How To with John Wilson

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

also the show about the show would be another parallel with a host who's more honest about the power and destructive nature of observing/filming

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

― Bongo Jongus, Thursday, 9 December 2021 18:32 (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is a laughable unfair take on all of the above (caveat: have not seen sidetalk nyc)

AGNB/C5 is all about presenting America as it is, not as we wish it is, nor as we fear it may be, and letting people speak for themselves without intrusion (save the odd exhortation to rap)

HTWJW is...well, similar, except more essayistic

both have a sly wit, a genuine curiosity and a generosity of spirit that is rare to find

and yeah they do both seek out the zany and the outlandish, but really, why not. it's not like there isn't enough mundane to go around (much of which they also include)

they're all funny and enjoyable to watch at times but that seems naive imago, but I guess eye opening in how people outside the US see this stuff

i get that it may at times seem like mental illness tourism, but on the flipside they are letting people tell their truths, without judgement (save the odd look-to-camera in AC's case); JW also makes it extremely clear he is Not OK either and that his show is as much him working through his issues as anything (the riff on why he couldn't cook risotto was darkly hilarious in this regard)

yeah but what I was getting at is that the JW not okayness is the same nathan for you shtick to do mental illness tourism (then again mental illness tourism is the basis of most comedy)

I'm trying to figure out why I'm ok with Bruce Gilden's Coney Island photography but this stuff ultimately seems kinda lame, and I think it's the disingenuous feeling (to me) JW nathan smol bean syndrome. I do like the pointillist JW thing, that's a neat trick

caveh from show about a show trying to strong arm JW to get Nathan to pitch his show to HBO is pretty funny tho

i meant 'laughably unfair' btw before dgmw

i think not having ever seen nathan for you means i don't quite have the same perspective on this

but on the flipside they are letting people tell their truths, without judgement (save the odd look-to-camera in AC's case);

Without judgement, save for the ominous Lynchian drone that plays when someone is MAGA-ing out.

But I agree that it's an unfair characterization of AGNB/Channel 5.

I can only work through my thoughts about comedy by being unfair to comedians

(then again mental illness tourism is the basis of most comedy)

this is why I have never laughed

AGNB/C5 is all about presenting America as it is, not as we wish it is, nor as we fear it may be, and letting people speak for themselves without intrusion (save the odd exhortation to rap)

definitely otm and very much what makes the show fascinating to me. the events he goes to get SO MUCH COVERAGE on news networks and social media but very little of that portrays what the atmosphere is really like. like those late night BLM rallies - he finds a lot of smart, articulate people who are protesting with a purpose, along with some more unhinged folk who look like they're ready to throw down if need be. he also finds the Rittenhouse types who feel their calling in life is to protect the local Walgreens from black people. all those narratives are there. but at the end of the day most of the folks there don't really fit any of them. they're trying to capture footage to go viral, they're doing it for social media clout, or just doing it for something to do, because finally something interesting is happening in their town. and I think that side goes pretty much uncovered. there's not really much logic to it and I think it makes some of the media narratives look ridiculous.

hence why he is often referred to as america's only journalist

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

bongo im losing your thread a little bit re:what forms of mental illness tourism are & arent good

when it's a white guy it's bad

also the Covid spring breakers, so many articles & tweets written with an almost scientific precision about how irresponsible and selfish they were, as though they decided to take some kind of calculated risk, and then you see these people and they're all so fucking hammered and can't even speak coherently about how much they wanna get laid

nah I'm kidding, I don't really know what I'm getting at overall, I'm posting through it. It's more like when it's a disingenuous narrative to make a comedy show, also I guess it doesn't really push anything far enough art wise, like if I felt that what they were doing led to art I would prob not think about things like mental illness tourism, but it just feels like they're scratching some american comedy itch

btw as great as nathan4u is, it would be willfully naive to say it doesn't punch down on immigrant small biz owners with accents

like ok uh put jackass, korine, a moment of pathos or epiphany in a blender and lets see what we get

nathan4u is amazing btw imago you should watch that if you like the things that you're currently posting about here

noted! onto the pile

btw as great as nathan4u is, it would be willfully naive to say it doesn't punch down on immigrant small biz owners with accents

― kurt schwitterz, Thursday, December 9, 2021 1:28 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah its kinda hard to defend some of those parts but I guess there are a number of ways to read it. I mean everyone on that show is a mark to some degree but at a certain point you wonder if he was targeting immigrants because it was easier for him to get them to go along with whatever he was doing. otoh it's LA, like half the small businesses there are immigrant owned so who knows

it's because white people think immigrants with accents are funny to laugh at.

Nathan is an immigrant with a funny accent, too, so that makes it OK.

lol true

Re: "clueless" - I wouldn't call John clueless, but I did cringe a lot when he bought that car off Craigslist (like, come on dude, sourcing everything from Craigslist was one of the best running jokes on "Nathan for You"!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0PZ6xtnj5o

He’s flush with that landlord (and HBO) dough now, he figured he could afford a lemon for a good story.

I would say that I think JW and nathan4u both get by with the low blows because they actually try to relate it to a universal struggle. Like the dude in the last episode trying to drag his belongings down the sidewalk in a big Tupperware container was not funny because of his circumstances but his reaction to the situation was so relatable

want to go on record as saying that i don't find John Wilson's stuff exploitative or faux naive in any way and that it is often an excellent distillation of a year's worth of "did i just see that" while out and about in the city down to a half hour.

also nabisco just did an excellent piece:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/07/magazine/how-to-john-wilson.html

S2E3 felt like a ratcheting back down to the subtler season 1 style, and I loved it.