How To with John Wilson

Watched Joe Pera’s show for the first time today and it’s great. That said, dismissing How To as some weak mix of Fielder and Pera (as mentioned above) is some reaching, superficial bullshit. Faux naive narrator is really the extent of it?

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/12/21/how-to-with-john-wilson-offers-a-martians-eye-view-of-homo-sapiens-habits

i can break down how the similarity runs deeper than faux naive narrator but depending on how far you are into joe pera it might have spoilers

e1 of jw (the ‘how to make friends’ one) is superficially a documentary made by a nerdy guy about social conventions, but once it gets going becomes transparently about his recent breakup and social anxiety

similarly, s1 of jp starts out superficially presenting itself as a public access style show depicting life in a small town in minessota, but as it’s gets going it’s clear that he each episode is a transparent reflection of joes psychological state and what’s going on in his love life, his strained friendships and relationships, career

i don’t like the jw show as much as many of you do, but it’s not a bad thing that they share this quality of ‘stretching a documentary medium away from its “subject“ and toward the psychology of the social awkward narrator’. it doesn’t make jons show derivative. and there’s obviously tonnes more going on in it than just this

obviously there are hints of this in Nathan for you too

i can't stand the pera show and i really like this one. not sure why. fwiw i think jw could actually make his narration good instead of obviously deliberately awkward and the show would be just as good (and by my lights, better)

all adult swim shows are pish is how I break it down to an extent

the second season of Joe Pera was my favourite TV thing this year :'-(

Joe Pera rules obv

interesting points flopson, I hadnt really considered the similarities in form like that.

the granddaddy of that mode afaik is sherman's march

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091943/

you're forgetting shoah

not too much accidentally personal whimsy in that one iirc

you gotta wait for the fifth hour

that's when the jokes start

not gonna lie, the "i don't want much, just want my foreskin back again" song is a jam

Forgive the thread spam, but I wanted to note that this show's 2020 season is nominated in the 2020 ILX TV poll:

ILX's Best Television of 2020 Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD / Voting Ends After January 29, 2021

If you like this show and you'd like to see it have a good showing in the poll (running in February) all you need to do is submit a ballot including it and your other favorites (3 minimum, 25 maximum, ranked by your favorite to least favorite) to forksclovetofu at gmail. It'll take five minutes; get to it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX6zlvA_m3Y

https://evgrieve.com/2021/02/about-that-rolled-up-carpet-in-crosswalk.html

also

https://believermag.com/logger/how-to-interview-john-wilson/

Disappointed we weren't nominated for an emmy today. Next year!

are you affiliated with the show in some way?

Yes! Sound mixer.

nice! it's the best!

Oh man, definitely deserved a nom. Great show.

S2 starts Nov. 26

some positivity in life

perfect timing, i just started rewatching S1, its been the perfect length of time where i mostly forgot the jokes and details by now. these are so, so rewatchable.

Wilson should write the show but not be the host

fuck yes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05F2UpwZhWY

OMG that lady with the pigeons was just in Hoboken on Saturday doing that.

hell yeah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG1i-gALy18

beautiful

right man in the right time

Another way to watch this show is just to live in New York

Hard pass

tonight's episode was a fucking TRIP

Holy shit, yes it was. I did not see that wild ride coming.

Saying you are HBO goes a long way with some folks

I thought the ep was pretty weak. Once they drop the “HBO” bomb, the bang guy quickly turns it into a commericial and rightly so while John acts confused as to why the guy would show him around or spend time with him.

everything john makes is grand cru

Susan Orlean is on the writing staff??

https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/interview-john-wilson-season-2-hbo-2021

I kept asking HBO if we can get someone like Susan Orlean, and they were like, "We could just ask Susan." And then I was like, "Oh, okay." Because I thought that she would've been past that point in her career. I hadn't really been keeping tabs on her or anything. Then we just met up, and we all just went into the writer's room together.

xpost - I was referring more to the NXIVM stuff being the wild part of the ride. I remember reading that insane acapella forum thread once when it was linked in relation to one of the docs, but it was so unexpected to see it pop up in that context.

the Bang dude was insane, but I genuinely think John had no expectation at all that he would be able to just walk into the guy's house and, as a result, had no plan other than just rolling with whatever the dude said.

I loved this ep. like Jon I had read that insane thread - when it was linked here - and it was funny to find out that John Wilson was one of the accused soilers of hotel rooms.

bang guy bit was decent too

Just "interviewed" John Wilson. Metaphysician, moral philosopher, and poet of cat vomit. When things are so good, there's always a mystery about why they're so good. My hunch? They're investigations into oneself. How we see the world vs. do we see the world?

— errolmorris (@errolmorris) December 7, 2021

this show is good but his schtick is grating after a while "im just a clueless guy and life is weird hehe shrug!" oh stop

otm i’m afraid

My two cents are that he's curious and genuine, vs. "clueless"

And, life IS weird!!

Yeah, he's got far too genuine of a sense of curiosity to come off as "clueless" imo.

I might buy that argument more if the show was 100% his street footage with his commentary, but the way he's able to not only find these odd people but also charming them into opening up on camera.

it's a nathan 4 u joint, it's that genre of blue eyed comedy whose scope is slightly wider and more sophisticated than sidetalk nyc or all gas no brakes where the goal is to laugh at homeless and disabled people or whatever

the tweak season tiktok account is an interesting one to think of in terms of how grating wilson's schtick can be because at least in that one the guy who's controlling it is more plainly actually mentally ill and low key assaulting people in nyc while also making funny observations