The bestNathan For Youepisodes include some of the funniest and most intriguing social experiments ever caught on camera. Airing between 2013 and 2017 on Comedy Central,Nathan For Youis the brainchild of comedian Nathan Fielder. Originally starting as skits on Canadian satire showThis Hour Has 22 Minutes, Nathan For Yousees Fielder pretending to be a business consultant. He offers his services to help struggling companies, but his ideas grow increasingly elaborate and absurd.
Nathan For Youbecame incredibly popular due to just how unpredictable Fielder’s ideas were, since they often backfired in spectacular and unexpected way. Fielder plays the semi-fictional version of himself incredibly well, andNathan For Youblurs the linebetween fiction and documentary. The bestNathan For Youepisodes are a catalog of his strangest and most ingenious schemes, as well as some truly heartwarming endeavours that simpy see Fielder assisting confused consumers or everyday people.
10The Movement
Nathan For You Season 3, Episode 3
One of Nathan Fielder’s most ingenious schemes came in season 3’s “The Movement.”ThisNathan For Youepisode dedicated the entire half-hour runtime to a single plan: creating a false fitness craze based on moving boxes and using the participants as free labor. Despite how ridiculous this idea is, Fielder goes all out, with hilarious results.
There are almost too many laugh-out-loud steps Fielder goes to make “The Movement” seem like a legitimate fitness fad. However, the standout moment is when Nathan Fielder writes an entire book (all of it false) about how moving boxes is the key to fitness. Like many of the bestNathan For Youepisodes, it seems unbelievable how much success he sees, even when it’s just a little - though rarely is it as funny as when Fielder reworked himself into an imaginary fitness guru in “The Movement”.
9Andy Vs. Uber
Nathan For You Season 4, Episode 4
A key talent of Nathan Fielder is his ability to take his ridiculous fake business schemes and turn them into narratives that make the best episodes of Nathan For You as endearing as they are funny. Season 4’s “Andy vs. Uber” is a classic consumer-vs-corporation story. Fielder takes up arms with a lone taxi driver, Andy, against multinational rideshare company Uber.
As genuinely emotional as it is hilarious, it’s impossible not to root for Andy as he goes along with Nathan’s plans. The struggling taxi driver is simply a small business owner trying to make ends meat in a market dominated by Uber and other corporations.While it has plenty of funny moments, this installment ranks among the bestNathan For Youepisodes because it’s filled with a surprising amount of heart.
8Smokers Allowed
Nathan For You Season 3, Episode 5
As ridiculous as the schemes inNathan For Youare, the show remains incredibly watchable due to how much effort Nathan Fielder puts into trying to achieve his goals, no matter how absurd. This is why season 3’s “Smokers Allowed” stands out as one of the bestNathan For Youepisodes, as it perfectly captures the intensity of watching him try and achieve something borderline-nonsensical with 100% effort and earnestness.
The the case of “Smokers Allowed”, Nathan Field goes all-out trying to help a bar figure out a way to work around the smoking ban. The idea is that, if they could provide a bar where smoking indoors was legal, they’d have a unique selling point. Nathan’s ideas to make this happen include launching a postmodern theater performance. Since smoking on stage is legal, the plan was to use the entire venue as the “performing space” and patrons would be counted as audience participants.Things only get more bombastic and complex from there, but Fielder’s outlandish ingenuity cements “Smokers Allowed” as one of the show’s best episodes.
7Gas Station/Caricature Artist
Nathan For You Season 1, Episode 4
Most of the bestNathan For Youepisodes focus on a single scheme across the entire 30-minute runtime, but this isn’t always the case. One of the few multi-scheme episodes to stand out as one of the show’s best arrived in season 1, “Gas Station/Caricature Artist”. The first half of “Gas Station/Caricature Artist” stands out for similar reasons to season 4’s “Andy vs. Uber”. It’s a classic segment of Nathan Fielder taking the side of consumers to try and get a rebate from a gas station.
When it comes to hilarious and absurd moments, it’s the second segment in “Gas Station/Caricature Artist” that secures it as one of the bestNathan For Youepisodes. Fielder hires an illustrator to create the most shocking and offensive caricatures of members of the public as possible.The results are almost guaranteed to have viewers howling with laughter, and it remains a classicNathan For Youscheme.
6The Anecdote
Nathan For You Season 4, Episode 5
Season 4’s “The Anecdote” is one of the best episodes from the final season ofNathan For You,and one of the most experimental. Earlier seasons of the show focused on Nathan helping out various businesses. However, the final season included several schemes that simplyexisted as elaborate prankson the general public, and it’s here that “The Anecdote” truly stands out.
Instead of plotting an elaborate idea to fix a failing business or cooking up a plot to circumvent some kind of law or company policy, Fielder simply sets out to prove how easily the media gossip engine is to manipulate. He created a fake story specifically designed to be perfect for talk-shows. So good was this tale that it appeared a month prior to “The Anecdote” hitting screens onJimmy Kimmel Live!.This episode ofNathan For Youmay not have been focused on anything but Nathan Fielder being a master at social manipulation rather than helping a business, but that doesn’t stop it being one of the best.
5Electronics Store
Nathan For You Season 3, Episode 2
Nathan For Youis hilarious in part because it’s so unpredictable. Even when Nathan Fielder’s schemes don’t seem complex on the surface, it’s impossible to guess exactly what will happen by the end of each episode. When it comes to the bestNathan For Youepisodes that end on an unexpected note, season 3’s “Electronics Store” is among the strongest.
Like many of the topNathan For Youepisodes, the premise is simple - Fielder helps a small appliance store take on Best Buy. It’s how he does it that’s ingenious (and why events get so out out of control). Nathan and the store sell TVs at ridiculously low prices, Best Buy price matches, then Nathan simply resells the incredibly discounted television set.This seems simple on the surface, and definitely not something that should involve an alligator, but by the end of the episode the scheme isn’t free from complexity or aquatic reptiles.
4Souvenir Shop; ELAIFF
Nathan For You Season 2, Episode 2
“Souvenir Shop; ELLAIFF” wasn’t only one of the firstNathan For Youepisodes to be dedicated to a single scheme, it also remains one of the best despite many following it using the same format. In this installment, Nathan Fielder creates a fake movie, and a fake film festival to go with it, all so that extras buy items from a souvenir shop and gain it some income. A straightforward premise, but one that soon unravels in a spectacular fashion like all the bestNathan For Youplans do.
Much like season 3’s “Electronics Store”, “Souvenir Shop; ELAIFF” is one of the most memorable episodes ofNathan For Youbecause it’s so unpredictable. As Nathan works through his scheme he enters some legal difficulties, and whatstarts as a simple plan to increase the number of visitors to a souvenir shop ends as an episode focused on navigating the law.
3The Hero
Nathan For You Season 3, Episode 8
Episode 8 of season 3 ofNathan For You, “The Hero”,is easily one of the most surreal episodes of the show, and has one of the most absurd schemes. It’s for this reason that it’s also one of the best episodes, as seeing Nathan Fielder take on helping an existentially unsatisfied man trying to become a “hero” is truly unique. It’s a scheme that setsNathan For Youapart from other prank and social experiment-style comedy shows, and it’s just as poignant as it is funny.
While “Hero” features the hard-and-fast barrage of hilarity thatNathan For Youis known for, it also has many philosophical moments too. The entire installment is an insightful commentary on what makes for a satisfying life.This makes it incredibly deep, and helps it stand out among the bestNathan For Youepisodes(even though the show itself is far from shallow, despite its outlandish premise).
2Finding Frances
Nathan For You Season 4, Episode 8
Thelast ever episode ofNathan For Youwas season 4’s “Finding Frances”, and it’s safe to say the series went out on a high note. It’s also one of the most heartwarming stories on the show, and one of the simplest. Nathan Fielder reconnects with 78-year-old Bill Heath, who’d previously appeared in season 2’s “Souvenir Shope/ELAIFF”) and goes to incredible lengths to help him find his long-lost love - a woman named Frances. The double-length episode is truly emotional, especially once Bill and Fielder manage to track Frances down.
“Finding Frances” is truly unlike any other episode ofNathan For You,but despite parting from the usual tone and premise, it is still inarguably one of the best.It also shows just how compassionate Nathan Fielder is as a person, and truly captures the spirit of helping people that was his initial aim when he began making the series.
1Dumb Starbucks
Nathan For You Season 2, Episode 5
If there was any single scheme that definedNathan For You,it was the one in season 2’s “Dumb Starbucks”. So memorable was this social and commercial experiment that it’s difficult to argue any other installment can beat it to being considered the bestNathan For Youepisode. The idea behind “Dumb Starbucks” is as simple as it is hilarious - Fielder helps an independent coffee store by rebranding and renaming it as Dumb Starbucks. News of this reached the international media, and it helped gain the show itself a considerable amount of interest.
The media frenzy around Dumb Starbucks is capture in the episode itself, and makes for fascinating viewing. However, the most interesting points of the episode are inarguably when Fielder has to navigate possible legal troubles (for obvious reasons, given the name of the coffee shop in “Dumb Starbucks”).This combination of the fascinating with the funny embodies everything that makeNathan For Yousuch a great show, and no episodes capture it as well as “Dumb Starbucks”.
Nathan for You
Cast
Nathan For You is a documentary comedy series starring Nathan Fielder. Using his business degree and unorthodox methods, Nathan attempts to help small businesses turn a profit. But because of his bizarre tactics, his plans often do more harm than good.
