Thursday, February 10, 2022

Nathan for me, Nathan for You



I'm not big on the latest in pop culture. I know none of today's current musicians. Or pop stars. Almost 90% of the names of actors in movies and TV shows are strangers to me and wouldn't recognize them if I ran into them at Chipotle or Trader Joes. 

Which would be something in itself as I never shop at Trader Joes. Their aisles are too small. And they don't carry many of the brands to which I've grown so attached. 

Cheezelettes? No, I want Cheez-Its.

A longwinded way of saying that until recently I had never heard of Nathan Fielder. My daughters introduced me to the one time Comedy Central star (Circa 2015) who now shows up on Hulu.I didn't even know we had Hulu on our TV. 

Nor do I understand half the machinations it takes to arrive there.

TV is too fucking complicated these days.

But I digress. Since watching the first episode of Nathan For You with my laugh-starved (as of late) daughters, it has become a post Jeopardy mainstay. 

For those not in the know. Nathan Fielder is Canadian. And he graduated from one of Canada's top business schools. And, according to the opening, he got very good grades. So now, he and his run-and-gun video crew show up at small businesses that are suffering and convince them to execute on of Nathan's Canadian-Hare brain ideas.

The word absurd comes to mind. But absurd is given new meaning when you see the lengths Nathan will go to in order to bring about success.

The picture above comes from one of my favorite episodes involving his appearance and Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel. It's too far-fetched, including the ridiculously large suit seen above, to explain in detail.

One of my other favorites was when Nathan tracked down a dive bar that was not drawing customers due to the city's No Smoking ordinances. In order to skirt those laws, Nathan discovered that smoking WOULD be allowed if it was part of a theatrical production. And so, with minimal equipment and a little creativity, Nathan staged a show within the tiny bar, entitled "Smoking Allowed."

I won't give away the ending, suffice it to say you should watch the show.

You know, if you have Hulu.

And you can figure out the input arrangement and cursor movement on your remote control.

And you can remember your password.

I hate the complexity of streaming television. Maybe Nathan can work on that?

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