Nathan for You

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Cold Bishop
Joined: Tue May 30, 2006 9:45 pm
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Nathan for You

#1 Post by Cold Bishop » Thu Mar 14, 2013 1:55 am

I don't know if anyone else is watching it, but no other show on TV right now is making me laugh as hard as Nathan for You.

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Murdoch
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Re: TV of 2013

#2 Post by Murdoch » Thu Mar 14, 2013 10:42 pm

I'm not usually into assholes acting like assholes guerrilla filmmaking, but yeah the show's hilarious. Watching him turn a job interview into a debate over who's a "penis expert" was the most surreal moment in an unscripted show I've seen (although I rarely watch unscripted TV).

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warren oates
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 12:16 pm

Re: TV of 2013

#3 Post by warren oates » Fri Mar 15, 2013 12:23 am

The first episode of Nathan For You did make me laugh. I'm just wondering how "unscripted" it really is. The two bits I saw both seemed like the show's producers must have let the subjects of his pranks in on it to a larger degree than, say, Sacha Baron Cohen or the Jackass bunch would have. The job interviews obviously were set up under a pretext, but everyone still knew they weren't doing a "real" interview and that they were being recorded on camera, so the stakes weren't as high as they might have been. Nathan also does chicken out a bit near the end when his confederate whispers in his ear that he ought to
SpoilerShow
admit to being a pedophile.
Same thing with his deliberately terrible business ideas. Both the pizza place and the yogurt place seemed like they had signed off on his involvement and were duly compensated. Which is why the best moments in either of those scenarios are with the customers who don't seem to be in on it at all. I can't see what either small business gets out of destroying all that prospective customer good will, though.

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Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Re: TV of 2013

#4 Post by Matt » Fri Mar 15, 2013 10:42 am

The thing I like about the more recent episodes is the way the pranks keep unfolding in elaborate ways and even bring in people from earlier pranks. It's hit or miss if I laugh or not, and I'm not making a point to watch it, but I watch it if it happens to be on.

The poster graffiti prank was probably the best.

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matrixschmatrix
Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 11:26 pm

Re: TV of 2013

#5 Post by matrixschmatrix » Fri Mar 15, 2013 11:26 am

warren oates wrote:The first episode of Nathan For You did make me laugh. I'm just wondering how "unscripted" it really is. The two bits I saw both seemed like the show's producers must have let the subjects of his pranks in on it to a larger degree than, say, Sacha Baron Cohen or the Jackass bunch would have. The job interviews obviously were set up under a pretext, but everyone still knew they weren't doing a "real" interview and that they were being recorded on camera, so the stakes weren't as high as they might have been. Nathan also does chicken out a bit near the end when his confederate whispers in his ear that he ought to
SpoilerShow
admit to being a pedophile.
Same thing with his deliberately terrible business ideas. Both the pizza place and the yogurt place seemed like they had signed off on his involvement and were duly compensated. Which is why the best moments in either of those scenarios are with the customers who don't seem to be in on it at all. I can't see what either small business gets out of destroying all that prospective customer good will, though.
He said on Comedy Bang Bang that they know it's for Comedy Central, but that rather than pranks his goal is ideas that actually will work and increase business, but which are silly and unsustainable. The first episode seems like it bears that out, and I can see where that would seem a good deal for a small business.

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warren oates
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Re: Nathan For You

#6 Post by warren oates » Tue Feb 11, 2014 3:55 am

Nathan for You's Dumb Starbucks prank shut down by the L.A. County Health Department. Season Two of Nathan For You: Just as smug and half-assed, but now with a bigger budget! Meanwhile, I'll be watching Impractical Jokers instead.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Nathan For You

#7 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Aug 11, 2014 12:24 am

Started watching this from the beginning expecting Tosh-y fluff that's only sort of humorous in concept [main reason for that expectation: without context behind it, when the "Dumb Starbucks" thing was in the news, I couldn't really figure out what was supposed to be funny about it, but now I can't wait to find out what Fielder's actual motivation and angle was that led to it]. How wrong I was - this is some of the most brilliant comedy on television, taking all the best elements of stuff like The Daily Show's man on the street pieces, Tim and Eric's body of work, Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and other shows of its ilk, and even Louis Theroux's observational style w/r/t human behavior and throwing them in a blender. Fielder's deadpan hasn't annoyed me for the reasons I expected (never once, in my view, does he come off as aggressively smug, though I guess YMMV), and even though I know I should be spacing these out and savoring them, I'm not going to be able to stop watching and will likely have breezed through every episode aired so far by tomorrow night (for those keeping score: I started watching tonight). What a gem.

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Drucker
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Re: Nathan For You

#8 Post by Drucker » Mon Aug 11, 2014 8:58 am

MFunk, I agree. My buddy turned me on to this, as he's been a big Comedy Bang Bang booster for a few years now. I enjoyed most of the episodes he showed me of Nathan, but Dumb Starbucks really blew them all away. The lawyer he hires talking to himself while signing the document he didn't read is one of the funniest television moments of the year, for sure. Much like the Rick James episode of Chapelle's Show, perhaps the most publicized one will be the best!

With this, Broad City, Review, and Kroll Show, Comedy Central is on a real winning streak in my household. All are must-watch television.

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Koukol
Joined: Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:31 pm

Re: Nathan For You

#9 Post by Koukol » Mon Aug 11, 2014 2:48 pm

I'm another fan of this show.
Great television.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Nathan For You

#10 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Aug 11, 2014 2:51 pm

Turned on my TV
A great show; another fan
CF.org post

cdobbs
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Re: Nathan For You

#11 Post by cdobbs » Mon Aug 11, 2014 5:22 pm

Drucker wrote: With this, Broad City, Review, and Kroll Show, Comedy Central is on a real winning streak in my household. All are must-watch television.
I would add Inside Amy Schumer to that list as well.

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Koukol
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Re: Nathan For You

#12 Post by Koukol » Mon Aug 11, 2014 10:57 pm

cdobbs wrote:
Drucker wrote: With this, Broad City, Review, and Kroll Show, Comedy Central is on a real winning streak in my household. All are must-watch television.
I would add Inside Amy Schumer to that list as well.



That's another good show I just discovered.

Both are on Much Music (Canada's MTV) so now I'm bombarded by condom commercials.


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sir_luke
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Re: Nathan For You

#14 Post by sir_luke » Thu Mar 03, 2016 11:56 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:Turned on my TV
A great show; another fan
CF.org post
Ditto.

Kidding aside, I only started watching this because of the few glowing reviews in this thread, and I'm so glad I did. Unlike most of the other "prank" shows, this has searingly clever premises which are executed perfectly. I too doubt just how unscripted certain sequences are, but if there ARE any actors acting, they're doing a terrific job. I adore the show's many fearless leaps into the surreal - my favorites including an argument with a polygraph operator over porn-watching habits and a realtor warning prospective homebuyers of an incubus in the master bedroom - and Fielder's consistent deadpan delivery is tremendous. I'm amazed at the ambition and dedication behind this show's ideas and will keep watching as long as it survives.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Nathan For You

#15 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Mar 04, 2016 11:11 am

While I enjoyed this past season, there were a couple of moments where I thought that people were treated unnecessarily cruelly (the guy at the center of the final episode, and the child who was told he would die if he became an astronaut), and that was a line I didn't think the show was interested in crossing. Look at something like the gas station rebate episode, for example - the entire conceit of this thing is that through how bizarre the concept is, Fielder remains a sponge for the eccentricities of the people around him, not someone trying to make them feel bad for our amusement. It was done to great effect too in this new season (offsetting the weight of a horse was one of the funniest and ultimately most harmlessly goofy things I've seen on this show) but there were a few moments that were sort of wrenching and unnecessarily in my view, as much as I wish I could just put down my bleeding heart and laugh at these people.

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sir_luke
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Re: Nathan For You

#16 Post by sir_luke » Fri Mar 04, 2016 11:50 am

I haven't yet gotten to the third season (just started watching two nights ago), but I agree that a LOT of the charm of this show comes from the fact that, at odds with other shows of its ilk, its set-ups are unusually harmless (while the ideas he puts into motion at these businesses are always bizarre and occasionally offensive or of dubious legality, it's clear they never actually hurt business) but I guess I'll have to wait and see what the next season holds. My only complaint so far is that a few of the most recent ideas (I'm mid-second season) are actually really good, particularly the blackmail weight-loss program, which is something I may consider incorporating into my own life.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Nathan For You

#17 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Mar 04, 2016 12:10 pm

The third season has a lot of really brilliant stuff, and I wouldn't dissuade you from gobbling it up, but I am curious as to whether I'm the only person who walked away a little nauseous from a couple of episodes. If the fourth season just becomes a dozen different versions of telling children that Santa isn't real, I'm absolutely out.

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swo17
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Re: Nathan for You

#18 Post by swo17 » Fri Mar 04, 2016 12:24 pm

I thought the cruelest thing was breaking all of those antiques. As for the examples you cite, maybe the finale was going a bit far, but I thought he was doing that kid a public service--astronauts are terrible people.

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domino harvey
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Re: Nathan for You

#19 Post by domino harvey » Fri Mar 04, 2016 12:35 pm

One of my all time favorite humor jokes

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sir_luke
Joined: Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:55 pm

Re: Nathan for You

#20 Post by sir_luke » Fri Nov 10, 2017 8:21 pm

I don’t know if anyone is still watching this. This season has been incredible, with more typically ingenious setups (a stand-out for me was the premiere, in which Nathan orchestrates an unspeakably elaborate “celebrity leaves a big tip” news story), but last night’s finale was something else entirely.

I don’t want to spoil too much, but the premise is essentially that Nathan sets out to help Bill Heath, the “professional Bill Gates impersonator” from previous episodes, locate his lover from several decades prior, about whom he remembers practically nothing. Over the feature-length episode, there are several languid diversions, and Nathan seems to almost break character to reflect on his purpose as a comedian, as an artist, and as a human. His own search for meaning parallels Bill’s in many ways and ends with one of the most profound and introspective scenes I think we can ever hope to see on Comedy Central. The episode is by turns uncomfortable (of course), hilarious, heartbreaking, and uplifting. I don’t want to build this up too much, but for me this has been one of the most fascinating film events of the year.

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TraverseTown
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Re: Nathan for You

#21 Post by TraverseTown » Mon Nov 13, 2017 1:18 pm

Legendary documentarian Errol Morris praises Nathan For You Finale

https://twitter.com/errolmorris/status/ ... 3692889089

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swo17
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Re: Nathan for You

#22 Post by swo17 » Mon Nov 13, 2017 1:24 pm

SpoilerShow
It is pretty funny that he got Comedy Central to pay for him to repeatedly date an escort. And to fly in that age progression specialist. "If we were all living in outer space, as we one day will, our faces wouldn't age at all."

oh yeah
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:45 pm

Re: Nathan for You

#23 Post by oh yeah » Wed Nov 15, 2017 2:47 am

It was incredible - profound, funny as always but surprisingly moving. I would put it up there with anything that's been on TV this year. I'm still thinking about it, really. It actually could get its own kind of release as a self-contained film, almost. It really breaks with previous formula of the show but in a way that feels right and seamless.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Nathan for You

#24 Post by mfunk9786 » Wed Nov 15, 2017 2:55 am

Hear, hear. This has been an astonishingly good year for television, and this is one of its brightest moments. It’s depressing, confusing, uplifting, hilarious - has everything you’d want in a human interest documentary.

Nathan for You is beginning to feel like Nathan Fielder’s Weird Weekends - it seems like fate that he will break out of that format and pursue hour and a half to two hour one-off personality-fueled documentaries in the figure. The prospect of that is really exciting considering how far he could theoretically take it. He does seem to have just outgrown his series, so the future is equal parts bright and unclear.

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Black Hat
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Re: Nathan for You

#25 Post by Black Hat » Wed Nov 15, 2017 8:13 am

Is this uploaded anywhere? I've heard so much about it that I'd like to see it.

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