Summary
Nathan Fielder began working in television during the late 2000s on programs like Canadian Idol and This Hour Has 22 Minutes, where he hosted a man-on-the-street segment called “Nathan on Your Side”. Fielder took this idea and built upon it to eventually create Nathan For You, which ran on Comedy Central for four seasons from 2013 to 2017.
In each episode of the unscripted series, Nathan attempts tohelp businesses find successby presenting unique marketing techniques and elaborate ideas. The results can range from jaw-dropping to hilarious, and even when you think things can’t go any further, Fielder always finds a way to surprise the audience. Whether you’ve seen it before or want to hop in for the first time, these are the best episodes of Nathan For You.
10The Anecdote
Season 4, Episode 4
There are a few episodes of Nathan For You where Nathan decides to help himself instead of other people. As a growing celebrity, Fielder finds himself being welcomed onto more late-night talk shows, but his stories just don’t seem nearly as funny or impressive as other guests like Kevin Hart or Jonah Hill.
Nathan decides to use the episode’s budget to help him create the perfect anecdote for his next appearance on Jimmy Kimmel, but to avoid being caught as a liar like Brian Williams, he must orchestrate the events of his ridiculous story to maintain credibility. From watching someone ask their mother for her hair and nails so they create fake ashes to hiring a real cop to pull him over after going over the speed limit, this episode highlights how easily Fielder can manipulate any situation to get what he wants - applause from a live audience.
9The Movement
Season 3, Episode 3
The Movement is a perfect example of how far Nathan is willing to go to watch one of his ideas succeed. To help a moving company find volunteers, he decides to try and convince people that moving heavy items like furniture is a better workout than going to the gym. He quickly realizes that he is not the ideal candidate to convince people, so he hires professional bodybuilder Jack Garbarino to help him out.
Jack becomes the official spokesperson for The Movement and is all-in on saying anything to trick people into believing he got his body from simply moving boxes. This episode is littered with classic moments, such as dressing Jack up in a wig so he can still work out at a gym without being recognized, and Nathan’s confrontation with Brian Wolfe about the private investigator’s past life as a Penthouse model.
8Liquor Store/Exterminator/Car Wash
Season 2, Episode 4
Some episodes of Nathan For You focus on one big idea, like The Anecdote, while others contain two or more smaller segments that follow Nathan on some of his less-ambitious adventures. These shorter sequences can sometimes be less interesting than other episodes, but the combination of Liquor Store, Exterminator, and Car Wash is a great example of how some of Fielder’s simplest ideas can be his best.
Liquor Store follows Nathan as he pitches a system that allows youths to pre-order alcohol, while Exterminator is about an Ocean’s Eleven-inspired idea that allows pest control to enter hotels without alerting the patrons. These are both great on their own, but the highlight of the package is Car Wash, where Nathan helps a local business byplacing birds in treesto poop on local traffic.
7Haunted House/The Hunk
Season 1, Episode 5
The first season of Nathan For You begins with some great episodes that set the tone for the rest of the series, but it’s not until the fifth episode that you truly understand how far Nathan will go to help someone (including himself) out. It begins with Haunted House, where Nathan tries to scare patrons by making them believe they’ve come into contact with a mysterious disease, but the standout segment is The Hunk.
Instead of helping a business find success, Nathan decides tocreate a fake reality TV showthat allows him to date multiple women at once to help him overcome his awkwardness. From Nathan’s tension with the host to the awkward kiss between him and a contestant, The Hunk is full of moments that’ll make you laugh, gasp, or cover your eyes.
6Claw Of Shame
Season 1, Episode 7
The Claw of Shame is a wild episode of Nathan For You that follows the host as he attempts to prove to himself and viewers that he’s willing to engage in risky situations like the ones he puts his clients through. How does he decide to do this? By giving himself one minute to escape from handcuffs before a robot pulls his pants down in front of an audience of children, which would lead to him being labeled as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Watching Nathan take more steps than necessary is always a thrill, but the Claw of Shame adds some unusual stakes that require him to be extra thorough. Between talking to a judge about how to make this situation as risky as possible, to the actual stunt itself, the entire sequence is mesmerizing. There are also some smaller segments in the episode, including one aboutanimals that could talk to their young ownersafter they pass away.
5Mechanic/Realtor
Season 2, Episode 1
The second season of Nathan For You immediately ups the ante with an episode that contains some of the most jaw-dropping moments within the entire series. It begins with the relatively normal Mechanic segment, where mechanics talk to customers while wearing a lie detector to ensure they aren’t trying to squeeze extra money from their clients.
The next sequence is a fan-favorite for a multitude of reasons. To help a real estate agent find success, Nathan rebrands her as the “Ghost Realtor”, the only agent in the city who can sell you a home and guarantee it’s not haunted. This episode will live rent-free in your head for months after you watch the realtor embrace her new persona one step at a time, from hiring an exorcist to remove an incubus from one residence to talking about her own supernatural experience in Switzerland.
4Smokers Allowed
Season 3, Episode 5
Smoking has been banned in most establishments in North America since the early 2000s, which has definitely had a financial impact on social hubs like bars. To help a venue find new patrons, Nathan discovers a loophole that would allow people to smoke inside if they were part of a theatrical production where smoking is an integral part of the story.
One night, Nathan sets up a couple of chairs in the corner of a bar and invites guests to watch a “play”, which happens to be a normal night for people embracing the ability to smoke inside. After he receives good reviews from the guests, he decides that he wants to recreate that night with actors and commits to recreating every interaction for a larger audience. It’s a perfectly hilarious and outrageous episode of Nathan For You that contains hints of his future work with HBO’s The Rehearsal.
3Dumb Starbucks
Season 2, Episode 5
Some of Nathan’s stunts make enough of a splash to appear on local news programs, but occasionally, he does something so outlandish that folks start confusing him for Banksy. Nathan originally created Dumb Starbucks to help another café owner bring in new customers, but when the barista decides to disengage with the plan, Nathan takes the idea for himself and possibly finds the most success of his entire career.
With thepower of parody law, Nathan is easily able to start a business known as Dumb Starbucks that sells popular items like a dumb frappuccino and a dumb white chocolate mocha. Almost overnight, Dumb Starbucks became a sensation with large crowds outside of it and international news coverage. It was eventually closed by the health department, but this episode proves that Nathan’s absurd ideas can actually be genius marketing.
2Electronic Store
Season 3, Episode 1
How far would you go to snag a cheap TV? In Electronics Store, Nathan tries to help a small business by convincing the owner to price his televisions at $1 each, so Best Buy will be required to price match them, and they can send a small team in to clear out the competition’s stock. Also, to ensure that nobody purchases Nathan’s client’s products for $1, he sets up a variety of traps and obstacles for customers to go through to get the deal.
From wearing formal clothing to squeezing through a tiny door, Nathan doesn’t make it easy for anyone to buy a TV, and the last straw for most people is the large crocodile protecting the product. When Best Buy refuses to honor its Price Match policy, Nathan considers taking legal action against them, and even dresses up as a Hot Topic manager on a date to try and learn more about their business practices.
1Finding Francis
Season 4, Episode 7
Finding Francis is the 90-minute series finale of Nathan For You that pivots from Nathan helping small businesses to helping someone he met throughout the show’s four seasons. William makes his first appearance on the show as a Bill Gates impersonator in season two, but when Nathan spends more time with him while recording commentary tracks, he can’t help but notice that William is obsessed with one thing: his high school sweetheart, Francis.
Together, Nathan and William hit the road and do whatever it takes to track her down, from creating a fake production for “Mud 2” that allows them to re-enter William’s school to look at yearbooks to organizing a fake class reunion to try and find a lead. This episode is just as funny as anything else Nathan Fielder has done, but he is surprisingly vulnerable throughout the journey, and the episode spends just as much time focusing on how much he has changed since the beginning as it does on William’s earnest pursuit of the love of his life.
