OPINION: “Nathan For You” is one of the best comedies you haven’t seen 

In February 2013, Comedy Central started airing one of the best TV comedies, you probably haven’t seen. “Nathan For You” is a show that was created, produced and stared Nathan Fielder, a Canadian comedian. Fielder isn’t a super well-known comedian, but for my money created one of the most unique, funny shows out there. 

“Nathan For You” follows Fielder as he tries to help struggling small businesses with out of the box marketing ideas. The reason the show is so interesting is how Fiedler interacts with the real business owners on his show. While the show is not scripted and most everything that happens is real, Fiedler is playing a character. Fielder plays an awkward business school graduate who is the host of a show designed to help small businesses.  

As far as these businesses owners know, they are just going to be on a reality show with a real TV host who is going to try to help their business. Fielder then pitches them an insane idea and goes through with this idea. One of the most popular episodes is when Fielder tried turning a local coffee shop into “Dumb Starbucks.” This is a parody of Starbucks, using the same name and logo to try to get people to think they are walking into a real Starbucks. The owner of the local coffee shop eventually pulled out, but Fielder kept going. He eventually created “Dumb Starbucks,” and ended up getting national attention and lines going around the block. It became so popular that Fielder planned to open a second location in New York. This was until the L.A. County Department of Public Health shut down “Dumb Starbucks” due to not having proper licensing.  

Obviously, the absurdity of the situation was funny in its own right, but Fielder just adds onto that humor. This kind of show is very similar to the movie “Borat,” but there is one main difference. The character of Borat is a very out of the box character being put into normal situations. Fielder is a more real character putting people in out of the box situations. Fielder plays someone who you very possibly come across in your day-to-day life. Someone who is just socially awkward and has trouble talking to people. The humor comes from these real people trying to live in Fiedler’s absurd world.  

The real Nathan Fielder also knows exactly what he wants to happen and will try to get absurd responses from these people using his character. The best example of this was at the end of an episode in season one. Fielder just finished helping a gas station, and the gas station owners ends up talking about drinking his grandson’s pee. This wouldn’t be easy to get out of someone if they weren’t playing the type of character Fiedler was playing. This is also the only time Fielder ever slightly broke character on the show. This is very rare for Fielder, as even in interviews promoting the show, he never really broke character. 

Moments like this are what make the show so great. While “Nathan For You” isn’t for everyone with its cringe style of comedy, I think it’s hard to deny how impressive and unique the show is.  

Mark Warren can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @MarkWarren1832