UCLA alumnus Austin Nasso sits down with Podcasts contributor Aashay Ghiya to discuss the co-founding of Shenanigans Comedy Club at UCLA, transitioning from tech to full-time comedy and offering advice on pursuing creative passions while balancing practical concerns.

Aashay Ghiya: Hello and welcome to Bruin to Bruin. On this show, we interview trailblazing members of the UCLA community to hear their story and advice for students. My name is Aashay Ghiya, and I am a Podcasts contributor for the Daily Bruin. Today, I have the privilege of speaking with Austin Nasso, a UCLA alumnus who co-founded Shenanigans Comedy Club at UCLA. Shenanigans is the biggest comedy club on campus. It allows all Bruins to practice comedy in stand-up, improv, sketch, and digital formats. Shenanigans had its 10th anniversary earlier this year, where Nasso returned to perform on campus. After graduating from UCLA, Nasso briefly worked as a software engineer for Microsoft before co-founding Socially Inept. Its featured Tech Roast Show is on tour across the country.

Austin Nasso, thanks for joining the show. To start things off, I want to go back to before you started your comedy career and even before you came to UCLA. Did you always have a comedic side growing up, or was your personality suited for something different?

Austin Nasso: Yeah. When I was growing up, I would always try to make my friends and family laugh and do impressions. I’d watch TV shows and copy characters on Spongebob and Shrek and stuff like that. And Joe Pesci, Goodfellas, stuff like that. I would always just do impressions and try to make my family laugh.

AG: Did that translate into your time at UCLA? I know you founded Shenanigans, which is now the biggest comedy club on campus. What inspired you to go out on a limb, and how did you break it into the student body?

AN: Yeah, sure. So I probably got into comedy in general just because, I don’t know— I didn’t know how to make friends really growing up. So I just tried to make people laugh. And I thought that was what led to friends. That’s going back to the other question you asked. And I knew— anyway, so I really focused in high school and middle school on trying to be really funny. It was just something I always thought about. So I’d always— I’d literally think about how many times I made my friends laugh in a day and stuff like that. It was really neurotic.

And then senior year of high school, I was one of the sketch chairs, or skit chairs, for the senior show. And our high school, Greenwich High School— every year they have a senior show where you just write a bunch of sketches and then everyone comes. And all the seniors are in it. So that was my first time performing and writing something live.

And then senior year of high school, after all the AP classes— if you’re taking all APs, basically you’re done in May but school ends in June. So we had six weeks to either do an internship or a project. And I did a project where I basically worked with three friends and we just made an iOS app of a projectile motion ball. And you hold it down and it changes the elevation of the ball and how hard you’re throwing it. And it took us six hours. So we basically had six weeks off of extra summer before UCLA started. And UCLA starts super late. So we had four months of summer senior year. And I started doing this stand-up class where I’d go into the city once a week and just tell jokes.

But anyway, that’s how I started doing stand-up comedy. It was that senior year after my AP classes. And yeah, I bombed horribly at first. And it was— I would just show up in shorts in New York City and just bomb and think I was really funny. And it was so horrible. I would have a paper of jokes and I would just read through it.

But anyway, I was hoping I could still do stand-up when I got to UCLA. And when I got there, I was really surprised to find that there was not any comedy clubs, really. There was just Rapid Fire Improv, and they didn’t even publicly disclose where they were having auditions. And then I saw there was something called Sedar, which isn’t even around anymore. So there wasn’t much, and I wanted to just make comedy exist at UCLA. I was really surprised because it’s in the heart— we’re in LA, and you would think there’s entertainment clubs at the school to do comedy. So there wasn’t really one.

So my friend Nathan Mosher, I went to his— he was producing a show in De Neve. He was also a freshman. And I was really inspired because somehow Res Life hit him up, and there were like 200 people there. One of my best friends now, Richie, was performing and crushing in front of like 200 people. Nathan was bombing, doing one-liners as the host. And I was like— oh, this is so cool. This is like— if I could— I want to do shows like this in front of 200 people.

So then I remember I was talking to some people, and I wanted to start a comedy club. And this other dude Charlie Chian hit me up. He’s like— “Austin, I actually already started a club. Do you want to join?” So actually, this guy named Charlie started the club. He’s like, “It’s called Shenanigans.” Name seems kind of lame, but it’s okay. He’s like, “Do you want to be one of the signatories?” So it was me, him, and this other girl. I forget her name. And we were the signatories of the club. We had one meeting, and we met in De Neve once.

And then a few weeks later, like two weeks, he was like: “This is too overwhelming. I hooked up with one of the other members and it’s a disaster.” I’m like, what are you talking about? There were only three of us. So you hooked up with one of the other guys that were there, and then they both quit the club. And then, literally like week three, it was just me. So it was pretty much: they started the club on paper, but I just made the club exist.

And so we’d just have weekly meetings in Ackerman and do sketch, improv, stand-up. The vibe was to make it an inclusive community for everyone who wanted to do comedy and not be exclusive. Some of the other clubs were hard. You had to have experience doing improv and stuff to even get in. We wanted to foster a community where you can start bad and hopefully learn and have the opportunity to do shows.

So that’s in short how it started. And then I realized we can get funding. And we started— for the next four years, the club slowly grew. There would be a lot of people in the beginning of the year, and then it would go down to no people.

And then eventually I auditioned for Rapid Fire and I didn’t get in my sophomore year. And they’re like, “Oh dude, just audition again next year.” I auditioned again in junior year and I didn’t get in. And I was really butthurt. So then I started two improv teams as part of Shenanigans with my friends, and we held auditions. So we started the Sidekicks, and what was called the Mild Cats. And now it’s called Identity Crisis or something.

Yeah. And then from my junior year, the comedy scene really exploded at UCLA. We were doing these huge shows. We’re getting big names to come in. We had Melissa Villaseñor who was a big SNL cast member. Quinta Brunson, who’s an A-list actress now, would come and perform. We did a show where Jerrod Carmichael stopped by. I’m blanking, but there were so many big names now— like huge, huge comedians now— that would just come to do our shows at UCLA. And we would have hundreds of people come watch. and everyone was doing independent shows. It was really cool.

AG: Oh, wow. So it seems like Shenanigans became your baby in a way. I know that you came back to campus for the ten year anniversary this winter. And do you feel like it’s still the same as when you started it, or has the culture changed at all?

AN: No, I think it’s great. I am really proud of how they run the club. And I think it’s grown quite a lot. And I think it stays true to my intention of having it being a community for people that want to do comedy. It’s still pretty open. Obviously the improv teams have auditions, but you can still show up and do stand-up or sketch or digital. And I think it’s really fulfilling to see that it’s still going. And Sophie did a great job leading the club. And some of the other presidents too, after me. And luckily I’ve been meddling and sort of stayed in contact with the presidents to see how things are running— because I’m just curious and I feel a sense of it’s a little baby. But yeah, I’m really proud of how things are running.

AG: Yeah, that’s great. I’ve been to a few shows myself, and I was really impressed by the quality of comedy as well as the bravery needed to perform on campus. So moving on, I know that you did end up working in tech for a year after you graduated, but now you’re back to comedy full time. Has it been any different performing for a paying audience versus college students?

AN: Not really. College students were a good audience. They laugh at— honestly, it’s really interesting that people are so caught up with being scared about college campuses and telling jokes. Because when I was at UCLA, I felt like the audiences were so good. And even when I go back, I feel like they’re just really good. And I don’t have any issues. But also I’m not that controversial, I don’t think, in my stand-up. But I thought the audiences at UCLA were great. And it was a great opportunity to produce shows and actually understand how to advertise the show, make marketing materials, and run it.

And I think without that experience of Shenanigans, I wouldn’t have been able to start Tech Rush Show with Jesse and Nikita and Lee. That experience producing shows gave me the confidence when I went to Seattle to produce a comedy show at Laughs Comedy Club when someone dropped out. And then I started a show we would do like every two months. It’s like a stand-up show for tech people, where they would network in the beginning.

So I joined Microsoft out of UCLA as a software engineer. And then I went up to live in Seattle for a year begrudgingly. But the pay was really good. So I was like, I should probably go because it’s a six-figure tech job. So I took the job, and then one of the first shows I did was called Young Tech. And it was just comedians performing for a bunch of awkward software engineers. And they would do icebreakers beforehand. And I was like, oh, this is kind of unfulfilling. I don’t really wanna help software engineers learn how to socialize. I’d rather just do the comedy part.

But the last show we did in Seattle, right before I moved back down to LA— and I had been in Seattle for a year. We made it a roast of the Seattle tech scene, and then we called it Socially Inept. And Jesse and I made that show. And that first one sold out, like 220 people, standing room only. And that really inspired me to keep producing the show. And that turned into something a lot bigger now.

AG: Yeah, it’s great that you were able to make it a success. I know that a lot of people have been in your shoes, where they have passions of doing something creative, but they’re bound to the paycheck of a six-figure tech job. What inspired you to take the leap of faith and make comedy your full-time job? Is there anything that you would have changed in hindsight?

AN: So, I had that conviction that I was gonna do that from the get-go. So I knew that I always wanted to do comedy full-time. And I read this book called “Four Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferris. And that inspired me to start thinking about things in terms of: what do I need to do to cover my expenses, and how can I fund my own life.

So I started— senior year of college, I just looked at: what my expenses were, how much money do I need to make, how much money do I need to save. And I took a very analytical approach to slowly leaving tech. When you join a tech job, you also get big stock grants if you’re at a big company. So I knew that after I got all my stocks at Microsoft, I was gonna quit. And other tech companies like Google and Meta— they’ll give you huge stock refreshers. And these companies pay so much, by the way, it’s insane. Like, if I was in tech right now as a software engineer, my friends are making like $400k, 400-500. It’s insanity.

But, I mean a lot of people are just scared to quit. But, I don’t know. If you’re able to save up a good amount of money from a high paying six-figure job; and you have a lot of stocks; and say your cost of living is $40,000, $50,000 a year. If you, over four years, save up $150K, then you have three years where you could theoretically make no money.

And then, I just thought of things like that. Almost like a startup. Like, what’s your runway as a person? You have three years to make no money and then— or, if you could slowly make money— or say you have $100,000 saved up. It sounds really entitled right now because the job market is a lot worse. But this was somewhat more practical when I was graduating.

So I get that it’s not as easy as it sounds to be like, oh, just have $100,000. It’s pretty crazy. But over five years, if you’re working in tech, I do think it’s— depending on how much student debt you have and whatnot, it could be achievable. But say even a lower amount, like $30,000. If you have $30,000 and your cost of living is $40,000— if you’re able to bring in $2,000 a month from other things, and not have this tech job anymore— then you’re making $24,000 a year, which isn’t a lot. And then you have— you would have six— wait, how does this work? $30,000 plus 24, you’re $54,000, and then your cost of living is $40,000. So you’d have $14,000. So you still would have one year where you can make very low income.

But I just would think about things like— obviously it’s really rough math, and you have to account for taxes and stuff like that. But I would think about things like: How much money do I need to make? How much money per month can I lose with my savings? And then knowing that if I’m consistent over time, my ability to earn income will gradually go up.

And specifically with making content. If you’re consistent— I believe that if you’re consistent over time— and short form content is the best way to be discovered right now. It’s almost free to just pick up your phone and make a video. So if you’re able to do that consistently, and it’s high quality or getting better, I think it’s inevitable that you will get followers. And as you get followers, you can do brand deals.

And as you get more money, the value of the brand deals that you can do just goes up. So if you are able to, over three years, get 100,000 followers. And then you could sell a single video for say, $3,500. You’re suddenly— in three years, maybe you didn’t make a lot of money from 0 to 100,000 followers. But then once you’re at 100,000 followers, every brand deal you do will give you a somewhat significant amount of money.

AG: Yeah. And I guess for those who don’t know, you of course have a sizable Instagram following where you post impressions of anyone from Mark Zuckerberg to Joe Biden to my personal favorite, Aaron from UC Berkeley. So, how were you able to develop these imitation skills, and did you have a way to know what would go viral and resonate with your viewers?

AN: Yeah, I never know it’s gonna go viral and you always have to just post and hope for the best. Especially because if you— if one thing does go viral, the algorithm wants you to do that over and over and over and over and over again. And usually if you try something new, it does badly at first. So it can be really discouraging to try new things. So I just had to train myself to ignore the algorithm and just accept that whenever I post new stuff, it’s gonna do badly. But if I keep doing it, eventually it’ll do well.

But a lot of the characters from the Tech Roast Show are just based on people on my team at Microsoft. Except Aaron the intern. That I just made up as a little annoying, know-it-all, tiny guy. And I started with Ben Shapiro’s voice and I changed it. It’s just like someone who is so naive and innocent and is really just so engrossed in the tech culture. And they— I don’t know. It’s just such a culture of getting boba, and hot pot, and hiking. And hanging out with all the other interns, and making so much money. And being so out of touch at the same time, and not knowing that you make more than like 95% of the population. But you still, for some reason, have these limiting beliefs where you think you’re broke or something. I don’t know. It’s really interesting.

AG: Yeah, that’s a great characterization. Do you have a way to develop these mannerisms, or at least get them to the point where you can’t tell if it’s Aaron from UC Berkeley or Austin Nasso from UCLA?

AN: I don’t know. I guess I kind of just think about people in my life that have those attributes and I just try to embody them. And I just imagine I’m them. And I close my eyes and I just think, “How would they talk?”

AG: Is there any impression you did that you found most memorable or got the most engagement, whether it was positive or negative?

AN: My favorite one to do is the Tony Robbins one. I love that one because that’s just— that’s so ridiculous. And I do a lot of audience interaction with it when I do it live. So it feels really fun and it feels the most different from how I act. Because he’s a very large, powerful man who has a commanding presence. So that one’s just really fun to do live.

AG: Interesting. So, looking forward to the next five or ten years, would you see yourself pursuing more short form content, or would you prefer to do more stand up?

AN: Well, I think it’s a combination. I’m always gonna stay true to making these short form videos as long as I find them fun. And I do think they are an important part to growing your fan base. However, I do think in the long run, it makes sense to shift to bigger projects that require a longer attention span rather than making these short form videos.

So I might— my guess is that in the next few years, the frequency of the short form videos will go down, and hopefully higher quality long form stuff will go up. But it’s tricky because you need to be able to make income, and the long form stuff really only makes income if you have a huge subscriber base. And I have a super small YouTube right now.

So, the financial incentive to make a long video is just like— you’ll spend so much time, it costs so much money, and then no one will see it. So it’s kind of depressing, to be honest. I’m trying to figure it out. YouTube is one of the biggest platforms and most important ones to grow on, and also the hardest. But I would want to do more of that. And then hopefully do a streaming show.

AG: Yeah, that’s surprising because— at least YouTube is still a very popular platform. But now we’re seeing that all the viral content is coming from things like Instagram and TikTok. Do you feel like there will be any point where you feel like you’ve done enough to sort of walk away from comedy, or settle down, or pursue something else? Maybe even going back to tech?

AN: No. I imagine at some point, if I feel fulfilled enough in my comedy, I would do something like, maybe start some sort of business. Like take a pause. But I think I’ll always do comedy.

AG: Has your transition to full time comedy and your optimization of the money issue changed how you view success and failure for yourself?

AN: I’m not sure. I mean— I think about, I guess I don’t necessarily only think about success and failure in the financial context. I just think about it— I’ve been— I’ve learned to view success as just the repeated process of doing something and enjoying it. It’s not the material gains that come with it. So they’re two very separate things.

Figuring out how to make money in it is just like a more strategic, practical thing to do. It’s more of laying out a plan and then executing on it. Versus feeling the experience of success and failure is unrelated to that. For me, success should only be measured in whether or not you repeatedly do the things you sought out to do. And you maintain your habits. And you are aligned with your plan, I guess.

So if you lay out a plan, and having a strategy to make money as part of it. I also have a plan of: I need to make this many videos a week. I need to go to the gym six times a week. I need to try to book these stand-up shows by the end of the year. Next year, I want to tour more stand-up. I want to tour Tech Roast Show. Actually doing the consistent habits that allow you to do the things that you say you’re gonna do—that’s success. And then if you get views or if you don’t get views, or if you make money or don’t make money, that doesn’t really matter. Because I believe that over time, if you do the right things, and you’re changing your consistent actions when necessary, then the other external things will occur.

Success is like the batch of consistent actions that you take and actually taking them. If you miss one thing, it doesn’t really matter. If one video bombs, or if you don’t get a certain brand deal, it doesn’t bomb. But if you look at it over a large period of time, are you making videos how often you said you were going to? Are you doing stand-up how often you said you were going to? Are you reaching out to as many people you set out to? And you’ll probably have some success rate over that cumulative body of actions, if that makes sense.

AG: Yeah. So it seems like it’s all about trusting the process and being consistent. For my last question, I wanted to ask: what is your advice for UCLA students, whether they are incoming freshmen, graduating seniors, or people who are halfway through, like me?

AN: I would say that you should find fulfillment in the day-to-day things that you do rather than finding disappointment in not having your goals yet. You can always think about the things you don’t have and be depressed about it or upset. Or you can compare it to other people and wish you had certain things that they had. Or look left and right and compare yourself and feel bad for various reasons.

But I think it’s important to put it into context that each person that you’re looking at or comparing yourself to has made a series of life decisions with tradeoffs that are different than yours. So it’s easy to look at your favorite things about different people and then compare yourself and feel bad. But I think holistically, that’s not the wise thing to do: comparing yourself.

And just try to find the things that you enjoy on a day-to-day basis and find fulfillment in doing those things. And understanding that the process of doing those things is the success, not the extrinsic thing that comes later. Those things will come. But if you place too much emphasis or value on the external things that you don’t have control over, I think you set yourself up for failure. And then once you have those things, you’re going to be disappointed. It’s really just finding value and meaning in the day-to-day. So really focusing on what do you want your day-to-day life to be like, and what things you want to do every day. Because that’s where the success is: in those actions.

AG: This episode of Bruin to Bruin was brought to you by the Daily Bruin Podcasts. You can listen to this episode and all of our other podcasts on Spotify, Soundcloud, and Apple Podcasts. The audio and transcript are available at dailybruin.com. I’m Aashay Ghiya. Thank you for listening.