How Much Of Nathan For You Is Real?

When you watch "Nathan For You" for the first time, it can be hard to believe that any of it is real. Throughout the show, Nathan Fielder creates a variety of insane schemes to drum up business for these small mom-and-pop shops, and in the process, meets some colorful characters. These include a real estate agent with a vivid story of being attacked by a ghost, or an elderly gas station owner extolling the virtues of drinking children's urine. But are these people real, or is the ultimate joke of "Nathan For You" on the audience?

In an interview with GQ, Fielder candidly explains that while the team crafts each episode around preplanned schemes, the show itself is not scripted. Instead, they craft an "interesting scene" or funny concept, pitch it to a business, and see how people respond.

"A lot of the process is just coming up with something, trying it in the real world, seeing what happens, and adjusting and rewriting the story based on what happened," Fielder said. "It's probably unlike how other shows are made in that way. It's constantly being rewritten depending on almost each interaction. It's a very weird process."

"Really good ideas come from weird places," says Fielder. "There's no formula. Sometimes we'll think of an interesting scene or concept that doesn't relate to a business and think, 'How can we use this to market a business?' Other times, we start by thinking of a certain business, and then we'll try to think of problems that we can solve for them."

At the same time, Fielder explains that not every clever or well-intentioned idea makes it onto the show. Even concepts that are funny, creative, or genuinely helpful to a business sometimes have to be set aside if they don't translate into something visually engaging or interaction-driven. For him and his team, the challenge isn't just solving a problem, but figuring out whether the solution will produce moments that are compelling to watch — a process that often involves a lot of testing and educated guesswork. This trial-and-error process is nerve-wracking for the crew, who never know how the unwitting participants of the show are going to react, but for Fielder, it is important to make sure each interaction feels unique.

"Sometimes people call me out and say, 'You're an idiot! I think you're dumb, and this idea is dumb, and you don't know what you're doing,'" he says. "Sometimes people are very polite and they'll say they love the idea even though on their face you see they don't. Regardless, either of those reactions are very telling about what kind of person they are and how they deal with minor social stressors in their life — and I find that to be the most interesting. That's the area that's most fun to tread in."

"Nathan For You" is now considered one of the best cringe comedies of all time, but Fielder has continued to push the concept further in his later projects.

His HBO series "The Rehearsal" has him diving even deeper into the space between reality and fiction, with Season 1 following Fielder as he devises a method to allow people to "rehearse" important moments of their lives. In season 2, Fielder transformed himself into the savior of the aviation industry, leading to one of the most shocking scenes of 2025 in which he reenacted the life of aviation hero Sully Sullenberger.

While his Showtime series "The Curse" is the first fully fictional story he's told in recent years, it still explores how reality TV can distort truth as it follows a couple hosting an HGTV-style show as they try to bend reality to serve the predetermined narrative of their television lives.