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March 29, 2024, 10:55:44 AM

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The Rehearsal - Nathan Fielder's new HBO series

Started by Small Man Big Horse, June 25, 2021, 09:11:24 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Noodle Lizard

I think Ja'moke has probably got the right answer here. I imagine Nathan's arc, at least, will have been constructed after the main event of each episode.

Ferris

Spoiler alert
They made him do the rehearsal over and over again in the same outfit so they lots of time to approximate it.

I'd also be amazed if they didn't do it after the fact anyway, for practicality reasons.
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fucking ponderous

Spoiler alert
I do think the ambiguity of whether or not Nathan confessed to the real Kor is entirely intentional. I quite like it.
EDIT: as in did he confess to both the real one and the fake one.
[close]

Ron Superior

Quote from: Noodle Lizard on July 16, 2022, 10:39:45 PMI think Ja'moke has probably got the right answer here. I imagine Nathan's arc, at least, will have been constructed after the main event of each episode.

Much like how a lot of Nirvanna The Band The Show was done. Do we know if Nathan's a fan? Beyond both being Canadian I can't remember any connections between the 2.

Did enjoy this first episode. The Derren Brown influence was very noticeable. I think it definitely needs to go off on some curveballs throughout the series, as it can't rely on the premise alone to sustain a whole season.

Ferris

Not to parp on but Canada is a very regional country.

Maritimes, Québec, Ontario, prairies, BC, with a thousand miles in between each one. Other than sharing a currency and a few languages there's not a huge amount in common in contemporary culture.

Maybe they know each other (and they definitely have professional overlap), but it would be less likely than if they were both British just due to geography, especially as Nathan lives in the US now.

Glyn

I assumed that he had told him but I wasn't sure if the actor's response was a verbatim account or Nathan rehearsing the worst possible outcome.

Loved this (and how much budget have HBO given him for those sets?). I'd forgotten how good he is at layering absurdity. The
Spoiler alert
Wonka music  ('didnt kids due in that factory?')  and the cop's gunpowder speech
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had me absolutely howling.

Anyone else who struggles with the old socialising find the premise just a little close to the bone though ? What sort of fool would try to rehearse social interactions, plotting out every possible consequence and planning responses , ha ha, ha ha.

sevendaughters

watched episode one. this is Nathan For You on another channel. I am not complaining at all.

up_the_hampipe

I loved it. I laughed at the sheer scale of it all. In a way I wish I hadn't seen the trailer so it was more of a surprise, maybe that's why there's some underwhelmed responses here. I love Nathan's ability to hone in on a little thing and make it weird, like repeating the blog name and the Willy Wonka hang-up.

The scene where he's planting the trivia answers was definitely the highlight.

sevendaughters

every single scene was excellent. if the youth of today have any sense and awareness of their own future baldness they will create a forum based around Fielder as we have Morris. He is a genius of both comedy and documentary form.

sevendaughters

the scene that killed me was

Spoiler alert
when the rehearsal goes wrong and the actor walks out and then the actors playing bar regulars are all "who doesn't have a masters degree?" and then the fake MC announces that the loser of the quiz is Kor....played out like a real life Simpsons scene or something
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kngen

Quote from: Ja'moke on July 16, 2022, 09:59:04 PM
Spoiler alert
Thrifty Boy (amazing outfit)
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Spoiler alert
I particularly loved the detail of his jacket still having a blue plastic Goodwill tag stick out of the seams. Thrifty indeed! It was those ridiculously on-the-nose things that I enjoyed the most - the cop/gunpowder scene, of course and the 'My grandmother just died of cancer ... can I get you to move seats, please?'sequence - such incredibly clunky devices given the meticulousness of the set designs and all the research. Just brilliant.

Put me down as someone who thought Nathan confessed to both the actor and Kor. Also, another possibly ambiguous scene - could be way off on this, but I got the impression Nathan was taking credit for the 'elderly swimmer' interrupting their conversation after the fact, and that was something that wasn't pre-planned at all.
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McChesney Duntz

Spoiler alert
Not sure how anyone could have thought he had confessed to the real Kor instead of backing down - seems like such a perfect Fielder-esque turnaround, his being unable to do the very thing he's trying to coach his charge to be able to do. The lovely ambiguity in the scene is the real Kor's response to what Nathan does say - is he just nonplussed that Nathan's big confession he's built up to is just calling him a "great guy" (and it just occurs to me now that it could have been interpreted by him as some sort of prelude to a very awkward romantic overture) or is he sensing, after all the time he's spent on his own confession, that Nathan is falling down at the very same hurdle? Or is it just brilliant staging/editing?
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Amazing stuff, this - it put me into such mental disequilibrium that I had a really hard time getting some much-needed sleep last night, and I fully expect things to get only more dizzying from here, which has me excited and a little dry-mouthed. We may be in for the reality-show equivalent of Synecdoche, New York here (and the sight of the giant warehouse which looks set to be filled with exact replicas of various real-life locations suggests that's a comparison Fielder wants us to make). Heavy meta. I'll take half a dozen.

Oh, also?
Spoiler alert
Kor Skeet. Now that's a name.
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sevendaughters

Quote from: kngen on July 17, 2022, 03:51:40 PM
Spoiler alert
I particularly loved the detail of his jacket still having a blue plastic Goodwill tag stick out of the seams. Thrifty indeed! It was those ridiculously on-the-nose things that I enjoyed the most - the cop/gunpowder scene, of course and the 'My grandmother just died of cancer ... can I get you to move seats, please?'sequence - such incredibly clunky devices given the meticulousness of the set designs and all the research. Just brilliant.

Put me down as someone who thought Nathan confessed to both the actor and Kor. Also, another possibly ambiguous scene - could be way off on this, but I got the impression Nathan was taking credit for the 'elderly swimmer' interrupting their conversation after the fact, and that was something that wasn't pre-planned at all.
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Spoiler alert
this to me is the hilarious spine of central tension/comedy here that is flagged up by Kor in scene 1 - what if the reactions weren't accounted for and what if the solutions don't work? it makes the effort and the little shots of org charts and meticulous constructions for 3 seconds of film so much funnier and richer.
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The Mollusk

Enjoyed this immensely and have every faith that this episode was a relatively gentle "okay here's what we're doing" taster of the twists and turns to come. Whatever it's doing, I'm hooked, as I found the absurdity of creating something so grandiose for such a comparatively minor event fascinating.

Also since no one's mentioned it yet, Thrifty Nathan eating a single serve sachet of ketchup while he's chatting to the quiz host was probably my biggest laugh of the episode.

Mobius

Yeah I really enjoyed this, obviously, but definitely looking forward to future episodes going in weirder directions. Was a great first episode though.

selectivememory

Yeah, I loved it. Going around trying to plant all the quiz answers in the guy's subconscious was classic Nathan really. Very curious to see how creative he is with this premise in the rest of the season.

Ferris

Quote from: up_the_hampipe on July 17, 2022, 01:55:17 PMI loved it. I laughed at the sheer scale of it all. In a way I wish I hadn't seen the trailer so it was more of a surprise, maybe that's why there's some underwhelmed responses here.

I agree - I think I'd have been much more invested if I found out the concept as I was watching because it kept its cards close to its chest but the fuckin trailer gave it away immediately which ruined it a bit.

Also agree with @selectivememory, I doubt it's gonna be this every week so I'm intrigued to see what he does with the concept of it all.

It's very unique telly, and for that I am grateful. Fielder is still the master of this type of thing so I am keeping the faith.

Mobius

Well I'm glad I didn't watch the trailer then. Did it show bits from other episodes? Is the entire show called The Rehearsal or was that just the name of this episode?

retsuza

Loved it so much and idk if future episodes will be as good, not having Kor. He was so good

He reminded me of the ghostwriter guy who wrote The Movement and The Diarrhea Times.

A really funny detail was the recreated Alligator having a pizza oven that's just a guy that throwing away a pizza and replacing it with takeaway.

Chollis

Oh man that was so good. Can't wait to see where this goes.

Spoiler alert
Gunpowder cop definitely the biggest laugh. Liked the touching footage of Kor staying and opening up for ages after the confession - then when he talks to Nathan after he's just buzzing about winning the trivia.
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Chollis

#80
one thing I'm not sure of, how do his marks not even do a Google check to see who he is? Nathan even tells Kor to check out "Nathan For You" which would immediately tell him the show is a big joke. would they just film that scene after everything and then plop it at the beginning? surely it's too risky otherwise with the expense of each episode to hope the person doesn't background check you?

sevendaughters

Quote from: Chollis on July 18, 2022, 12:33:53 PMone thing I'm not sure of, how do his marks not even do a Google check to see who he is? Nathan even tells Kor to check out "Nathan For You" which would immediately tell him the show is a big joke?

was having a think about this - the only scene that aroused suspicion to me was when he dressed in the Thrifty Boy site owner gear - surely people are onto him now?

that said I can imagine to get to the first meeting with Kor there was some Morris/Baron Cohen like creative calls, and then he is actually honest with him. After that, google away.

I think the genius of the format is that it can essentially be N4Y but removes the fact that he's more likely to be rumbled by members of the public, or have people 'play along' for laughs/themselves.

Ferris

I don't think he's well-known enough to get rumbled with any regularity, is he? Especially among Joe public.

Chollis

guess he's not at Sacha Baron Cohen-levels of requiring prosthetics when going out in public to speak to the bar owner or w/e (hat/shades is prob OK), but for the actual mark to not check him out seems less likely. like sevendaughters said he's obviously had to remove himself from the "frontline" a bit though

I once saw Nathan Fielder do a Q/A where, instead of just letting people ask a question, he'd select a person from the audience and "get to know them" first, asking them questions about their own life until he finally let them ask a question. It was like watching an episode of his show. One guy he spoke to said he didn't believe in monogamy, which got a "boo" from a woman in the audience, and then Nathan got the woman involved in the discussion. One of the things that became clear is that even among people who know Nathan and are fans of his, they're still easily insnared by his traps. He's a skilled improviser and actually a bit intimidating as an interrogator, and people just open up to him and aren't trying to be funny.

When it comes to people he gets for the shows, they're pretty careful at vetting them. One of the nice things about the new show is that it opens up a wider range of people; not just business owners.

Ferris

They're in on it though, Nathan explains the premise to him in the first meeting and the guy says he'd be very interested. He's pitching it like a service.

It undercuts the gags a little (like the
Spoiler alert
cop/gunpowder bit
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because on some level, they know they're in a surreal TV show.

up_the_hampipe

Quote from: Ferris on July 18, 2022, 01:06:26 PMI don't think he's well-known enough to get rumbled with any regularity, is he? Especially among Joe public.

And Kor is a self-proclaimed television trivia whizz. Nathan wasn't even on his radar.

Ferris

Quote from: up_the_hampipe on July 18, 2022, 01:37:23 PMAnd Kor is a self-proclaimed television trivia whizz. Nathan wasn't even on his radar.

Spoiler alert
I mentioned it earlier, but he fumbled several pretty easy trivia questions that I knew off-hand. He mentioned feelings of inadequacy which he ascribed to his childhood which sounded all a bit more complex than a comedy show.

I wondered to what extent he's exaggerating his trivia prowess. He was an interesting character but I also felt like he was being taken advantage of somewhat, tbh. He had real struggles judging people's reactions to things and gauging appropriateness of conversation/scenario like spending 90 minutes confessing irrelevant shit to yer one or caring more about winning a midweek bar trivia night than the main thing that had been "eating away at him for years". His opener: "my entire academic history is a lie" like calm down, mate.

The joke(?) is that it's no big deal that he made up a masters degree, who cares? That's the audience reaction. But the point is made over and over that he cares, massively, so even though objectively the stakes are low he keeps saying it's a huge deal for him so by the rules of the show, the stakes are actually very high.
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I'm being overly critical - I still thought it was great and inventive as fuck and I'm excited to watch the rest, I just felt a few bits didn't tie together as neatly as Nathan hoped.

Just being a nitpicking curmudgeon, basically.

Quote from: Ferris on July 18, 2022, 01:32:08 PMThey're in on it though, Nathan explains the premise to him in the first meeting and the guy says he'd be very interested. He's pitching it like a service.

It undercuts the gags a little (like the
Spoiler alert
cop/gunpowder bit
[close]
because on some level, they know they're in a surreal TV show.

I dunno, I'm trying to imagine myself taking part on this exact show, confronting something personal in my own life. I imagine it would become all too real and disorienting very quickly, despite being familiar with everything Nathan has done.

Ferris

Quote from: Weeping Prophet on July 18, 2022, 01:53:38 PMI dunno, I'm trying to imagine myself taking part on this exact show, confronting something personal in my own life. I imagine it would become all too real and disorienting very quickly, despite being familiar with everything Nathan has done.

Yeah fair point.