6 episodes of Nathan For You that laid the groundwork for The Rehearsal

Amidst all the philosophical wankery about “deeper artistic goals,” it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that Fielder is a comedian and that his shows are still some of the most riotously funny TV produced over the last decade. Let “Electronics Store” serve as an antidote to our own academic woolgathering, then. Sure, it contains a few moments of deep moral ambiguity, as when Nathan tricks a psychologist into deeming the week’s business owner, Alan, mentally unwell, simply by having the poor guy rattle off the details of Fielder’s latest scheme in a clinical context. And sure, it features Fielder attempting to manipulate a perfectly pleasant-seeming young woman into a combination of fake dating and corporate espionage as part of his war on Best Buy due to their unfair applications of their price-matching doctrine.But “Electronics Store” also features the image of “Fielder” dressed up like his conception of a Hot Topic manager and his attempts to coach his cheerful accomplices through blatantly perjurious legal testimony and multiple moments when determined bargain hunters dressed in full black tie regalia crawl through a tiny Alice In Wonderland door, only to be confronted by a living alligator standing between them and a discount TV. It might be kind of evil; it’s definitely funny as hell.

The plan: Allow a failing bar to flout local smoking bans by re-branding its patrons as “actors,” supposedly performing in an experimental play on behalf of a tiny audience of hoodwinked theater-goers. The result: Planting the first seeds of the show that would eventually become The Rehearsal, as “Nathan” becomes increasingly fixated on the artistic merits of his impromptu slab of slice of life theater, eventually deciding to hire a crew of actors to artificially recreate every moment of that initial night.The meta throughline of “Smokers Allowed” is obvious, as Fielder’s attempts to re-capture the success of that first “show” slowly begin to absorb more and more of poor Ellen’s bar (including the moment where he has to inform her that she’s been re-cast with a more glamorous performer). But beyond being an early foray into the world of elaborate, life-based rehearsals, “Smokers” also interrogates, for neither the first nor the last time, why Fielder is moved to do the things he does. (Which, we sometimes have to remind ourselves, are real things he did, even if we’re putting quotes around his name while he’s doing them.)In the episode’s most meme-worthy moment, “Fielder” hijacks a romantic scene between two of his performers so that he can do an “exercise,” in which the actor (Victoria Hogan) is directed to look into his eyes and tell him “I love you.” And then to do it again. And again. And again. As the repetitions build, the discomfort is palpable, but so is a sort of potent, if manufactured, emotional intensity. Later, in a moment that wouldn’t be out of place in one of The Rehearsal’s frequent real person/actor swaps, Fielder brings in the performer playing Ellen (Amy Goddard) to repeat the bit—but this time, she seemingly breaks character to tell him that she truly, genuinely loved his play. It’s a beautiful moment. It feels real. It looks real. We have no way of ever knowing if it was real. Which is, of course, the point.

For those looking to litigate the morality of Fielder’s stunts—which, as his own work frequently notes, are predicated almost entirely on him lying to and manipulating people he’s ostensibly offered to help—few pieces of ammo are as potent as “The Hero,” maybe the most ethically iffy episode of Nathan For You’s entire run. (And we’re counting in that tally the episode where Fielder threatened to expose himself to children if a magic trick went awry.) As with some of his other “special” episodes, “The Hero” sees “Fielder” edge out of business consultant mode and into something more akin to a freeform agent of chaos. In this case, that means finding an affable but unhappy nerd named Corey Calderwood and promising to make him a hero—if he hands over control of his life to “Fielder” for undisclosed alterations over the course of several weeks.If Fielder’s plan—which includes an isolated trailer in the desert, sophisticated prosthetics, and a tightrope walk for charity—roped in only volunteer Calderwood, the discomforts of “The Hero” would still be deliberately rough. (Part of the point of the episode seems to be to point out how hollow such “heroism” can be.) But Fielder also brings in Calderwood’s grandparents and a young woman he goes on a date with “as” Calderwood (elaborate facial mask and all) before bringing the real Corey back out into the spotlight. In a follow-up special (and on his social media, which still acknowledges that he is, yes, the “cool beans” guy), Calderwood seems mostly okay with his strange brush with celebrity. But he also notes that he didn’t pursue a relationship with the “girlfriend” he was set up with because, well, “I wasn’t comfortable trying to start dating someone on, essentially, lying to them the whole time about what was going on.” “Nathan,” of course, professes to have absolutely no idea what he’s talking about.