Nathan For You wrapped up its excellent first season last night. I really hope you guys were watching this show, because it was amazing and hilarious and pretty much perfect. But, as THR’s recent profile of Nathan For You star Nathan Fielder reveals, it could have been even more amazing and hilarious and perfect.
“I wanted to do a stunt to market my own show, where I strap myself to the outside front of a 737 for a flight from LAX to Burbank, like a short haul thing, and get all the media there to cover it,” Fielder explains, betraying a tinge of regret at an opportunity lost. “We had an entertaining twist set up for it.
“But Comedy Central just literally looked at me like I was insane when I said it,” he continues. “We had a very clear plan, we looked at how much it would cost, we could get for $60,000 a 737 to do a short flight. We had a way to make it safe… But I was looked at like I was insane.”
Okay, four things:
1) Lawyers ruin everything. I know he said “Comedy Central” looked at him like he was insane, but make no mistake, this decision was either (a) made by lawyers, or (b) made by people who didn’t want to take it to the lawyers because the lawyers were going to say no anyway. If you know a lawyer, yell at him or her until you see tears. [looks at law degree on wall, fidgets nervously in chair] [throws smoke bomb on ground, scurries away]
2) I love that he said he had “an entertaining twist set up for it,” as though STRAPPING HIMSELF TO THE FRONT OF AN AIRBORNE AIRPLANE wouldn’t have been enough.
3) Shoutout to the writer of that profile, Jordan Zakarin, which I am linking to again because the ending is terrific, and I want that on the record.
4) If you missed the first season of Nathan For You, I really recommend going to Comedy Central’s website and getting caught up as soon as possible. Just about all of the individual bits are online, including the transcendent, multi-part Gas Station Rebate segment, and the uncensored Racist Caricature Artist clip that I’ve posted below. Treat yourself. You’ve earned it.
