Canadian comedian Nathan Fielder has always been a creative enigma, nestled between trivial, prankish parody and genuine wisdom. The throughline: his signature, awkward persona, backed by whip-smart improvisation and a wicked ability to extract gold from eclectic subjects.
Rising to fame on the Comedy Central series “Nathan For You,” Fielder introduced an exaggerated version of himself, offering outrageous advice and marketing tactics to struggling small businesses.
Now, a Canadian Comedy Award winner and Primetime Emmy loser, Fielder’s range is on full display in season two of his hit HBO series “The Rehearsal,” constructing elaborate recreations of everyday life to answer the world’s most pressing uncertainties. In one instance, he’s suspended by wires and lifted into a comically large crib, simulating the infant years of famed aviator Sully Sullenberger, diapers-and-all. Later, he helps autistic children confront and practice the overstimulating limitations of airport travel.
In season one, Fielder created an intricate parenthood simulation for an aspiring mother, preparing her for the trials and tribulations of childcare at all stages of adolescence. This time around, Fielder investigates aviation safety, questioning the under-considered leading causes of plane accidents.
Season two is notably grander than its predecessor, dipping into a bag of well-earned resources to craft magnificent sets, dream up outlandish scenarios and encounter a wide-ranging assortment of pilots, first officers, political authorities and bizarre personalities.
Episode one, “Gotta Have Fun,” establishes the season’s thesis: First officers don’t feel comfortable speaking up against or overruling their pilot’s blunders. Fielder contends this is a deep-seated, systemic issue in need of his elaborate role-playing scenarios. The result is absurdly hilarious, with Fielder’s played-up earnestness and undying commitment to the bit convincing blissfully ignorant participants to rehearse their lives.
Episode two, “Star Potential,” invents a fictional singing competition called “Wings of Voice,” forcing first officers to deliver the brutal, unfortunate ‘no’ to hopeful contestants. Perhaps this experiment could unlock their courage to speak up in the cockpit.
A byproduct of this sweeping simulation has recently surfaced online. Contestant Lana Love, a New York-based singer-songwriter, called out Fielder and HBO for duping participants into traveling for a fake competition. “I signed up to be a singer, not a lab rat,” Love said to Variety. Claiming she spent thousands of dollars on several back-and-forth trips to LA, Love felt betrayed and saddened for the children who signed up for the same “false advertising.”
This is a complicated ethical debacle. While it is unfortunate for Love and others not to receive an authentic competition experience, they still received the promised HBO exposure and compensation. As is typical with Fielder productions, taut legal safeguarding accompanies everyone’s involvement. Understanding who Nathan Fielder is and the tangential points “The Rehearsal” aims to examine is critical before signing a contract, which she says she did “not have time to really read.”
From an audience perspective, her involvement is an apt example of the weird quirks and impulses of everyday people that “The Rehearsal” seeks to dissect. We’d do anything for fame, even spend heaps of cash to sing for the judgment of an unqualified airline officer.
Episode three, “Pilot’s Code,” examines some of these outrageous quirks and impulses in the nuttiest way possible. Fielder crafts a hyper-realistic set to train three cloned dogs to match the personality and tendencies of a previously deceased dog. After achieving a successful result, Fielder surmises that the only way to fully grasp how Sully Sullenberger landed safely in the Hudson is by living the pilot’s formative moments. From birth to crash, Fielder inhabits a new life, nursing on a fake mother and bullying a fake sister. He’s a test dummy for real-life pilots to undergo a similar personality switch later down the line. Though it is unclear how or why Fielder conjures up such ideas, his never-before-seen comedic genius is unbelievable to behold.
Episode four, “Kissme,” brings in actors to pose as crew members to casually engage first officers in conversation — a release valve in case they need it. Fielder zooms in on one man as the episode’s subject, helping him navigate dating and general social interaction as an airline officer. If he could train one subject to date and converse confidently, maybe a similar method could be used on bashful co-pilots.
In episode five, “Washington,” Fielder travels to the nation’s capital, appearing in front of the fake House of Representatives to fight for improved pilot training. Here, he learns he’s too unserious to be taken seriously on the real stage, leading him to an article claiming “The Rehearsal” affirms the autistic experience.
In the unbelievable, high-flying finale, “My Controls,” Fielder proves his newfound authority as a “man who touches others on a deeper level” can convince political authorities that his aviation safety plans are worthy of serious thought.
Just when you think it can’t possibly get any crazier, Fielder unveils an astonishing secret: he has been grinding for his pilot’s license for two years. This brilliant comedian, and perhaps the weirdest man alive, can safely and legally transport civilians at extreme altitude while politely encouraging his second-in-command to speak up — a shocking, deeply satisfying conclusion to a monster season of television gold.
Whatever comes next, the sky is clearly not the limit.
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