Nathan Fielder creeps toward cult leader in this How To With John Wilson clip

In fact, the only thing that really distinguishes the above clip from an old Nathan For You bit is that we’re pretty sure everyone involved is in on the joke, the alternative being that the TikTok teenagers Fielder has recruited for his “alternate revenue stream” have actually accidentally joined his NXIVM-style starter cult. (Or maybe it’s more like an—alleged—R. Kelly thing, given the cut-off from parental contact and vigorous calorie counting?) But since that would make Fielder an actual psychopath, and not just a pretend TV one, we’re going to self-comfort by assuring ourselves that these young recruits for the “children’s dancing app” are not, in fact, being kept against their will, and possibly at gunpoint. (The gun is a great bit of understated escalation, though.) (Also, we know it’s not real, don’t yell at us.)

To some extent, the clip feels like a more subtle-than-expected plug for Wilson’s show, in that, like many of his segments, it goes to places you really couldn’t have expected from the opening moments—while also poking fun at Fielder’s “producer” persona, and the series’ own hard-to-explain appeal. Certainly, we’ll never think about bread, trampolines, or ring lights ever again.