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Entertainment

04th Jan 2018

7 reasons why everyone needs to be watching Nathan For You

Jade Hayden

nathan for you

Nathan Fielder graduated from one of Canada’s top business schools with really good grades.

In his popular Comedy Central show, Nathan For You, he puts his business knowledge to some good use and travels around the States offering small business owners desperately needed advice about their companies, restaurants, and services.

This brief synopsis may make Nathan For You sound like the dullest show on the entire planet, but trust me, it really isn’t.

Not quite a straight-up comedy, not quite a parody of management consultant shows, Nathan For You is somewhere in the middle, blurring the lines between reality and fiction while giving some really, really bad advice.

Each episode generally focuses on two businesses and the lengths that Nathan goes to in order to try and make these owners some money.

His ideas range from a bit mad and likely to piss a lot of people off to totally and utterly ridiculous and probably going to run this business into the ground, actually.

Essentially, Nathan For You is brilliant TV and deserves more recognition.

Here are 7 reasons why:

1. It’s hysterically funny

Alright, alright, we already know it’s funny via the above paragraphs but here is some concrete proof confirming that Nathan For You is probably the funniest show on television.

There’s an episode where Nathan encourages Uber drivers to set up a terrorist cell.

There’s an episode where a pizza restaurant give away pizzas the size of a coin.

There’s an episode where wart sufferers are given jobs as masseuses.

There’s an episode where Nathan and a group of people hike up a hill to avail of a rebate and end up discovering that what they really needed was friendship all along.

I could go on.

Nathan also plays an intensified version of his awkward self who doesn’t really understand social cues and is implicitly on the hunt for love so, you know, it’s pretty good.

2. You’ll learn a lot about the world of business 

Before watching this show, I had no idea about the ins and outs of the complicated world of business.

And, to be honest, I still don’t, but the subtext is there, you just need to look out for it.

3. Nathan regularly makes the news 

Nathan For You blurs the lines between reality and real life so well that a lot of the time, his business ventures actually end up making the news.

Take this viral video of a pig rescuing a goat in a petting zoo.

Or the time Nathan created the perfect anecdote to tell in a TV interview and then told it in a real TV interview.

Stunning.

4. The ‘Dumb Starbucks’ episode will change your life 

If you want to start somewhere with Nathan For You, start with ‘Dumb Starbucks.’

A true staple of the show, the episode sees Nathan and some lad set up a coffee shop called ‘Dumb Starbucks’ in order to avoid copyright law and to draw some of the customers the original coffee shop lost to the caffeine giant when it moved in down the road.

This episode also made national news in the States, with people flocking from all over to check out this apparently legit Starbucks piss-take.

Except it wasn’t legit – it was Nathan For You. 

5. Nathan is a bit of alright 

C’mon, he is.

C’mon.

He also graduated from a top business school in Canada with really good grades, so, you know.

6. It’s just the strangest television experience

Watching an episode of Nathan For You is akin to going home with some lad you met in Coppers – you’re enjoying yourself but you can’t exactly pinpoint why and when it’s over you’re left feeling confused and alone.

A prime example of this is the ‘Smokers Allowed’ episode.

Nathan decides to take advantage of a loophole that allows theatre actors to smoke indoors to make it legal for customers to light up in a local bar.

To do this, he puts on a play and invites a small audience to watch it, but the play is actually just people chilling out in a bar while they smoke.

Somehow, the play actually goes down really well so Nathan decides to recreate it, action by action, with real actors and what unfolds is a stunning display of American realism and the lengths that people will go to to smoke indoors.

7. You’ll have a new gas show to recommend to people and everyone will love you 

Look, at the end of the day, all we really need in this life is acceptance and attention.

Recommending Nathan For You to your friends will give you both of those things.

… And a new programme to binge on.