Nathan Fielder describes the one concept for ‘Nathan for You’ that never aired
The world of modern comedy has undoubtedly been revolutionised with the emergence of the American absurdist Nathan Fielder, a comedian and filmmaker who blends the boundaries between fact and fiction with his contributions to the contemporary craft. Truthfully, only the work of Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim and Eric André can compare to Fielder’s sharp comedic timing and unrivalled poker face.
Starting by making short comedy videos throughout the mid-2000s, Fielder found early success in 2007 when he joined the talk show’s writing team, This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Years later, in 2013, he would establish himself as a significant rising star, writing, directing and starring in the absurd mockumentary series Nathan for You, in which he starred as a business graduate “from one of Canada’s top business schools with really good grades”.
As described in the opening of the show, “Now, I’m using my knowledge to help struggling small-business owners make it in this competitive world”. Moving from niche businesses to lonely entrepreneurs, Fielder attempted to bring them prosperity with an array of bizarre concepts, from encouraging a frozen yoghurt shop to sell a poo flavour to helping an out-of-season Santa Claus performer find sales in the summer months.
Though, maybe unsurprisingly, not every ridiculous Nathan For You concept makes it onto the show, with one idea, in particular, failing to air because it “just didn’t quite work”.
Speaking with Rolling Stone, the co-creator of the series, Michael Koman, explained that a few years ago, they attempted a concept where a Reiki healer would charge people an additional fee to remove negative energy from their bodies and store them in separate containers. Breaking down the bizarre concept, Koman added: “The piece went from that to us going to a town hall where we had to convince a small town to let us bury the energy”.
“People just went crazy,” Koman stated before describing their next hilarious alteration to the idea that would ultimately be its downfall. Explaining their thinking behind the scenes, he adds: “We needed someone on our side, so we paid a guy twenty bucks to constantly stand up and say, ‘Hey, we gotta hear these guys out! It sounds like a good deal to me!’ It was like watching a small town turn against each other”.
Unfortunately for fans of the series, this concept never saw the light of day, with Nathan Fielder himself adding, “It was unclear how much the healer believed what she was doing…It just didn’t quite work and we abandoned it”.
As well as an innovative comedy mind, Fielder is also supportive of other creatives forging new paths in the industry, producing the meditative documentary series How to with John Wilson. In more recent months, Fielder has also enjoyed a bounty of critical success for his subversive documentary series The Rehearsal, which looks to be taking the comedian to glittering new heights in the industry.
