AVclub posted:

Try to explain Nathan For You to somebody who’s never seen it, and you’ll find that it defies easy description. Where do you begin? There’s the stated premise: A business-school graduate helps struggling companies get on their feet. Except the plans he comes up with are really elaborate pranks. Except the pranks typically become experiments in human nature. Oh, and the host is a socially clumsy man-child who shouldn’t be on TV, but he’s really a brilliant comedian who’s just pretending, mostly.

When I’m proselytizing on behalf of Nathan For You, I tend to rattle through inadequate half-explanations like this. It’s no use. I end up boring my friends and frustrating myself with my inability to capture the show’s magic. It’s pointless. So now I simply say that Nathan For You is not only one of the funniest series I’ve ever seen, but it’s also the most honest reality show on TV.

Cavauro posted:

This show is pretty good. Almost as good as Review. We should watch it.

Y-Hat posted:

I guess he kept things lowkey during filming because there hasn't been anything that's gone viral like Dumb Starbucks did during the creation of the second season.

Y-Hat posted:

I'm convinced that nothing can be as beautiful as the second season of Review. That's not a knock at Nathan For You, because that also kept bringing its A game during every episode.

quote:

BT: I would like to either know that we, as the watchers, are in on the joke with you. Because I feel like you want me to be part of the people that are foolish.

NF: I don’t—well, who do you find foolish in the show?


BT: The people that participate. The poor real estate lady that surprisingly fell into, I guess, gold comedy, and when they showed your reaction, you were taking a picture of her. [In the episode “Mechanic/Realtor,” Nathan hires an exorcist to cleanse a house and its realtor of evil spirits. Nathan snaps a photo on his phone while the realtor is in the midst of her startlingly traumatic exorcism. —Ed.]

NF: Well, that moment in particular, I didn’t even know how to comprehend it. That was an instinct of mine in that moment to take a photo, I guess. Some people view the show that way, and that’s totally valid, but personally, I don’t find the people involved in the show, for the most part, to be foolish. They come across to me as very sweet and endearing most of the time. Especially that real estate lady.

BT: I thought she was, too, but then I felt like you were very removed from her. Why didn’t you just look into the camera with a “What the hell?” But you took out your camera to take a picture of her. I thought that was very removed.

NF: You wanted me to look at the camera that was filming me and give a look?

BT: Yes. Because I wanted you to say to me, as the viewer, “Holy crap! What’s going on here?”

Soothing Vapors posted:

October 15 is finally here!

Nathan gave an interview to Bonnie Teti of the AVClub -- Jon Teti's mom, who hated him and didn't get his style of humour at all at the outset -- that is so wonderfully Nathan that it's hard to describe. Tense, weird, personal, and oddly touching by the end.

Highlight:

Lumberjack Bonanza posted:

If I didn't know better I'd think Teti's mom was flipping the act on Nathan.

quote:

NF: What’s the most funny to you, Bonney? What do you find the most funny?

BT: I’m gonna tell you, Nathan, the thing I find the most funny is a fat woman on a rope swing on America’s Funniest Home Videos.

NF: [Laughs.] Okay.

BT: How about you?

NF: Um—does she fall, or is she just on a rope?

BT: Oh, my God. You can’t picture a fat woman grabbing onto a rope swing and the disaster that happens?

JT: Well, what does happen, Mom?

BT: Oh, the tree branch breaks. She falls into the river, but she falls on her behind, and oh, my God, it’s the funniest thing in the whole world!

quote:

BT: I am happy. You know, I had a bout with some cancer last winter that is all gone. It was a very traumatic thing for my family, and I do try to remember to be happy every day.

NF: Well, congratulations for getting through that. It’s all gone?

BT: It’s gone. It was gone in a couple of weeks.

NF: That’s quite a scare. When it happened, where was your mind at? When you got this diagnosis, what were you thinking?

BT: I thought, “Well, that’s it. I’m gone.” But it wasn’t that kind of cancer, so they just cut it off—it was on my stomach—and they cut it out, and it was gone! Then I didn’t know how to act. I didn’t want to tell people that I was a cancer survivor because I never really let it come into my mind that I had it. So I never really told anyone.

anotherone posted:

Companies like Best Buy and Enron

Sammus posted:

I love how the first guy that went to the premium TV section saw the alligator, stared at it for a few seconds, then decided it wasn't worth it.

Sammus posted:

I love how the first guy that went to the premium TV section saw the alligator, stared at it for a few seconds, then decided it wasn't worth it.

Illinois Smith posted:

LostRook posted:

The alligator was less of an obstacle than the little door which the TVs would never have fit through.

Illinois Smith posted:

Also Nathan's gonna be back on Tom Scharpling's Best Show next week where he's one of my favorite guests. His previous appearance has a lot of talk about the show's process and such, it's from after season 1 ended. Scroll down to the Juli 2, 2013 ep here.

Menamino posted:

Forgot that the show had started back up until today. Amazing episode.


Right, I always find myself thinking about the legality of stuff Nathan is doing when I watch the show and this seemed to be the fishiest part. How could the deal hold up if pressed in court if you actually can't bring the TV through the 2 foot door to the counter even if you brave the alligator crossing?

Then I always move on and just enjoy the show because it's hilarious

precision posted:

I would absolutely go past an alligator to get a giant TV for $1 because I'm pretty sure if the alligator attacked me I could have sued Comedy Central for literally millions.

PostNouveau posted:

0% chance that door was actually unlocked, right?

EL BROMANCE posted:

And there's a chance that someone did, it just wasn't shown. I'd love to see a full breakdown of one of the episodes, especially one like this where the whole episode revolves around one case (which I prefer). From the designing stage to then working out what will happen, to manipulating it so it goes to plan. It would be super interesting.