(Nicholas?) "Nick" Conforth is a police instructor in Santa Barbara. He was once an rival of Lassiter when they were at the police academy together, with Conforth finishing first in his class, right ahead of Lassiter. However, due to Conforth's freezing in the field, he was unable to get a job as a police officer. When Shawn and Gus are forced to go to the academy he is their teacher. He is portrayed by Ralph Macchio.
Character Biography[]
We'd Like to Thank the Academy[]
In "We'd Like to Thank the Academy", Shawn and Gus are forced by Chief Vick to attend the police academy before being hired onto any more cases. He trains Shawn and Gus, however when Lassiter comes in he belittles Nick, saying that although he finished ahead of Lassiter, Lassiter is now the Head Detective and he's just a lowly teacher. Shawn and Gus prey on Nick's feelings of inferiority and persuade him to bring them to a crime scene, but once there Nick freezes up and Shawn and Gus leave him.
Due to Nick bringing students to a crime scene, he is suspended and goes into a depression, sleeping at the academy. When Shawn and Gus are going to find a kidnapped college student who's being held for ransom, they stop by to bring Nick, thinking if he can do this it'll raise his confidence. He freezes in the car again, but during a huge shoot out by the hostages Dickie & Chris, gangster DeVry Longsdale, and other gangster Bazo, Nick bursts in long enough to arrest DeVry and Bazo, before throwing up.
After this Nick is reinstated as top instructor at the academy, and also shares an awkward hug with Lassiter.
Psych: The Movie[]
Nick is literally creeping around in the bushes/holiday decorations outside the Bay City General Hospital. He was visiting Sam, one of his best students at the Academy and still a close friend, but was kicked out by Juliet, who, he informs our dynamic duo, is hiding something. Sam turned to Nick with a secret, a riddle with which his partner (Juliet) above all could not be trusted. Nick still has the shot nerves that make him useless in conflict, so he dumps the problem in Psych's laps.
Trivia[]
- Nick is the subject of a barrage of references to The Karate Kid, the 1984 coming-of-age film in which Ralph Macchio starred as Daniel LaRusso. Macchio reprises the character in the 2018 TV series Cobra Kai.