work with Paul Rudd.

I, it, my scene was just with Paul Rudd. So I was with him for. A whole half of a day, just the two of us and then the crew. And it was, I was so nervous the whole day. Cause I was in my trailer for a long time too, because you can’t really leave your trailer cause of [00:24:00] COVID and all that. And I was just sitting there like, oh my God, I’m about to work with Paul Rudd.

Oh my God. And then as I’m working with Paul red, I’m like, oh my God, I’m working. It’s all right. He was so great. He, I could tell that he wanted to like disarm me. So as soon as I got in the room, he was like, huh, Do you have any siblings like asking like just a very normal guy asking me very normal questions.

And I was like, okay. Okay.

Jeff: So when we watch you on, on the screen, do you look at your camera or can you tell, like in your face you’re freaking out like, oh my God, that’s him, like, as you’re doing it,

Nicole DuBois: luckily the character’s like a little timid and maybe a little nervous. So hopefully it would, hopefully it doesn’t look like I’m freaking out.

Jeff: So, so, so it’s not even acting that you’re doing. That’s just you nervous and quiet.

Nicole DuBois: Oh, my God and my lines are actually, oh my God. It’s Paul Rudd. No,

Jeff: no, no. That’s good. Jesus Christ. That’s well, timed. I think that’d be almost all of our lines when we see Paul wrote for the first time. Is he really? He is that nice as he seems like on TV and everything else?

Oh

Nicole DuBois: [00:25:00] my God. He’s he was amazing. He’s so cool. Like, and you know, I’ve worked on sets with other like celebrities. And a lot of times they don’t want to talk to people around them and they’re just sort of focusing and they don’t, they have a handler that keeps them away from people. And he was just like out there walking around and talking to me about like HGTV shows.

It was just so cool. I’m like, damn, this guy doesn’t even know he’s a celebrity.

Jeff: So up close. Does he still look like he’s only 30 years old? Or can you see like when he’s up close, so you can be like, oh my God, In real life, he does look like he’s 50 or 60. It makes all of us feel

Nicole DuBois: better. Well, he was aged up.

So he had, they had given him gray hair and I think like put makeup to make them look older. So I actually

Jeff: don’t know. Okay. I was gonna say the joke with him honestly, is that he always looks like he’s like, has an age in the last, like 20 years of TV.

Nicole DuBois: Yeah, honestly, I don’t think he has. Now that you say that.

I think even with the gray hair, he looks. [00:26:00]

Jeff: What you do too. Paul rod, he will always look young. So all of us on in the real world can hate him for that because we’re all eating horribly in the real world. So, when is that, Erin, do you have a date for that? Is that and where is it Erin?

Nicole DuBois: The trailer just came out for it.

Well, like a couple of weeks ago. And I think it said it’s airing in October or something like that, but I once again, have no answer for you,

Jeff: it must be the running for you. And it would be horrible if you suddenly have the answer. So, which other projects are you working on?

Nicole DuBois: I just wrote a feature film, a romcom with my writing partner.

We just finished the first slash third slash fifth draft of the script. I’m not sure which one it counts as, but that’s, that’s something that we’re hopefully gonna be getting made. Obviously. Is forever. So look out for that in 2028.

Jeff: Fuck your calendars. Now [00:27:00] everybody, all your listeners, mark it down.

Nicole DuBois: And then I’m writing a show with my friend Aleena Bach. Who’s also a tick talker. And it’s basically about a pyramid scheme in the nineties.

Jeff: Oh, okay. There’s plenty of those. So we all know what that’s gonna sound like.

Nicole DuBois: And that’s like, Elena’s whole thing is she does nineties, throwback, tick talks and stuff.

So,

Jeff: so, so when can it, where can our listeners find you? Cause we’ve been taught about your take time. We talk about you on YouTube, where can they find you?

Nicole DuBois: Me. I mean, you can find me on Tik TOK and Instagram and YouTube.

Jeff: Your, your, your handles are your I’m sure you’re you are on there, but how do they actually find you?

Nicole DuBois: Only half? My brain is on right now.

Jeff: The half is function. Just fine. Don’t worry about. Okay,

Nicole DuBois: great. It’s at Nicky doobs and I C K Y D O O B S.

Jeff: And that’s on YouTube.

Nicole DuBois: Take dog, Instagram, and then YouTube has just Nicole Dubois.

Jeff: All right. Very cool. [00:28:00] It was a great pleasure to talk with you. So I’ll tell our, so our listeners, please check her check her out on take time some very funny skits that are on there. Watch for the screenplay in seven to eight years and check on, on YouTube and Instagram.

It was a great pleasure talking with you. No problem. Have a fantastic day. You too.

Nicole DuBois: See,