Is Comedy Central's Nathan For You real or fake? Nathan For You is one of Comedy Central's most acclaimed shows and belongs to the proud subgenre of cringe comedy. These are comedies centered around characters who often find themselves at the center of socially awkward situations - often thanks to their own jerky behavior - with key examples being It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.
Some examples blur the lines even further and feature characters interacting with real people who often aren't in on the joke. More recent examples of the latter include Sacha Baron Cohen's satire The Eric Andre Show. Nathan For You definitely fits into that category too, with the series centering around comedian and entrepreneur Nathan Fielder. The setup sees Fielder - who actually has a business degree in real-life- helping small businesses put themselves on the map, and he concocts all kinds of bizarre schemes to do so.
Nathan For You spawned several viral publicity stunts, such as the owner of The Helio Cafe in Los Angeles being convinced by Fielder to rebrand as Dumb Starbucks. This allowed the shop to use branding similiar to the famous chain, but everything had "dumb" affixed to it so it be argued it was a Starbucks parody. This stunt was picked up by several media outlets and huge lines converged on the shop when a rumor spread it was the work of artist Banksy before its links to the show were revealed.
Nathan For You's straight-faced presentation of even the most absurd situations has led some people to question if it's real or completely scripted. It's ultimately a mix of both because while Fielder and his crew plan out their schemes, the people he talks to are all real with no idea the "documentary" they're appearing in is really a comedy show. Like Curb Your Enthusiasm, Nathan Fielder is also playing a version of himself instead of the real deal and dials up his own social awkwardness to see how people will respond.
Nathan For You took great delight in fudging down the boundaries between the real and the fake and skewering the way media can manipulate or exaggerate. The show came to an end after four seasons in 2018, and outside of the series, Nathan Fielder has shown up in the likes of The Night Before with Seth Rogan.