Nathan Fielder's The Rehearsal on HBO

This has AMAZING reviews and none of you bitches will provide your own review?

Someone reviewed it earlier today.

Nathan for You was hilarious

We watched this last night, unsure what to expect. It was quite entertaining and left us feeling unsure if it was truly candid and real or not. I liked the random ways Fielder manipulated people and circumstances in pursuit of the goal of helping that awkward trivia guy. But was it all staged? I could see most of the cameras in different interview scenes being explained, but the two-camera interview with the trivia host?

Anyhow, waiting for the next episode to get a better idea.

I just watched it. Garbage and a waste of time.

I watched all his other stuff some years back, and I thought he was funny, entertaining, and so forth. But last night, I realized I watch him because I think he's cute. I even like the way he talks. He reminds me a little of Joe Pera.

I’m obsessed. Nathan For You is amazing. And this is above and beyond. The level of uncomfortable he will go to is beyond and a bit aspirational for me. I love him.

He's cute. Does he get naked?

I preferred simulacra when it was disposable 80s French theory.

Also obsessed with it. He’s very funny and quite strange. Love it.

Is a fag?

I like his shows but I feel like he would be a bit creepy in real life.

I didn't like Nathan For You, but I'd at least check this out.

He is probably one of the best anti-humor comedians since Andy Kaufman. You either get it or you don't, but the way he stays absolutely deadpan while people say the most insane shit to him is incredible.

" You either get it or you don't."

So, you can't get it and just not like it?

This show is fucking great! I am sitting here in awe that people actually act like this with cameras on them...I knew this would have to be pretty good to top Nathan for you, and it definitely is.

Also, I intensely disliked Robbin Scion guy and was not surprised to see his brother does too.

R15 sure, plenty of people don't enjoy antihumor humor. But if you don't like it because "it's just not funny" then you don't get what it's trying to do as a longstanding comic genre. This isn't an insult so don't lose your shit. Not everything is for everyone, but my point is that just because something isn't for you (heh), that doesn't make it "bad."

I’m surprised there isn’t more interest in this show on here. Sure, the spectrum robots over on Reddit are blubbering over how important this show is to them, and they’re insufferable, but it’s still a great show worth a look and I think a lot of DLers would enjoy.

Agreed R19, and Nathan for you, of course,

Nathan For You is my favorite comedy show of the last decade. I haven't gotten around to watching this yet, but he's hilarious.

R21 This is somehow even better than Nathan for you, it's like him diving into the businesses but to the nth degree, he builds sets and hires actors, it's insane! You have to watch, there's only three eps so far.

Every time he calmly says "Oh, okay" to someone spewing some completely batshit fuckery I die laughing all over again.

The new one is creepy (they all kind of are, but this one especially). It’s definitely performance art on his part.

I didn’t really understand the most recent episode. It seems to be going off into so many directions - does anyone have a sense of what he’s doing?

I haven't watched it yet R25 but it seems like they are all kind of intertwined, like he kept that fake bar from episode one and I assume he's still with that fucking kooky chick raising their fake kid who must be 18 by now. I'm sure it will all make sense in the end. He's getting really gray! It must be aggravating to work with people like Robin the Scion guy.

I rather like the grey on him. He's one of those men who's always looked a bit like an old man and I think it really suits him. He'll probably look the same for the next 25 years.

I watched the first episode and laughed a lot. I enjoyed it. Yet at the same time, it didn't make me super excited to watch the rest of the series

Oh do go on to the second R28, it gets even better!

It's absolutely unhinged. Cringe comedy taken to its extremes. I think it's fascinating.

R21, the new show is much more in the spirit of the Finding Frances episode of Nathan for You than the ones that came before it. How you felt about that one will probably dictate how you feel about this one.

I felt bad for the guy in episode three. He clearly figured out what was going on and felt used. I wish they addressed it on the show because it could’ve made for an interesting adjustments to the rehearsals, how to handle it if the person discovers the experiment before it ends.

I was losing interest, but the fourth episode was so stunning, that I will stick with it.

I don’t give a shit about any straight white man’s take on anything, much less humor. Why would I care about some autistic loser’s HBO show being jerked off over on Reddit?

Last night I watched the “Gold Digger” episode and fell asleep during. Perhaps I should have watched from the beginning, which may have explained the premise of the series. There were moments I really loved, but some of it was just lost on me. Maybe when I’m not intensely exhausted, I’ll start with episode 1.

It certainly is more thought-provoking and interesting than what’s out there in cable/streaming land. Even if I don’t LOVE it, I think it’s quality programming, and I appreciate this labor of love and creativity.

It reminded me of “Joe Pera Talks With You”.

This is one of the most perversely funny shows I’ve seen in a long time. The concept in itself is fascinating, but the people he found to participate are…interesting to say the least.

r33 - why did you like the 4th episode so much? Hoping you can provide some insight.

"It's days like this when I curse the Chinese for inventing gun powder!"

He took the concept to a bizarre but logical end.

He worries about how the actors might be negatively impacting the "rehearsal." To solve this, he opens an acting class and applies the "rehearsal" technique. So an actor is assigned to be like a person who works in a shop, Nathan helps by having the actor duplicate the life of that man in the shop to help the actor. Nathan wants to understand the actor's issues, so he himself moves into the actors apartment and starts working in another shop so that he can understand what the actor is going through. Nathan also hires an actor to play himself to replicate the discussions he has with the actor.

He also starts redoing scenes with actors in the replication---so the hall of mirrors multiplies and gets more complex.

It is doubtful though that this episode could be topped.

^^^^the above is a reply to R37

R39/40 - thank you. That's a really interesting take and makes me appreciate the episode more.

Wow, so it's just getting incredibly meta. Now they're rehearsing the rehearsals and the actors are stars too? Yeah, this is pretty funny.

Okay I just watched the new episode and wow! I don't want to give spoilers but it was definitely interesting. I like the kooky mom chick listening to music and being totally oblivious while the 15 year old Adam was doing what he does. I hope she never breeds, she's like 44 though so I doubt she will.

Does anyone think Angela is an actress?

Hmm...good question R44, she is absolutely ridiculous but I don't think she's an actress. If she is, then Nathan doesn't know it. She doesn't seem to have the wherewithal to trick him but she may be an actress in the sense she just wants to be on tv and isn't serious about this. If she is, I don't think he knows it.

I was pissed that the guy with the gold digger girlfriend just disappeared. What was the point of having us watch all of that, when there was no conclusion? I got the impression that the inheritance wasn’t very large, by most people’s standards. It reminds me of a friend who freaked out and wanted to sue because her aunt died with $20k in her savings and another aunt took it.

I get the same impression R46, I doubt it was that much and his brother is just being a dick. As a Jewish person I was stunned by his sticking up for his girl by talking about what a "jew" she is, not just once, but several times. That's why I don't think Angela is an actress, some people are really just fucking socially inept and have no idea how to behave on television.

I'd love to believe Angela is just an actress but I've had the misfortune to run into several "Angelas" in the past and suspect that's a real person who's just totally crazy.

R48, yeah, she’s one of those “difficult” people who makes for good watching. The whole Halloween thing had me rolling.

Fielder is quite cunning, the way he can make you laugh at someone but also feel sorry for them. It reminds me a bit of Sacha Baron Cohen and Tom Green.

The dude that they brought in with the fascination for numbers and signs was so weird. I wouldn’t want him attending to my child. Something was wrong with both him and the lady and I hope that neither of them ever has kids.

R50, it was sort of horrifying to me that the parents of these babies/children just handed them over to the production assistants. I guess the production did have cameras on them at all times, but, I don’t know.

Maybe that was a point Fielder was trying to make?

R51 Oregon, amirite? Seems like such an Oregon thing to do.

R50 that guy's weird number obsession was the least of his problems. His penchant for smoking copious amounts of weed and then drag racing was much, much worse. Hence the title "Scion" since he mentioned many times he crashed his Scion at 100mph. Fuck that dude, he's a fucking menace.

I think Nathan will bring everything together in the end with statements about social anxiety and understanding one another, etc.

Really enjoying it.

Robbin the stoner numerologist was all kinds of crazy.

[quote]I hope that neither of them ever has kids

Well, Angela is 45 and still doesn't have a boyfriend and wants to have her own children, so I am cautiously optimistic there.

Nobody wants to talk about the trivia guy in Brooklyn? I thought it was an interesting twist at the end. Fielder didn’t rehearse for Skeet’s reaction to finding out about being “helped” with the trivia game that night.

Or did he?

That episode made me sad.

It made me a little emotional when the trivia guy’s weirdo frau friend reacted so kindly and didn’t care that he had lied about college.

nathan looks like jeff (jeff & jordan) from big brother.

R57, me too. There are these laugh-out-loud moments and some touching ones. I keep thinking about how damaged we all are. I really didn’t get this show at first, and some of it is too much for me, but it’s absolutely fascinating and thought-provoking.

I thought it was curious that Trivia Guy was so afraid of his geeky frau friend who in the end seemed to barely bat an eyelash at the revelation and seemed to have a lot of empathy for why he felt the need to lie and his need to impress her. It seems like the takeaway there was that we're often much more afraid of doing important things than we should be .

R60, yes! His integrity seemed to be a very big thing for him, which is kind of nice.

I think one of the rehearsals should have prepared the friend for hearing his confession. Or a rehearsal that showed her something so terrible that a lie like Skeet’s was small potatoes in comparison.

God but that actress who played the friend was perfect! Right down to the immediate complaints about her roommates and the fast talking.

People worry way to much about what other people think. Most people are too busy and distracted with their own lives to sit around judging you and thinking about your issues.

The funniest thing is that his "acting" class exercises really weren't all that much weirder than what you find in any Z-list acting class in LA a la Gene Cousineau on "Barry."

Last night's episode lasers in on Angela"s role. He has to rehearse with a fake Angela about including Jewish traditions. I'm still not convinced "real" Angela is not an actress. If it turns out she is, she should win an Emmy.

The Mel Gibson part of the last episode made me laugh so hard. His reaction to her saying she loved his movies.

Also laughed at his mother’s disgust when she talked about Romans 8.

Angela is intensely unlikable. I think she's legit too. I really hope she never has kids but I'm pretty confident she won't.

So many of the people on this show seem to be on the spectrum.

I watched the latest ep last night (I believe it premieres on Fridays...there's only x1 more ep). As someone said above, watching the 'Nathan for You' series--specifically the "Finding Frances" ep (the series finale)--sets things up for this show. WARNERHBODISCOVERY has most likely already axed this experiment.

I'm watching NFY with my sister now and noticing how much he employs actors. The one with the free form play about smoking at the bar is interesting because he's basically having actors re-enact things that happened at the bar by studying video of them. You can kind of see how he would have come up with the idea for the rehearsal from this. This was a great episode too!

Oh my god, this last episode with this poor little white trash kid and his dumb mom with her tatted up hands. I really don't think child actors should be a thing. I hope Nathan didn't know this would happen and didn't do this on purpose.

The precocious brown haired kid with the glasses is annoying and reminds me of Ozzy from the Election season of AHS.

As (mostly) a fan of Nathan for You, especially its finale, I was most disappointed by this show.

The finale was very very strange. Does anyone have any theories what that was about? It was sad with the little kid actor who wanted a dad and then just got weirder and creepier with him trying to rehearse versions of it until he was wearing nail polish and pretending to be another child actor's mom?

I’m sure there was a vague idea that he would connect with one of the kids. A lot of kids of single moms will become unhealthily attached to a male figure in the peripheral who serves as a father suggestions, with it’s the father of a friend, platonic friend of the mother, etc. I’m sure this kid has met at least one of this girl’s boyfriends and was disappointed when they stopped coming around. It happens. It doesn’t cause serious psychological trauma.

If this kid ends up having psychological trauma because of a parent, it will probably revolve around the actual father who isn’t around much, not a TV star who played his father in a short term acting gig.

The spectrum robots who obsess over Nathan are short circuiting over the ethics, but dramatic license is at work here and I hardly think we’re watching the psychological destruction of a young child actor.

The finale seemed to be weird for weird sake only. Nathan becoming the child actor’s mother?!

Shockingly, S2 got greenlit. I wonder if Discovery had any input.

Wait - that episode was the finale?????

Disappointing. I really liked the season but strange to end it that way.

Child in doctor's coat: "I'm Dr. Farts."

Nathan: "Well, hello, Dr. Farts."

Ha, R79, Dr. Farts really meshed well with Nathan and will be sad not to see him anymore. Of course crazy christian Angela is offended by the doctor's character.

Bumping to see what others are thinking still on this series

Dr Farts was the best scene.

I do wonder about the Angela part though. Her point at the end that she was "given no direction" hence her not doing anything , so like...I know there are tons of unused footage and they were working around a narrative to it but ... I wonder how much truth there was to what she said. Was she chosen specifically cos she is a bit nutso? supposedly there was some similarity between her and Nathans ex... so ..kinda makes me wonder lol. what y'all think?

But overall I loved the show. Was batshit insane. So many intricate parts that you need to be at full attention the whole time. esp with the kids focused episodes. all different actors and like Inception.

First episode is wildly different from eps 2-6.

However, I think I like his other show The Curse better.

Dr farts is legend

[quote] This has AMAZING reviews

Which are bought and paid for.