Nathan For You

thank you, I agree that I do win the argument

i agree he's not satirizing the gig economy (see: the ending of andy vs uber) and one of the things i like best about the 'critique of capitalism' within the show is that it's not an obvious leftist one

i kinda just assumed the people appearing on his show were compensated in some way

he paid off that cop for sure

Well, he said he did.

This season more than the last few seems to be more about the process than the result, which is pretty funny. Like, setting up his schemes is the whole reason to watch, with the execution almost irrelevant.

Yes. where he places limits and requirements, and where he draws ethical boundaries, is consistently arbitrary and hilarious.

the running sub-theme of nathan being his own biggest project is the best part

Nathan seems to twist reality. Listen to this early NPR report where the host calls him Nathan Fielding throughout, which could be a joke from the show.

I recall an interview where Nathan mentioned having to scrap an entire segment because the business owner figured out what was going on halfway through. I can imagine something like that being a big hit to the show's budget. Might explain why he's drawn to people who are unlikely to know who he is.

I can imagine something like that being a big hit to the show's budget.

Also, designing a ridiculous chili suit or spending $350,000 to validate a TV show anecdote.

Or, you know, going scuba diving to pick up a burner phone dropped off a pier in an abandoned scheme to extort Uber.

well yeah, imagine doing something like that and then having to scrap it because someone figured out this was a comedy show or recognized who Nathan was

Good point. But I assume that kind of stuff is built into the budget.

the RS profile maura linked last month said "the show simply takes a long time to produce; upwards of 90 hours of footage go into one 22-minute episode"

ahahahaha he tells the story again on Seth Myers, and justifies it by saying, "look, if you're the Beatles, and you wrote 'Hey Jude'..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L7GsGc5adk

he misses the fashion police line though

i wonder if he'd had this appearance in his back pocket in case something went wrong on kimmel. although that'd be a pretty short turnaround in getting the episode out in time

lol at him staring at the audience to illicit applause for meyer's kid

this show definitely punches down and exploits immigrant business owners and y'all being obtuse if you deny that or get defensive about that

I don't feel invested enough to get defensive about it, I just don't recall many times I've seen humor in the business owners is in their (generally v understandable) befuddlement at Nathan's weirdness. Off the top of my head the exceptions (eg the ghost realtor and the PI dude) are largely white

*besides in their befuddlement

and those two people tried to get their own reality show spinoffs (Wolfe actually succeeded) so it's kinda hard to feel bad for them. he certainly doesn't seem to have much of an issue getting people to reappear on the show.

jfc you guys. i love this show too but man your bubbles must be a nice place to live. "he gets them back on the show! it means he's HELPING them." smh

idk - I see what you're talking about but it doesn't really feel to me like the joke is often on the business owners. the guilty part for me is that a lot of them probably felt Nathan was legitimately going to help them and wind up having to go along with his bizarre ideas as a result. but I've never really heard of any of them claiming they felt deceived or had regretted going on the show, even if they weren't aware it was for a Comedy Central thing ahead of time. I dunno if that means anything to you, but it does make it a little easier to watch for me.

I don't think it's any more exploitative than any other reality show. Power of the camera/celebrity/fame/TV, etc. I do agree it focuses largely on low-level working people of all bents, but given his gimmick is improving small businesses, I mean, I don't see a way around that. I do think Nathan is typically the uncomfortable butt of the joke, not just because he often makes everything about himself, even when he is clearly barking up the wrong tree with a dumb idea.

I have noticed a lot of Armenians, fwiw, but that's LA for you.

i feel like "los angeles" is a pretty solid running theme, without which the show would be way different

i'd like Nathan to follow up with restaurants featured on Kitchen Nightmares.

he seems to be branching out in the new season out of LA!

Well, driving distance, at least.

LMAOOO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN_ElpaabJU

on spotify too!

"he gets them back on the show! it means he's HELPING them." smh

I don't think the show helps anyone, it's not clear it's harmed anyone though

The most uncomfortable I can recall being was during the manipulation of the "girlfriend" from last season's "Hero" episode

Best new music?

— nathan fielder (@nathanfielder) October 27, 2017

someone with juice make this happen

Next season Nathan crowdsources enough money to buy out Conde Nast just so he can give a song BNM.

A Nathan thing would be to help an indie artist get BNM by putting out EPs that all get at least 3.2 scores (minimal effort), and then releasing them as a compilation album, assuring at least a 9.6 rating.

ahaha

I'm not sure what Nathan was going for with this episode, but as far as punchlines in search of a joke go, his cool record producer outfits were the best.

actually getting that song to go viral somehow was clearly the goal but there's no way with that fucking beeping noise

god, kirsten dunst telling a wedding anecdote with a drug mixup story just before nathan is just the best thing ever

(also, even in that little snippet they show - she didn't realize the weed in the blunt was real until AFTER they smoked the whole thing? no wonder it was the highest she'd ever been, that was probably her first time)

"orphaned skies" still has <1000 plays on spotify, i don't know how it's possible

In time the Earth will have to stomach what we spew
And face the trees we killed before they grew
From your disconnected heart you
Play the part, and take it to heart
It's true you believe in every word you say
Spied one relevance release
The hard truth sink in latch
You would sit the spot, incentivize the plot into
The monetary value you can frame
Into something heavenly unveil
To God still link at once to justify your work or rectify your curse

So when we look up at the sun
Her eyes go wide, we hear the hum
Of our faith, our hopeful eyes
We're bringing home those orphaned skies
It's time to revolutionize
It's time to revolutionize
We're bringing home those orphaned skies
We're bringing home those orphaned skies

Times are shifting, you can feel it in the sway
You can feel it in the words our hearts convey
The rhythm of these anxious hands
The melody expands in order to enchant and
Prove there's beauty to be had within the dance
Of sunlight in the ocean's lulling trance
It's time to open up our hearts
I'm groping in the dark
And bring the world out from its tomb

So when we look up at the sun
Her eyes go wide, we hear the hum
Of our faith, our hopeful eyes
We're bringing home those orphaned skies
It's time to revolutionize
It's time to revolutionize
We're bringing home those orphaned skies
We're bringing home those orphaned skies
It's time to revolutionize
It's time to revolutionize
We're bringing home those orphaned skies
We're bringing home those orphaned skies

it’s up to 5669 (nice)

I guess artists just feel more than the rest of us do

Times are shifting, you can feel it in the sway
You can feel it in the words our hearts convey
The rhythm of these anxious hands
The melody expands in order to enchant and
Prove there's beauty to be had within the dance
Of sunlight in the ocean's lulling trance
It's time to open up our hearts
I'm groping in the dark
And bring the world out from its tomb

love that part

i totally missed out on this show. i've only seen maybe 4 full episodes? whenever i watch one i literally do it through my fingers like https://i.imgur.com/UtOnN9y.jpg

Nathan's background in improv is clear in his interviews, funny and spontaneous guy

"are we done with the banter now?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TUGZ1VQDss