News 3 Las Vegas · July 11, 2023
Watch Nick Karel on News 3 Las Vegas
Nick Karel joins News 3 to discuss The Barbershop Cuts & Cocktails at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, how he began cutting hair at age ten, and why helping clients feel better keeps him behind the chair.
Video courtesy of News 3 Las Vegas / KSNV. Runtime: 3 minutes 22 seconds.
View the original News 3 page →Interview summary
News 3 introduces Nick Karel from The Barbershop Cuts & Cocktails at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Nick explains that he has worked there since the venue opened and describes its concept: a working barbershop paired with an evening cocktail lounge and nightly entertainment.
Nick also shares how he began cutting hair at age ten in Eastlake, Ohio, after his mother gave him and his brother a set of clippers. By the time of this interview, he had been cutting hair professionally in Las Vegas for nine years. He tells News 3 that helping clients feel better about themselves is what makes the work meaningful to him.
Nick KarelLas Vegas barberMaster barberThe CosmopolitanMen's haircutsStraight-razor shaves
Read the full video transcript
Editorial note: This transcript is reproduced verbatim from the supplied transcription file. Its opening line renders Nick Karel's surname as “Carroll.” The guest featured in the segment is Nick Karel.
00:00:00:07 - 00:00:11:05 Speaker 1 Nick Carroll, everybody from barbershop cuts and cocktails over the cosmopolitan on the beautiful Las Vegas Strip. You guys have been around for four years. Have you been there at Cuts and Cocktails the whole time? 00:00:11:06 - 00:00:12:01 Speaker 2 Yes, I have. 00:00:12:02 - 00:00:14:24 Speaker 1 So were you one of the inventors of this thing? 00:00:14:25 - 00:00:18:02 Speaker 2 I wouldn't call it the inventor, but I've definitely been there since the beginning. 00:00:18:03 - 00:00:28:17 Speaker 1 So what was the concept? The bunch of guys sitting in a room going, what were we going to do? Is have a barbershop in the front and a cocktail lounge in the back. Is that the genesis of the whole thing? 00:00:28:18 - 00:00:33:11 Speaker 2 Yeah, we really wanted to provide a nice atmosphere for not just a cut, but also entertainment. 00:00:33:12 - 00:00:40:00 Speaker 1 Okay, so people are coming in and in the barbershops open from like 10 a.m. until when? Into the early evening? Yes. 00:00:40:02 - 00:00:42:04 Speaker 2 We'll actually go all the way until about 10 p.m.. 00:00:42:05 - 00:00:48:00 Speaker 1 So you go 10 to 10 on the barbershop side of it. But the cocktail lounge is not open all day, right? 00:00:48:06 - 00:00:50:21 Speaker 2 No, we don't open up the lounge until 6 p.m.. 00:00:50:23 - 00:00:52:27 Speaker 1 6 p.m.. And you have live music there too, right? 00:00:52:28 - 00:01:07:19 Speaker 2 Yes. Correct. So at about 10 p.m., we'll have a live band that goes on nightly. We do things from our all request Sundays. We have our faded karaoke on Tuesdays, and we even do Wild West Wednesdays to try to offer a nice options for people, you. 00:01:07:19 - 00:01:11:06 Speaker 1 Know, is anybody getting their hair cut right before they go into the lounge? 00:01:11:12 - 00:01:19:21 Speaker 2 Yeah, we actually have people that specifically will try to book their appointments just before the lounge opens, so they could directly go from the barbershop to the lounge. 00:01:19:28 - 00:01:21:06 Speaker 1 They want to look good. 00:01:21:07 - 00:01:21:14 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:01:21:17 - 00:01:22:28 Speaker 1 There's going to be girls in the lounge. 00:01:23:00 - 00:01:24:04 Speaker 2 Enjoy a craft. 00:01:24:07 - 00:01:36:11 Speaker 1 Craft cocktail, and now you got a good, fresh haircut. So you've been cutting hair professionally in Las Vegas for nine years. Correct. But you got your start cutting hair when you were ten years old. How did this happen? 00:01:36:12 - 00:01:47:26 Speaker 2 Well, my mother got us a set of clippers for me and my brother, and she said, hey, you know, figure it out. You guys are going to cut your own hair. I'm not taking you to the to the shops anymore. And, you know, it's time for you guys to learn how to do it yourself. 00:01:47:27 - 00:01:50:22 Speaker 1 You got to be kidding me. So where did you grow up? What city was this? 00:01:50:23 - 00:01:52:15 Speaker 2 I grew up in East Lake, Ohio. 00:01:52:15 - 00:01:59:21 Speaker 1 So was this. Was this something that you had an interest in, or was your mom going, I'm tired of paying for haircuts. I'm going to have you kids figure it out. 00:01:59:22 - 00:02:09:10 Speaker 2 I would say a little bit of both. It probably started out with her saying, I'm tired of paying for haircuts. And then it kind of took from there me taking on the interest of having the Clippers and really kind of fine tune in that. 00:02:09:11 - 00:02:28:07 Speaker 1 That's a lot of trust, because I have a brother who's five years older, and if he was to cut my hair, I have no doubt he would have tried to make it look as bad as possible. But your 13 year old brother, when you were ten was also cutting your hair? Yes. So he knew that if he was going to cut your hair bad, you were going to do the same to him. 00:02:28:07 - 00:02:30:11 Speaker 1 So you guys try to do your best work on each other? 00:02:30:14 - 00:02:33:27 Speaker 2 Yes. We had a couple of times we might have went to school with a bald head, you know. 00:02:33:29 - 00:02:34:28 Speaker 3 Oh no way. 00:02:34:29 - 00:02:40:05 Speaker 2 But, you know, over time, we definitely learned how to perfect and make each other happy with the cuts we did. 00:02:40:07 - 00:02:44:10 Speaker 1 So you got to actually perfect your craft a little bit when you were just a young boy. 00:02:44:11 - 00:02:46:16 Speaker 2 Yes. I definitely picked up an interest for it. Young. 00:02:46:18 - 00:02:56:05 Speaker 1 Okay. And where does this interest in is followed you. You'd think maybe you were forced into it by your mom. Maybe you'd hate cutting hair, but it turned out to be the opposite. You really enjoy it? 00:02:56:07 - 00:03:09:17 Speaker 2 Yes, yes, I do, actually. I go to work. I make people feel good about themselves daily, and it really actually makes me feel good to see somebody changing themselves from the moment they come to the to the shop, sit in the chair to the moment they get out the chair and. 00:03:09:19 - 00:03:14:29 Speaker 1 Barbershop cuts and cocktails. You can't have a cocktail though before you go to work. That would be bad. 00:03:15:01 - 00:03:15:29 Speaker 2 Yeah, that might not. 00:03:15:29 - 00:03:18:03 Speaker 3 Be that. Not over. 00:03:18:03 - 00:03:20:21 Speaker 1 At the cosmopolitan open daily. Right? Seven days a week. 00:03:20:22 - 00:03:22:01 Speaker 2 Correct. Seven days a week.
The summary above is original editorial copy. The transcript is supplied verbatim. The video and its copyright belong to News 3 Las Vegas / KSNV.