Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
We’re in the middle of confusing times, my friends, and pop culture isn’t really helping. Kanye is currently having a massive breakdown. The nation’s president-elect is currently feuding with a Broadway sensation in a fight that shows the dividing lines between our two post-election Americas. Even John Oliver and Stephen Colbert are at a loss for words. And during all of this, we’re expected to come together with our families this winter and somehow not fight. It’s an idea that seems laughable in 2016.
The holiday season has always been comedically colored by family in-fighting, but this year, everyone is worried that November and December is going to be a lot worse than normal. Even the New York Times recently published a serious guide on how to argue with your family over the holidays. It’s through all of this insanity that Comedy Central can may you feel a little better. The network’s two oddest mockumentary series, Nathan for You and Review, are so bizarre, they may remind you that the world isn’t as insane as it may seem.
Both shows deal with similar premises: an awkward, socially inept man (Nathan Fielder in Nathan for You’s case and Andy Daly for Review) tries to filter the world through his own insane lens. In both cases, these hosts’ good intentions quickly fall flat because their own oddities never mesh with the sanity of the world around them. Review is a bit of a tighter show, relying on a script for Forrest MacNeil’s (Daly) reviewing adventures. The reality-style adventure series follows Forrest as he reviews every part of life. What’s it like to make a sex tape? Have an imaginary friend? Murder someone? Forrest doesn’t know, but he’s dedicated to finding out and reviewing each of his experiences for the world. It’s a smart show that mocks the conceits of reality shows more than anything. Conversely, Nathan for You mocks life itself.
Each episode of Nathan for You essentially boils down to a study in trust. How much are average Americans willing to trust a complete stranger with a film crew? The answer is almost always surprising, but more importantly, Nathan for You is rarely a successful show. This is a series that constantly fails its main purpose, and that’s oddly hopeful. It’s not insane to expect that a show about helping small businesses would result in, you know, actually helping those small businesses. However, the ideas in Nathan for You almost never work, leaving the show’s skeptical store owners a little worse for wear but with national television exposure. It’s a show that’s brilliant in its stupidity, but also one that is reassuring.
Episode after episode, Nathan for You proves that there is a limit to how much insanity we as a society will allow. The series proves that the average American is much more flexible than you would think when it comes to discussing insane ideas and giving those ideas at least one chance. People as a whole are open to innovation and new ideas, despite how insane they may initially seem. However, as the show also proves, most people have set lines they will not cross. In a world that switches at times from feeling shockingly bizarre to suffocatingly filled with rules, Nathan for You offers an imperfect guide. Yes, all of America is crazy, especially after this election, but there are limits to the insanity.
Both Nathan for You and Review play with those limits in their comedy. During a time when this country seems divided into two groups that can’t seem to understand each other, it’s oddly reassuring to watch these shows that focus on listening, experimentation, and the limits of weirdness America will allow.
