#11 - Nathan For You
Aired 2013 to 2017 (4 seasons) on Comedy Central
Created by Nathan Fielder and Michael Koman
Currently streaming on Hulu
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America, at a macro level, is absurd. This may sound antithetical to the dull roar of patriotism that dominates our existence, but I don't think this is an uncommon sentiment, especially in marginalized communities. If even our banal late-night shows understand this, then it's clearly not hard to comprehend. But that's not what this essay is about.
America, at a micro level, is also absurd. Even though this belief is less obvious, I assure you that your everyday life is almost certainly preposterous. If you're employed, there's an increasingly large chance that your job is fundamentally unnecessary and you may spend most of your time at work in service of the American religion of corporate culture worship. Your commute to that job is worse than ever, because you either live in an old city poorly retrofitted to the modern "necessity" of cars or a newer city which is probably just a sprawling horizontal monolith. If you're lucky enough to make enough money at said job, then you have the wonderful choice of investing that money in poorly-designed retirement accounts or (if you made the "choice" to buy property) your stupid, stupid house. And crap it's been ten days so you probably have to mow your even stupider lawn. And if god forbid you get sick, we are dumber at healthcare than like, every other country. And all of this assumes you're someone with enough wealth and fortune to even have these worries.
So how does TV deal with this increasingly existential problem? It mostly doesn't. Sure, you can twist yourself into interpreting anything mildly satirical as speaking to this, but I find most of those arguments to be flimsy at best. To find something that addresses this, you probably need to turn to the appropriately-named concept of the "Theater of the Absurd," as there is no way to confront the absurdity without facing it head-on. The concept of the Theater of the Absurd was first used as a descriptor of alternative twentieth-century playwrights such as Beckett and Pinter, the gist of which can be summarized by this quote:
"The Theatre of the Absurd attacks the comfortable certainties of religious or political orthodoxy. It aims to shock its audience out of complacency, to bring it face to face with the harsh facts of the human situation as these writers see it. But the challenge behind this message is anything but one of despair. It is a challenge to accept the human condition as it is, in all its mystery and absurdity, and to bear it with dignity, nobly, responsibly; precisely because there are no easy solutions to the mysteries of existence, because ultimately man is alone in a meaningless world. The shedding of easy solutions, of comforting illusions, may be painful, but it leaves behind it a sense of freedom and relief. And that is why, in the last resort, the Theatre of the Absurd does not provoke tears of despair but the laughter of liberation."
For me, it's hard to read that passage and think of any modern show that fits the description better than Nathan For You. The comparison certainly makes sense on a surface level. First and foremost, nothing says absurd like both the conception and execution of Nathan's stunts - for example, no other show features the lead asking a random woman for her hair and toenails as part of his effort to create a perfect story for an interview with Jimmy Kimmel. Even more, the idea of "easy solutions" referenced in the above passage is literally what the show rebukes in every episode. Nathan may have received "really good grades" in business school, but his cockamamie ideas will never power the struggling businesses he consults past the corporate behemoths set on eliminating them.
What makes Nathan For You great though is something a little deeper. Go back and re-read my second paragraph and then re-read the description of the "Theater of the Absurd." What specifically resonates most for you now? For me, it's the claim that "man is alone in a meaningless world." Whether by accident or on purpose, modern society is designed to drive us towards alienation. While this assertion or something close to it is central to the aforementioned playwright's work, it's not necessarily the main selling point of Nathan. Nonetheless, the show's focus on trying (and often failing) to find connection with others in a cruel world is both its backbone and its heart.
There’s no shortage of examples of this theme running through the show. “Gas Station/Caricature Artist” features a gas rebate scheme so patently absurd - participants have to hike up a mountain and spend the night camping there with strangers - that the inevitable moment of human connection that results almost has to be what the participants were hoping for. “The Hero” is built around a tightrope walk for charity, but is really about the character of “Nathan Fielder” trying to step outside of himself (literally) to relate to someone else.* And while the show’s most famous episode “Dumb Starbucks” is centered on the spectacle of the titular pop-up coffee shop, this theme keeps sneaking its way in there - both through Nathan's friendship with the shop owner he's looking to help and with his clumsy attempt to play matchmaker with his baristas.
*“Nathan Fielder's” aloofness is probably at least somewhat genuine to the man himself, but it’s primarily a bit that helps drive home the shows’ central theme
This all comes to a point in the series' feature-length finale, the universally-loved magnum opus "Finding Frances." The episode features Nathan's quest to reunite a Bill Gates impersonator from a previous episode (also named Bill) with his long-lost love. As the search progresses, it becomes clear that Bill's memories are a bit idyllic and incomplete, but that doesn't make the actual moment of contact any less heartbreaking or poignant. At the same time, Nathan begins a relationship with an escort that both drifts into the show's typically uncanny valley and speaks to its central message. Neither Nathan nor Bill are perfect nor are their motivations always pure, but their search for connection is genuine and real. As one reviewer put it:
"What “Finding Frances” really shows us is that Nathan For You has always been, in some way, about desire—whether that be a desire for business, recognition, or the more universal search for any kind of common connection. We all can see something of ourselves in this journey to the heart of one broken American dream."
All of this is to say that Nathan For You is ultimately an optimistic show. It's not unaware or dismissive of the problems in the world, but rather it shows that making an effort to find human connection even when that effort may fall short is more than enough to make the struggle worth it. When faced with the artificial strictures of our society, the show avoids pessimism and even shows how those barriers can be made to work for us and not against us. I don't think Nathan For You is some blueprint on how to re-make our world (the absurdly inherently precludes that). But what it is is an affirmation that it's worth trying to improve it, and that simple statement is as important to remember as anything.
