There are few working comedians out there quite likeNathan Fielder. In a world where comedyhas become increasingly digitized, Fielder can always be counted on to remind us of the absurdity of real life. His humor, which often consists of cringe antics, ingenious, if morally questionable scheming, and a Canadian robot monotone, might not be for everyone. Yet Fielder’s brand of comedy is unlike anything else that’s been put on screen before, and it continues to offer us unique cultural commentary with every new turn it takes.
Fielder rose to fame with his 2013 Comedy Central showNathan For You,where, as a graduate of one of Canada’s “top business schools,” he provides strategic advice to struggling small businesses. In the series, Fielder plays an extremely off-kilter version of himself, unsmiling, and almost unbearably socially awkward. The “advice” Fielder offers to each business is a bit unorthodox; to say the least; it is marketing at its peak outlandishness and (in)effectiveness. The show is a lot more than an uncomfortable cringe comedy - it is an incisive and self-reflexive commentary on American consumerism and post-2008 business culture. Meanwhile,Nathan For You,and the remainder of Fielder’s work, is so memorable because it also manages to have such a huge heart.
Since 2017, afterNathan For You’sstunningdocumentary-style finale, Fielder has been working on a number of side projects, including executive-producing HBO’sHow to With John Wilsonand starring in the soon-to-be-released ShowtimeseriesThe Cursewith Benny Safdie.Fielder now returns to the spotlight with his brand-new HBO seriesThe Rehearsal,which the comedian writes, directs, and stars in. Whatever Fielder does, now and moving forward, it is bound to continue to make us laugh, cry, and reflect a little - only to laugh and cry again.
Related:The Best Prank Comedy Movies, Ranked
Persona that Doesn’t Become Caricature
Many great comics, whether on stage or in front of the camera, adapt specific personae that sometimes become forever bound to their act itself. Think of our favoritestrange talk show hosts, Zach Galifianakis and Eric Andre - either of these anti-humor masterminds take the image of a cheap late-night host and bend it to its wildest, most audacious extremes. The result becomes a new caricature in itself, the talk show host minus the talk show host, for future generations to bend and manipulate at their will.
Fielder takes a bit of a more human approach to his on-screen persona. Although the character onNathan For Youis not the “real” Fielder himself, Fielder has repeatedly opened up about how his own social awkwardnessdirectly inspires what he does on screen. For viewers, as well as for the subjects on the show, Fielder’s awkwardness is no less than self-evident. One person, who did not seem to take much of a liking to Fielder, nicknamed him “the wizard of loneliness.” Fielder makes many attempts to coordinate hangouts with his subjects, to always be shut down very quickly. In one particular episode, he makes an actress “rehearse” the line “I love you” to him an innumerable amount of times.
Obviously, Fielder’s own personality is exaggerated for the screen. Indeed, he may be droll and reserved, but Fielder is very far from a real-life “wizard of loneliness.” This is what makes the show so wholesomely well-rounded - it taps into something real and emotionally resonant, while being able to fashion a persona as memorable as any Andre or Kaufman.
The Spoofer Vs. The Spoofed
Whatever social anxieties abound, Fielder is not afraid to embrace the unthinkable when it comes to (fake) business marketing. What is mesmerizing about the comic is his ability to stay in character all the time, as he proposes such plans like inducting a new “poop” flavor into a frozen yogurt shop. Some of Fielder’s other most memorable schemes fromNathan For Youinclude giving out “free” one-inch pizzas; inclining people to go camping in the wilderness for a gas station rebate, and opening up a homely neighborhood café called Dumb Starbucks. Throughout the show, Fielder’s unmatched business genius gets him into a fair amount of legal trouble and makes him quite a few enemies as opposed to friends.
What makes Fielder’s absurd antics so worthwhile, though, is their ability to transcend the typical prank show’s empty self-indulgence. Fielder’s “tricks,” especially considering the subjects' ignorance to the show’s real nature, might appear cruel and even a bit sadistic at first. But that is not where the “spoof” element of the show ends - or even begins. More than a heartless plot to see how gullible people really are,Nathan For Youis instead a spoof on the ludicrous state of business marketing today. What’s so funny about the show is not that people don’t see that it’s fake - it’s that, in today’s world, it very well could be real.
Related:Top 13 Comedy Movies of 2021
Approaching the Meta with Heart
Meta-humor has grown increasingly “in” over the past few years, with the strongest “jokes” now seeming to always be about jokes or “the state of comedy” (whatever that should mean). Although this sort of self-referential humor was popularized well before the internet age, through such legends as the late Norm Macdonald, the internet has made it all the more virulent and unavoidable. The isolation we’ve all experienced after a certain p-word occurrence certainly hasn’t helped, either, asBo Burnham’sInsidereminded uslast year.
While meta-humor can capture the inherent uneasiness and skepticism of our times, it can also be a catalyst to it, repeatedly asking the same questions without ever attempting any answers. Fielder’s new show,The Rehearsaldecides to take a fresher, more emotionally-bound approach to the meta humor of today. Although the show, which allows participants to “rehearse their own lives,” has been compared to films like Charlie Kaufman’sSynechdoche; New York, there is a bit more warmth this time around.
In the debut episode of the series, titled “Orange Juice, No Pulp,” Fielder helps a man confess the truth to an old friend, after he had found himself caught in a lie for years. The typicalNathan For Youstyle absurdism is still there, as we see the man practice this encounter many times in a staggeringly authentic replica of a Brooklyn pub. The show inevitably prompts us to reflect on our own lives, and the extent to which we can ever really “rehearse” for them. Yet in this case, we get to watch connections blossom and grow over time, between both Kor and his friend and Nathan and Kor. We still don’t really know how much of it is real. But, this time around, we know that Fielder really wants to help.
