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
― kurt schwitterz, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:18 (two years ago) link
otm i’m afraid
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 9 December 2021 13:11 (two years ago) link
My two cents are that he's curious and genuine, vs. "clueless"
And, life IS weird!!
― tomorrow, Thursday, 9 December 2021 14:40 (two years ago) link
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.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 9 December 2021 14:45 (two years ago) link
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 (two years ago) link
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 Jongus, Thursday, 9 December 2021 18:35 (two years ago) link
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
― Bongo Jongus, Thursday, 9 December 2021 18:37 (two years ago) link
― 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)
― imago, Thursday, 9 December 2021 18:43 (two years ago) link
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
― imago, Thursday, 9 December 2021 18:48 (two years ago) link
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)
― imago, Thursday, 9 December 2021 18:50 (two years ago) link
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
― Bongo Jongus, Thursday, 9 December 2021 18:51 (two years ago) link
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)
― imago, Thursday, 9 December 2021 18:54 (two years ago) link
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
― Bongo Jongus, Thursday, 9 December 2021 19:03 (two years ago) link
caveh from show about a show trying to strong arm JW to get Nathan to pitch his show to HBO is pretty funny tho
― Bongo Jongus, Thursday, 9 December 2021 19:05 (two years ago) link
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
― imago, Thursday, 9 December 2021 19:07 (two years ago) link
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.
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 9 December 2021 19:09 (two years ago) link
I can only work through my thoughts about comedy by being unfair to comedians
― Bongo Jongus, Thursday, 9 December 2021 19:10 (two years ago) link
(then again mental illness tourism is the basis of most comedy)this is why I have never laughed
― Clay, Thursday, 9 December 2021 19:16 (two years ago) link
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.
― frogbs, Thursday, 9 December 2021 19:19 (two years ago) link
hence why he is often referred to as america's only journalist
― imago, Thursday, 9 December 2021 19:23 (two years ago) link
bongo im losing your thread a little bit re:what forms of mental illness tourism are & arent good
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Thursday, 9 December 2021 19:24 (two years ago) link
when it's a white guy it's bad
― Bongo Jongus, Thursday, 9 December 2021 19:26 (two years ago) link
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
― frogbs, Thursday, 9 December 2021 19:27 (two years ago) link
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
― Bongo Jongus, Thursday, 9 December 2021 19:28 (two years ago) link
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, 9 December 2021 19:28 (two years ago) link
like ok uh put jackass, korine, a moment of pathos or epiphany in a blender and lets see what we get
― Bongo Jongus, Thursday, 9 December 2021 19:30 (two years ago) link
nathan4u is amazing btw imago you should watch that if you like the things that you're currently posting about here
― Bongo Jongus, Thursday, 9 December 2021 19:31 (two years ago) link
noted! onto the pile
― imago, Thursday, 9 December 2021 19:39 (two years ago) link
― 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
― frogbs, Thursday, 9 December 2021 20:47 (two years ago) link
it's because white people think immigrants with accents are funny to laugh at.
― kurt schwitterz, Thursday, 9 December 2021 20:57 (two years ago) link
Nathan is an immigrant with a funny accent, too, so that makes it OK.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 9 December 2021 21:00 (two years ago) link
lol true
― kurt schwitterz, Thursday, 9 December 2021 21:17 (two years ago) link
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
― ernestp, Friday, 10 December 2021 01:00 (two years ago) link
He’s flush with that landlord (and HBO) dough now, he figured he could afford a lemon for a good story.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 10 December 2021 01:29 (two years ago) link
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
― Heez, Friday, 10 December 2021 04:41 (two years ago) link
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
― When Young Sheldon began to rap (forksclovetofu), Friday, 10 December 2021 23:34 (two years ago) link
S2E3 felt like a ratcheting back down to the subtler season 1 style, and I loved it.
― accordion folder full of Zoobooks (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 15 December 2021 17:27 (two years ago) link
Yeah, I actually liked that one being more scaled back.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 15 December 2021 17:30 (two years ago) link
How to throw out your batteries is the best thing I’ve seen in a while
― Heez, Saturday, 25 December 2021 04:33 (two years ago) link
Good documentary on how systems fail people
― Heez, Saturday, 25 December 2021 04:35 (two years ago) link
*post of dead rat*
― accordion folder full of Zoobooks (Sufjan Grafton), Saturday, 25 December 2021 06:55 (two years ago) link
How to remember your dreams is the perfect question for this series. I like “weird” John more than “documentarian” John.
Also omg the court-room shows! His random autobiographical drops always kill me
― hrep (H.P), Sunday, 26 December 2021 23:08 (two years ago) link
cant stop thinking about them putting all the frowny faces on nuclear waste because they don't know what language people will speak in the future
― frogbs, Saturday, 15 January 2022 05:22 (two years ago) link
it won't do any good though. if we encounter something like that from 3000 BC we are opening it on the spot
― frogbs, Saturday, 15 January 2022 05:23 (two years ago) link
Feels like the avatar ppl was punching down
― kurt schwitterz, Saturday, 15 January 2022 08:17 (two years ago) link
Seemed like that at the start but it really came around when the guy was talking about his depression and needing someone. Typical of John Wilson’s style to seem potentially like punching down to start (I think that was my first impression of his documentation of his landlord), only to turn out as a sincerely sweet display of humanity.
― hrep (H.P), Saturday, 15 January 2022 13:05 (two years ago) link
Also I went to John Wilson’s subreddit and some of the avatar guys were commenting with enthusiasm, doing informal AMA’s on posts and seemed to be wrapped with their presentation. Actually really sweet, would recommend searching
― hrep (H.P), Saturday, 15 January 2022 13:06 (two years ago) link
That episode was the best this season so far I thought. He packed so much in and it held together somehow.
― maf you one two (maffew12), Saturday, 15 January 2022 14:05 (two years ago) link
The avatar ppl were the joke the whole time cmon
― kurt schwitterz, Saturday, 15 January 2022 18:43 (two years ago) link
yeah i had to mute that section, 2sad4me
― goole, Saturday, 15 January 2022 19:12 (two years ago) link