Two notable things have come out of Canada: Nickelback and Nathan Fielder. Yet only the latter has a baffling amount of sex appeal. No shade to Chad Kroeger — there’s got to be at least one person in existence who has a TikTok folder of his thirst traps. Since the smash-hit documentary “You Can See Everything” hit theaters on Oct. 16, everyone, their mother and their grandmother have been going ga-ga over Fielder.
But while Fielder has received glowing reviews, visceral responses and perhaps a new status as a sex icon, female comedians are rarely afforded the same.
But for now, let’s turn back to Fielder.
Initially, this rapid mass focus on Fielder made sense. In the past, male comedians have been susceptible to “the-man-of-the-hour” idolization. Some build their entire brand off of catering to female audiences, while others seem to build off the fame of the beautiful female celebrities in their extremely public love lives. This course of action usually backfires when the comedian allows this image to slip. Take, for example, Matt Rife and Pete Davidson, who have been under fire for making crude jokes about domestic violence and young women.
However, Fielder seems to be immune to this downfall. He hasn’t had a major controversy in his almost 20-year career, and is beloved by his fans as a comic genius. Even his expedient rise these past two weeks hasn’t broken his uncontroversial persona.
While some might attribute this streak to Fielder staying away from hot-button topics in his comedy, that isn’t necessarily the case. Instead, Fielder’s appeal lies in his specific style of comedy. His brand relies on his ability to simultaneously be self-deprecating and control a room, while still preserving a sense of intimacy with both his subjects and viewers.
This signature style comes across in Fielder’s early work, “Nathan for You.” The 2014 series follows Fielder as he uses his business degree to help failing businesses in Los Angeles. In season four episode five, Fielder puts unsuspecting actors into a social experiment to drive up business for a theater company. In one segment, he comically makes a woman say “I love you” to him as an acting exercise, and then promptly begins actually tearing up.
Fielder wants to make the audience feel uncomfortable yet entranced by his character — and it’s largely worked. Moments like this are what draw people to Fielder’s brand of comedy, and even more so to his relatable and awkward persona.
This strategy is epitomized in “You Can See Everything,” in which Fielder focuses on only one subject: Elizabeth Holmes. This is Fielder at his most intimate and isolated; some shots only feature parts of Fielder and Holmes’s faces gazing at each other as they converse over her imminent imprisonment, his voice taking on a soft but snarky tone.
These tactics make the scene intensely intimate. Despite what the internet might be telling men, Fielder’s traits that drive audiences wild are not traditionally masculine — they’re vulnerable and relatable. And not despite, but because of that, Fielder is able to command a space — a hallmark of the modern male comedian.
But if the characteristics people love in Fielder could be seen as inherently feminine, why don’t we appreciate them in female comedians?
“People can’t fathom the idea of a woman taking control of a room — analyzing the people and experiences around her — in the mastermind way a male comedian like Fielder does.”
People can’t fathom the idea of a woman taking control of a room — analyzing the people and experiences around her — in the mastermind way a male comedian like Fielder does. A woman can feel self-deprecating to the same extent as men; in fact, it’s expected that women punch down on themselves to bring others up. However, it’s unexpected for a woman to take these feelings and be abrasive about them, translating them into art or commentary. Oftentimes, men’s self-deprecation stems from their lack of validation; they feel the need to compensate for effeminacy by having a big personality.
Audiences of comedy also seem to believe that it’s impossible for women to be multifaceted: Often, a woman is only considered ‘actually funny’ if she’s slightly conventionally unattractive. It’s assumed that an ‘actually funny’ female comedian is insecure; it’s assumed she’s funny to make up for what she lacks. Yet a woman won’t be treated with the same legitimacy and praise for her humor if she complies with beauty standards. She can’t be unconfident; she can’t be cumbersome; she can’t be uncomfortable — the impossible double bind of being funny and attractive. Women, it seems, are barred from the ‘realness’ factor that results in successful humor.
Even the way women themselves view female comedians has been tainted by a male-centered perspective. We’ve been trained to view women as solely performers, playthings and entertainment, rather than legitimate comedians and complex, real people. As women, we feel obligated to be everything
Although Fielder contains intimacies that seem larger than most modern heartthrobs, his existence is inherently simple. He exists in a safe, male-dominated space where he has the privilege to break molds while being absurdly sexy. He doesn’t have to commit to being anything more than that: his seduction is just his side quest.
Tess Tarchak-Hiss SC ’30 watches way too much TV and literally tried shifting to be the seventh Monty Python member during COVID. She hopes that by exploring comedy through different lenses, she can find at least one person who understood her costume for gay Halloween.
Camille Dahlgren SC ’29 loves watching, performing, and writing about comedy whenever she can. Unfortunately she is a pre-law student, so that doesn’t happen very much. She also saw “You Can See Everything” three times in theaters, which may or may not have prompted her to co-write this column.
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