Running for four seasons on Comedy Central, Nathan For You combined the candid moments of reality television with the humor and absurd circumstances found in sitcoms. Creator Nathan Fielder served as the mastermind behind the many elaborate schemes seen on the show, single-handedly pulling strings to create outlandish situations while often finding equally bizarre individuals to organically insert into his social experiments.
The premise of the show, in essence, was Nathan Fielder scouting businesses in need of fresh marketing or a boost in sales. Fielder then often crafted ridiculous but somehow logical and functional plans on how to draw in customers. While subjects were hardly ever impressed by Fielder’s services, he almost always yielded results in his own way. One of the most surprising aspects of the show was participants’ willingness to cooperate despite the shocking levels to which Fielder escalated his plans. Of those plans, here are the 10 most unforgettable Nathan For You schemes, ranked.
10 “The Anecdote”
Nathan Fielder has found a way to succinctly capture what it is to be socially awkward and anxious. Many of us fear that we will run out of things to talk about over a dinner date, so imagine finding something to talk about on live television. Nathan was faced with this dilemma ahead of his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and in distinct Fielder style, hatched an elaborate ruse to solve his problem. Fielder constructed a carefully verifiable story about a luggage mix-up at the airport, going as far as to enact his story to make it true.
9 “Mechanic / Realtor”
In the episode “Mechanic / Realtor”, Nathan plans to drive up real estate sales by having a psychic show the homes, and therefore guarantee to prospective buyers that the residence is ghost-free. The scheme takes a turn when the psychic claims to have detected an entity in a home, to which the realtor begins to share a story of being choked by a ghost in Switzerland. Moments where Nathan’s plans went in unexpected directions were some of the most interesting, as the comedian was then forced to improvise more than he anticipated. In this way, the show was a great study on human nature in various unusual situations.
8 “Private Investigator/ Taxi Company”
In the first part of this episode, Nathan is bestowed with the nickname “Wizard of Loneliness” by an irritated private investigator, Brian. In an effort to convince the PI to create a yelp page, he tests the sleuth’s skills by challenging Brian to hunt him down. Nathan goes on to employ a clone of himself as a decoy, dramatically narrating as Brian ultimately finds him. In the second half, Nathan has his first encounter with the Taxi driver he would later reunite with in “Andy vs Uber”.
7 “Smokers Allowed”
“Smokers Allowed” was not one of the funniest episodes of Nathan For You, but it earns a tip of the hat on account of Fielder’s dedication and attention to detail. Fielder created a loophole to allow smoking in bars by creating a bar that is technically a play. The bar is set up as such that a live audience can watch the patrons, therefore making it legal for the patrons (or actors) to smoke. This sort of reconstruction of real life is revisited by Fielder in his HBO series The Rehearsal, in which he recreates the Alligator Lounge for Kor Skeet.
6 “Funeral Home, Burger Joint, Skydiving”
This episode was jam-packed with ridiculous plots. First, Nathan proposes a funeral home to hire actors for unpopular people’s funerals. The test run of the idea is a melodramatic spectacle, leading the business owners to, of course, reject. The next project has a burger joint putting its money where its mouth is, offering $100 to anyone that doesn’t agree that they have the best burger in Los Angeles. This obviously backfires, as most people request the hundred dollars. Lastly, Nathan hilariously wastes a skydiving instructor's time in one of the classic bits where he simply pushes people’s buttons, testing the limits of their professionalism.
5 “Electronics Store”
The absurdity of this scheme lands it among the top five. An electronics store is struggling when faced with competition from department stores like Best Buy, which have a price-match guarantee. In order to outsmart Best Buy’s policy, Nathan asks the shop owner to lower the price of his televisions to just one dollar. Best Buy would then, in theory, be forced to match this price, at which point Nathan could buy out their inventory. In order to prevent customers from actually purchasing one of the $1 TVs, Nathan sets up a few challenging contingencies. Customers must show up to the store in a strict dress code, after which they must crawl through a small opening leading to a door, behind which the TVs are guarded by a live alligator. Surprisingly, some customers did show up in full formal attire, with the gator being the ultimate deterrent.
4 “Claw of Shame”
In this episode, Nathan Fielder risks something “worse than death”. After somehow finding enough willing parents to fill a small crowd of children, Nathan braces to free himself from a set of handcuffs in under 90 seconds, or else a mechanical claw will undo his pants, exposing himself to the children. An LAPD officer was on standby for the stunt, ready to arrest Nathan if he failed. He ultimately succeeded, but the controversial episode served as an interesting reflection of our current society. Humor aside, the content of the episode makes the viewer wonder why so many parents agreed to put their children in this situation for a mere $100. As in many Nathan For You gags, the top-tier humor is even overshadowed by the glaring questions it raises about human nature.
3 “Finding Frances”
This documentary-style episode took Nathan For You in a direction it had never gone before. Nathan uses all the resources at his disposal to help an elderly Bill Gates impersonator reconnect with his long-lost love, Frances. While the audience may have expected another fruitless gag, “Finding Frances” instead created a touching yet tastefully humorous narrative exploring the themes of love, loss, and regret.
2 “Santa/ The Petting Zoo”
Having aired early into the first season “Santa / Petting Zoo” proved just how large fielder’s ruses could go. Recruiting the help of a small Santa he worked with in the first half of the episode, Nathan stages a viral video in order to garner publicity for a petting zoo. The video, in which a small pig saves a goat from drowning, ended up actually going viral around the world with millions of YouTube views and international news coverage.
1 "Andy vs Uber"
Lastly, “Andy vs Uber” is crowned as the single best episode in the four-season run of Nathan For You. In the aforementioned episode of “Private Investigator/ Taxi Company”, Nathan reunites with Andy, a disgruntled tax driver. In their previous encounter, Nathan sought to increase interest in taxis by promising free baby onesies to any woman who gave birth in Andy’s taxi. This obviously failed, except in the present episode, we see that Uber has launched their own similar promotion. Always taking things to the extreme, Nathan forms a full sleeper cell designed to take out Uber, sending the corporation an ominous blackmail message. Fearing arrest and subsequent deportation to Canada, Nathan decides to marry an American citizen for safety. After Andy refuses to marry him, Nathan tricks him into a marriage by way of a fake Chinese restaurant. Andy believes he is simply ordering food; meanwhile a Chinese officiant is performing an entire ceremony, complete with a marriage contract disguised as a receipt.