18 Things to Know About Jewish Comedian Nathan Fielder

The "Nathan for You" star is notorious for his Dumb Starbucks stunt.

No one is doing it quite like Nathan Fielder.

The Jewish Canadian comedian first gained notoriety in 2013 for his Comedy Central show “Nathan for You,” a docu-reality comedy series in which he offered questionable advice to business owners. Since then, his style of awkward comedy, deadpan delivery and commitment to the bit has remained unmatched.

Thankfully, Nathan has a new show coming out in July 2022! So, while we wait, here are 18 things to know about Nathan Fielder.

1. Nathan was born in 1983 to a Jewish family in Vancouver.

2. He attended a Jewish elementary school, where he began his Holocaust education.

“They were showing us dead bodies at a very young age,” he told Vulture.

3. Nathan loves magic.

He first got into magic at age 13 when a friend showed him a card trick. Later, he started working as a magician at children’s birthday parties. He’s currently a member of the Magic Castle.

4. In high school, Nathan joined an improv team which included fellow Jewish comedian Seth Rogen!

“It was not even on the table that he would act like he was burning in lava,” Rogen said, describing how Nathan didn’t fully participate in warm-up exercises.

5. He studied business at the University of Victoria, where he graduated with a business degree and “got really good grades.”

He briefly worked at a brokerage firm before quitting to pursue comedy.

6. In 2007, Nathan was hired as a field correspondent for “This Hour Has 22 Minutes,” a show which is essentially Canada’s version of “The Daily Show.”

On the show he developed a popular segment called “Nathan On Your Side,” where Nathan gave people bad advice about consumer products.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rw-43W4Plg

7. He also had another segment on “22” called “Nathan’s Nook” which perfectly captures his awkward sensibility:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zwtYNjWtEY

8. He doesn’t understand this kippah, and frankly neither do we:

9. From 2013-2017, “Nathan for You” created a ton of memeable moments — including the moment when Nathan tricked a hot dog store customer into being confronted by people he cut in front of in line:

(This is a huge Yom Kippur mood, by the way.)

And this screenshot of Nathan wearing a hugely oversized suit, from an episode where he tries to come up with a good late night show anecdote:

via IMDb

10. Of course, the most notable “prank” from “Nathan for You” is Dumb Starbucks.

In the episode, Nathan helped a struggling coffee shop owner by turning their business into a parody of Starbucks. Everything was exactly the same as Starbucks — except the word “Dumb” was placed in front of item they sold.

The store opened on February 7, 2014 and attracted media attention. Eventually, the LA County Department of Health shut the operation down.

You can watch a clip from the episode here:

What a stunt.

11. In 2015 Nathan tweeted this image of a flower and captioned it “Jewish flower.”

Some of us here at Hey Alma think it’s because the flower looks like an uncircumcised penis. Others think it’s because it looks like the flower has payot. A few people suggested it could be both?

We’ll let you be the judge.

12. Nathan has his own clothing brand called Summit Ice, with 100% percent of proceeds going towards the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre.

13. He started it in response to the fact that his favorite windbreaker brand promoted a Holocaust denier.

You can hear him talking about Summit Ice here:

14. Nathan’s United States green card accidentally lists him as female.

It’s perhaps the most Nathan-like error that could’ve occurred, TBH.

15. Since 2020, Nathan has executive produced the HBO comedy docuseries “How To with John Wilson.”

Check out his thoughts on the show here:

16. Nathan will star in an upcoming show called “The Curse” alongside Emma Stone. The show was written by Fielder along with Jewish filmmaker Benny Safdie.

17. Nathan posed scandalously for a 2022 cover of New York Magazine:

18. Nathan is writing, directed, executive producing and starring in his latest show, “The Rehearsal.”

You can watch the hilarious trailer here:

Evelyn Frick

Evelyn Frick (she/they) is a writer and associate editor at Hey Alma. She graduated from Vassar College in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. In her spare time, she's a comedian and contributor for Reductress and The Onion.

Read More