Nathan Fielder

Early Life and Education

Nathan Fielder was born and raised in Vancouver and grew up in the Dunbar neighbourhood. Both of his parents are social workers. In his youth, he played roller hockey and soccer and enjoyed math and drama classes at school. To celebrate his bar mitzvah, Fielder donated $500 to a local Jewish community food bank. He further committed 10 per cent of his monthly allowance and babysitting jobs to the same cause.

Fielder demonstrated an early interest in comedy. He would often record the opening monologues from the sitcom Seinfeld on a Dictaphone. He would then transcribe and memorize Jerry Seinfeld’s standup routines. In an interview with the New York Times, Fielder described his early interest in comedy as “obsessive.” He was also interested in musical theatre. One of his early forays into comedy was writing a comedic play called Yellow Squash.

Fielder attended Point Grey Secondary School and was on the improv team with Seth Rogen. Rogen and Fielder have known each other since grade one. Rogen recalled that Fielder exhibited his trademark deadpan delivery early on, noting that Fielder would often say nothing throughout a sketch, only to then add a line at the very end that would earn the biggest laughs, often by changing the scene or escalating it. Their team took third place in a national improv competition.

Though it was evident to his friends that Fielder had strong comedic instincts, it would be several years before he decided to make comedy his career. He developed an interest in magic as a teenager and worked as a semi-professional magician. He also worked at a magic shop and performed at children’s birthday parties. He is a member of the Magic Castle, a school for the magical arts in Los Angeles.

Fielder has spoken openly about the anxiety he experienced in his youth, much of which he later parodied in programs like Nathan for You. He described it as “fear of a disaster interaction,” such as telling someone you like them, or leaning in for a kiss, only to be rejected. Paradoxically, this anxiety dissipated in group settings, like performing in front of an audience or at a party. He enjoyed performing because of the asymmetrical relationship between himself and those watching him, something that was particularly true of being a magician.

Fielder followed a girlfriend to Victoria, BC, to study entrepreneurship and marketing at the University of Victoria. He has stated in interviews, however, that his heart wasn’t really in it.

Early Career

After graduating from the University of Victoria with a Bachelor of Commerce in 2005, Nathan Fielder briefly worked at a brokerage firm, buying and selling stocks. He did not enjoy the experience as he felt it was strange to make money without producing anything of value.

Fielder’s first foray into comedy took place around the time he was in university. He was asked to perform magic at Vancouver’s Chutzpah Festival, but he insisted on performing comedy. He recalls he bombed terribly.

From there he moved to Toronto to attend Humber College’s comedy program. He began performing in Toronto around 2006. He worked on honing his skills as a comedian and made comedic short films. They eventually caught the attention of producers and ultimately led him to his first regular gig as a segment producer for Canadian Idol. In 2006, Fielder won the Cream of Comedy award, issued by the Tim Sims Encouragement Fund Award and provided by the Ontario Arts Foundation.

This Hour Has 22 Minutes (2007–09)

By 2007, Fielder was working for the CBC’s long-running news parody program This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Fielder recalls being the least important person on the program, but that being in that position allowed him free rein to do as he pleased. He developed a regular parody consumer report segment called “Nathan On Your Side.” It served as a prelude to Nathan for You. In 2008, Fielder was nominated for a Writers Guild of Canada Award for his work on 22 Minutes. He and the 22 Minutes team were also nominated for a Gemini Award.

By 2010, Fielder was writing and directing episodes of Important Things with Demetri Martin, and Jon Benjamin Has a Van, both of which were on Comedy Central. He also lent his voice to episodes of Rick and Morty, The Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers. His acting credits include The Disaster Artist, Kroll Show and 10 episodes as H. Jon Benjamin’s boom mic operator in Jon Benjamin Has a Van.

Nathan For You (2013–17)

Fielder gained considerable exposure and prominence with his program Nathan for You. It ran for 32 episodes from 2013 to 2017. It included such memorable segments as “Dumb Starbucks,” in which he created a parody Starbucks location in Los Angeles that exploited parody law.

In one 2015 episode of Nathan for You, Fielder created a non-profit outdoor apparel company called Summit Ice Apparel, after discovering a Canadian outdoor apparel company had paid tribute to a white supremacist and Holocaust denier. The profits were sent to the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre.

In 2014 Fielder won the Breakout Comedy Star of the Year Award at the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal. He also won a Canadian Comedy Award for his work on Nathan for You. The Writers Guild of America nominated Fielder for Comedy/Variety series awards four times for Nathan for You; he won in 2019. Also that year, Fielder received his first important nomination as a director for his work on Sacha Baron Cohen’s Who is America? Fielder has also been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards.

The Rehearsal (2022)

Fielder went on to work with HBO, first serving as an executive producer on How To with John Wilson. He also appeared in the series The Rehearsal, which he starred in, wrote, directed and produced. The show allows people to prepare for the challenges and decisions in their lives by rehearsing what they could do, with props, sets and paid actors. Fielder won a 2023 Film Independent Spirit Award for Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series for The Rehearsal.

The Curse (2023–24)

Nathan Fielder’s first scripted series, The Curse, offers a scathing satire of reality TV, gentrification and the art world. Co-created with filmmaker Benny Safdie, The Curse follows married couple Asher (Fielder) and Whitney Siegel (Emma Stone) as they film a house-flipping Reality TV show that proves to be self-serving and exploitative of their new community. The show drew widespread critical acclaim, though many critics noted that the extremely awkward, cringeworthy brand of comedy might be challenging for some viewers. The Guardian’s Rebecca Nicholson called the show “inventive, provocative, oddly mesmerising and quite unlike anything else you will see on television this year. It is almost guaranteed to be loved and loathed in equal measure.”

Awards

• Cream of Comedy Award, Tim Sims Encouragement Fund Award, Ontario Arts Foundation (2006)
• Breakout Comedy Star of the Year, Just for Laughs (2014)
• Best Performance by a Male – Television (Nathan for You), Canadian Comedy Awards (2014)
• Comedy/Variety Sketch Series (Nathan for You), Writers Guild of America Awards (2019)
• Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series (The Rehearsal), Film Independent Spirit Awards (2023)