Nathan for You was the breakout Comedy Central prank and satirical show by Nathan Fielder which ran for four seasons; here are three of the best episodes.
In order to understand the magic of the Comedy Central-hosted comedy reality show, Nathan for You, it is first important to contextualise who the creator and star of the show is. Nathan Fielder is credited as a director, writer and comedian who hails from Vancouver, British Columbia. As a writer, his credits include popular comedic series, The Simpsons, Transparent, Bob’s Burgers, Kroll Show, Rick and Morty, Jon Benjamin Has a Van and This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
However, his most memorable writing and production credit is for the show that he fronted, Nathan for You, co-created by Fielder and Michael Koman. The satirical prank comedy show aired on Comedy Central from 2013 until 2017, with four successful seasons under its belt. The premise of the show, as shared by IMDb, states, “Nathan Fielder uses his business degree and life experiences to help real small businesses turn a profit. But because of his unorthodox approach, Nathan’s genuine efforts to do good often draw real people into an experience far beyond what they signed up for.”
The plot twist is that Nathan Fielder is playing a persona of himself, who is a management consultant. As the persona, Fiedler visits different small businesses, introducing attention-grabbing ideas in order for the businesses to garner traction. The result is comical and awkward situations, as the business owners are not aware of Fielder’s real intentions.
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Why was Nathan for You cancelled?
The show was a success, this is as it yielded two viral premises, which had national coverage even ahead of the airing of the episodes. The first was the Dumb Starbucks episode. In the episode, Fielder creates his own coffee shop art installation fashioned out of Starbucks, called Dumb Starbucks. The “art installation” received national coverage due to the smartness of the idea, which Starbucks could not take legal action against.
The second was the Petting Zoo Hero episode, which would see Fielder propose to create a viral video in order to attempt to bring more traction to the Oak Glen Petting Zoo. He created a viral video of a pig saving a goat, which also went viral ahead of the airing of the episode. Moreover, he delivered on the promise he had set out. Considering all the success the show had, why did Comedy Central cancel the show?
In actuality, Comedy Central did not. It was actually Fielder who decided to pull the plug on the series. Comedy Central, at the time, confirmed the news in a statement that read, “For the past five years Comedy Central had the pleasure of working with the brilliant Nathan Fielder on Nathan For You. His innovative and quick-witted humour has made the show a comedic touchstone and we’re proud to have been a part of it. We respect Nathan’s decision to end the series and look forward to geeking out over his next project.”
Three highly rated episodes of Nathan for You, according to IMDb
Currently, Fielder is working on a television series titled The Curse. The television series is currently in production, which affirms that Nathan for You will never return. In honour of the show, we are looking back at the three highly rated episodes from the four seasons of the show, according to IMDb. More specifically, according to the ratings given by IMDb users.
Finding Frances
Rated a total of 9.6/10, this episode was the eighth episode of the fourth season of the series. Co-written by Nathan Fielder, Michael Koman and Leo Allen, the Fielder self-directed episode’s premise is detailed as, “Nathan attempts to help a Bill Gates impersonator reunite with his long-lost love.”
Dumb Starbucks
Considering the virality of the episode, it is not surprising that Dumb Starbucks is rated a total of 9.5/10. The episode was the fifth episode of the second season of the series. Co-written by Nathan Fielder, Michael Koman and Dan Mintz, the Fielder self-directed episode’s premise, as shared by IMDb, reads, “Nathan uses parody law to help a struggling coffee shop.”
The Hero
Rated a total of 9.4/10, the episode was the eighth episode of the third season of the series. Co-written by Nathan Fielder, Michael Koman and Adam Locke-Norton, the Jason Woliner-directed episode’s premise is detailed as, “Nathan tries to prove that there’s a hero inside every one of us.”