‘Van Go’ is the Kooky Magnolia Network Title That Will Make Nomading Look Like Fun

A few weeks ago, I challenged myself to watch every Magnolia Network show currently on Discovery+. I saw a lot of Fixer Upper stars Chip and Joanna Gaines, multiple shows that opened on women walking through fields at dawn like Keira Knightley in Pride & Prejudice, and one show that won me over from the jump. Van Go is the outlier of Magnolia’s family-focused, traditional-leaning content. It’s a hilariously fun, off-beat wonder of a show that I can best describe as “Matt Foley builds your dream van down by the river.” It’s truly that bonkers and great.

Van Go is a half-hour “home” renovation show hosted by Brett Lewis, a hairy Austinite devoted to tricking out vans for folks to live in. As Brett explains in the intro, a few years ago he found himself fed up with paying rent (same, bro), and decided to live out of a van. Before you start thinking that Brett Lewis sounds a lot like Fern in Nomadland, his life is way more chill. He parks his van in his friends’ yard and runs a vibrant Austin-based business converting vans into living spaces for downsizing millennials.

Van Go is less about the experience of living life out of a vehicle than it is about the joy of creativity. From the show’s opening salvo — a comically dramatic peek into Lewis’s own mind, wherein he describes himself as an artist — Van Go exalts in its hosts’ penchant for big ideas. Lewis is fun, funny, and wildly inventive, as shown in the first episode. It’s just a coincidence he’s got the killer timing of a comic and a look that can best be described as “hipster sasquatch.” He’s great TV and he’s really good at his job.

What exactly does Brett Lewis do? The show’s pilot introduces us to a local chef who wants to take his taco truck on the road. His dream is to travel around the country creating buzz with pop-up food truck experiences. While his Austin-based food truck seems like an obvious boon, it can’t house him on the road. Brett takes the man’s hollowed out old mail truck and creates an incredible tiny house-meets-restaurant set up, complete with an overhead awning for customers and an external salsa shelf. The interiors are cozy and modern for comfort away from home. The true stroke of genius? Kitchen counters that pull out of banquettes (that also double as a bed).

So yeah, on top of the giddy, goofy fun of the show, Brett Lewis and his compadres have construction and design chops. The final reveal was even more amazing because Brett’s process is extremely low-key. There’s an element of experimentation to his process that leaves you literally wondering if he’ll pull it off…and he does!

When I say that Van Go could be called “Matt Foley builds your dream van down by the river,” I mean that it combines the raucous energy of early ’90s SNL with the reality that Brett Lewis is building vans you can live in, potentially down by a river. It’s a delightful show that should be one of the key titles folks flock to when Magnolia Network officially launches this summer.

Where to stream Van Go