The Rehearsal

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Nathan for You

#2 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Jul 06, 2022 9:18 pm


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Red Screamer
Joined: Tue Jul 16, 2013 12:34 pm
Location: Tativille, IA

Re: Nathan for You

#3 Post by Red Screamer » Thu Jul 07, 2022 1:43 am

Looks like Fielder's doubling down on his high-concept "Smokers Allowed" side.

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Persona
Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2018 1:16 pm

Re: Nathan for You

#4 Post by Persona » Sun Jul 17, 2022 4:28 pm

First episode of THE REHEARSAL blew me away.

I was not ready for that level of absurd ambition and for the humor and pathos, which are basically quantum entangled with each other in how this show works, to hit so hard.

Some real brilliance here. Haven't laughed so hard and frequently at one episode of TV since I don't even know when. The Willy Wonka music cue finale was perfect. The excruciating wait for cheese pizzas. Thrifty Boy. Fake Tricia confessing she doesn't have a daughter named Tricia. The chair that made Nathan look like a fool.

I could go on and on but the subliminal trivia prep sequence was really some sort of comic zenith, culminating in a punchline so perfectly delivered I don't think I can get over it.

This was so good I basically feel like it's inevitable that the rest won't quite live up to it but, man, even if it's just half as good it will be well worth watching.

paulm
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2013 3:37 pm

Re: Nathan for You

#5 Post by paulm » Sun Jul 17, 2022 4:48 pm

I've seen 5 of the 6 episodes, and I'll just say that in the best way possible, it seems like Fielder is pushing the premise to the absolute limits.

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Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Re: Nathan for You & The Rehearsal

#6 Post by Matt » Sun Jul 17, 2022 6:52 pm

So many great little throwaway gags. The “simulation pizza oven” really sent me over the edge.
Last edited by Matt on Thu Jul 21, 2022 3:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Nathan for You & The Rehearsal

#7 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Jul 17, 2022 8:35 pm

It was a great opener, very promising for things to come. I also like that it's a full 45-minute show (unless the premiere was a one-off) which really gives Fielder the breathing room to take his absurdist deadpan antisocial comedy to its limit with this high concept.

More than anything, I'm just so grateful he's back. I've been watching all his early YT sketches on repeat for years since Nathan for You ended, and this particular comedy drought has been killing me

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Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Re: Nathan for You & The Rehearsal

#8 Post by Matt » Sun Jul 17, 2022 8:39 pm

I’m hearing that the remaining episodes are shorter (since the viewer no longer requires as much contextualization).

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Nathan for You & The Rehearsal

#9 Post by therewillbeblus » Sat Jul 23, 2022 10:28 pm

The second episode is as funny as anything in Nathan For You. Just wall-to-wall perfect from the opening ‘in media res’ WTF eeriness to the Christian hypocrisy to the egocentric type A obsessive life planning, and on and on. Miles better than the first- though I did revisit that one before this and absolutely died by the mock patrons exclaiming, “Who doesn’t have a masters degree?!”

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Persona
Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2018 1:16 pm

Re: Nathan for You & The Rehearsal

#10 Post by Persona » Sun Jul 24, 2022 11:53 am

I liked the first episode better but I do appreciate what the second episode sets up for the season and the emotional core/trajectory that seems to be forming around Fielder himself.

The prologue and climactic consent montage were just incredible stuff. This show is becoming increasingly hard to quantify or categorize. The editing is wonderful and truly elevating.

Robin and night owl were just great characters that are apparently "real," if Twitter is to be believed. In Robin's case I find that both hilarious and a smidge horrifying.

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swo17
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Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
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Re: Nathan for You & The Rehearsal

#11 Post by swo17 » Sun Jul 24, 2022 3:00 pm

Cheap Chick in the City (Episode 1 spoilers)

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Red Screamer
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Location: Tativille, IA

Re: Nathan for You & The Rehearsal

#12 Post by Red Screamer » Sun Jul 24, 2022 7:10 pm

I'll join the chorus of praise for this hilarious, ambitious show. Its documentary-fiction synthesis is stunning, evolving out of the Nathan For You format by shedding a set episode template and inviting the non-actor participants to become collaborators in the rehearsals. So an off the cuff nickname like "Trish the Dish", both banal and weirdly off, can become fascinating when incorporated into the script someone's writing for a scene of their own life and repeated and analyzed in rehearsals ad nauseam (though I'm not sure how much sense that sentence makes to someone who hasn't seen the show). The Rehearsal also seems to be setting itself up to be a reflexive statement about writing and directing films in general—Fielder appears Mabuse-like with his 1000 eyes in the cold open of the second episode that twwblus mentioned and his character's insistence on participating is treated in the satirical vein of Real Life. I'm glad Persona highlighted the editing too, Fielder & co. have an amazing knack for creating surprising, resonant moments out of what would end up on the cutting room floor for most shows/documentaries.

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Nathan for You & The Rehearsal

#13 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Jul 24, 2022 8:25 pm

Great thoughts, Red Screamer! Love the Mabuse/Brooks readings

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Black Hat
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2011 5:34 pm
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Re: Nathan for You & The Rehearsal

#14 Post by Black Hat » Tue Jul 26, 2022 3:27 am

To drop an old-school phrase, I'm fearful we'll look back on that second episode as when Fielder "jumped the shark". It was corny, annoying, and predictable as the first episode was a refreshing surprise. I really hope the rest of the season isn't going to be him trying to take care of assorted children with a mentally ill narcissist who just so happens to be a follower of Christ. Talk about punching down.

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swo17
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Re: Nathan for You & The Rehearsal

#15 Post by swo17 » Tue Jul 26, 2022 3:41 am

I would prefer to call her "crazy" but no moreso than every other person that has ever lived

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Nathan for You & The Rehearsal

#16 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue Jul 26, 2022 8:42 am

I really hope we don't populate this thread with presumptuous diagnostics, referring to someone as a mentally ill narcissist from a snapshot of 20something minutes of edited TV. Talk about punching down

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Nathan for You & The Rehearsal

#17 Post by therewillbeblus » Sat Jul 30, 2022 1:30 pm

The latest episode morphed into an entirely different tone, one that was more sincerely existential, regardless of it coming at the price of constant manipulation (which is, of course, part of the idea). The gold-digging exercise was hilarious in that clearly no one involved was aware of its literalized function other than Fielder (who graciously doesn't feed it to the audience either), but I don't think I've been so genuinely moved by Fielder's work before, even in the terrific Finding Frances. I've been revisiting Nathan For You over the last few weeks, and in response to those who think this is Fielder becoming exploitative or meanspirited, I've got news for you- go back and revisit the first season and a half of that show. I love it, but if anything, this is more of the same but with a high concept that opportunistically reaches earnestly touching heights. The aspects being criticized aren't new, they're his brand, channeled in a manner that's more mature and contemplative. Can't wait to see what's next.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Nathan for You & The Rehearsal

#18 Post by mfunk9786 » Sat Jul 30, 2022 8:35 pm

Black Hat wrote:
Tue Jul 26, 2022 3:27 am
To drop an old-school phrase, I'm fearful we'll look back on that second episode as when Fielder "jumped the shark". It was corny, annoying, and predictable as the first episode was a refreshing surprise. I really hope the rest of the season isn't going to be him trying to take care of assorted children with a mentally ill narcissist who just so happens to be a follower of Christ. Talk about punching down.
Image

[important note: have not yet watched episode 3]

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Walter Kurtz
Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2020 3:03 pm

Re: Nathan for You & The Rehearsal

#19 Post by Walter Kurtz » Sun Jul 31, 2022 12:42 pm

All I can say about Nathan Fielder is this. The only two awards I'd trade my Oscar for are ----

1. Eastern Los Angeles Film Festival Award
2. Nobel Prize in Physics

PS. I believe in Science.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Nathan for You & The Rehearsal

#20 Post by therewillbeblus » Sat Aug 06, 2022 11:19 am

This just keeps getting better, an accumulation of all of Fielder's various brands amassing until it overwhelms him just as life does us (and him). I loved how he took his awkward antisocial persona and his Nathan For You bits of showcasing the inability to take others' perspectives for laughs (i.e. non-verbatim: 'That pizza is small, but I guess you didn't specify the size so that's fair, here's your money. That's probably how it'll go') and fearlessly confronted the universal experience of magnetized egocentricity in social spheres. This time it's exhibited in, well countless different ways, but most pointedly when he initially embodies the audience member and speaks about how his stand-in makes a lot of sense.. in the very mission to take others' points of view we inherently revert back to our own knowledge and experience.

That Fielder uses this self-evisceration as both ripe uncomfortably-relatable comedy, and as a jumping off point to engage us in acknowledging the uncomfortably-relatable tragedy of being unable to 'fix' the gap between us and those we're desperately seeking to understand, is just brilliant. The unknowability of those we love.. the fatalistic mysteries of social experience that inspire fear, doubt, insecurity.. the uncertainty of our own perspective's validity.. the sad impossibility to have 'do overs' to control irredeemable consequences on others from getting caught up in self will - and the impotence over temporal obstacles in general.. the refusal to face oneself and the need to distract through deeper dives into playing roles.. the self-flagellation of Nathan's desire to incite chaos in his life, and what that says about how we crave activity no matter the form it takes, as well as how desensitized he and we may be to others' experiences of pain when it inspires our selfish goals at introspection and the elusive target of self-actualization.. it's all so rich, a relentlessly tonally-layered execution of deep themes. The show keeps finding creative ways to bleed scripted and improvised moments, mirroring the human desire of finding control vs accepting powerlessness that's at the heart of the show.

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brundlefly
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Re: Nathan for You & The Rehearsal

#21 Post by brundlefly » Sat Aug 06, 2022 12:18 pm

At this point, I expect the season finale to feature a bunch of red-capped Oregon Truth Boy Keepers practice-storming a full-scale reconstruction of the U.S. Capitol Building ("I started to wonder: Is what I'm doing right? And will they still like me if I tell them I think it isn't?") and footage of Fielder hesitantly (but proudly, but then questioning that pride, then...) testifying in front of LIz Cheney. "No one got hurt when we did this on the soundstage, Congresswoman."

That mirror is brilliant. How many ways can I arrange to look at myself without having to actually look at myself?

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Persona
Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2018 1:16 pm

Re: Nathan for You & The Rehearsal

#22 Post by Persona » Tue Aug 09, 2022 10:33 am

After a bit of a lull with E3, I thought E4 was possibly the best since the premiere. The pretzel-esque machinations of The Fielder Method, consuming Fielder in his own experiments, leading to a simulated 9-year absence from his family.

The final act shows how things can break down because of the cost that other things exact. I am not sure there was a more perfect touch than the actors Thomas and Rachel from the Fielder Method section of the episode being the medics to come get Adam.

At the end of the day, Fielder gets to write the rules. That final sequence is a tragicomic contrast, exposed fantasy, the artifice cheating something into existence. The show recognizes that, which is why it plays these moments as a mixture of funny, heartening, and deeply sad.

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Black Hat
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2011 5:34 pm
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Re: Nathan for You & The Rehearsal

#23 Post by Black Hat » Tue Aug 09, 2022 1:50 pm

After how annoying episode 2 was — big shouts to the board's two most precious members, I see you — it took me a couple of weeks to pop on episode 3 and I think the correct take about what Fielder is doing here is to have none until it's all over as I suspect, people's intense reactions to this, including my own (Angela, I now think, is an actress), is part of the troll.

edited for typo
Last edited by Black Hat on Wed Aug 10, 2022 2:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Max von Mayerling
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 6:02 pm
Location: Ann Arbor, MI

Re: Nathan for You & The Rehearsal

#24 Post by Max von Mayerling » Tue Aug 09, 2022 2:45 pm

Exchange concerning Halloween & satanists at the beginning of episode 3:

Angela: Not everything is make believe. Some things are real.
Nathan: Ok.
Angela: You have to open your eyes to reality.

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Swift
Joined: Sun Oct 28, 2012 3:52 pm
Location: Calgary, Alberta

Re: The Rehearsal

#25 Post by Swift » Wed Aug 10, 2022 2:16 am

I have wondered if absolutely everybody on the show is an actor. Most of them have felt too odd to be real people, particularly Angela and that numbers guy.

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