“Smokers Allowed” is the fifth episode of Season 3 of Nathan For You. The Comedy Central series revolves around Nathan Fielder’s
supposedly wondrous consulting acumen—but which really translates as his
ability to turn ludicrous and asinine business ideas into pure comedic gold. This
time, Nathan comes up with the brilliant plan to help a bar circumvent their
local no-smoking law by inserting two theater chairs in the corner of the bar,
thus allowing the smoky scene to exist legally as performance art. Of course as with many of Nathan’s ruses, by
the end of the episode the initial idea has taken on a singular life of its
own.
Since the initial two patrons of the first “show” end up
enjoying Nathan’s play so thoroughly (despite the suspicious fact that it’s
people sitting around and doing absolutely nothing), Nathan decides to go
ahead and transcribe the entire night into a script so that it can be
recreated for the next night. He also replaces the entire bar scene with actors
and actresses, including the discarded bar owner herself (slightly mean
spirited but one of the highlights of the episode). What follows isn’t just a mockup
of the original night—it’s the same exact
thing. And here, Fielder has once again
haphazardly wandered across surreal and ingenious art. We know it’s an especially
good work because one audience member is falling asleep while the next is
hurriedly rushing out.
Earlier in the episode, the real climax comes when Nathan substitutes
himself into one of the bar roles during the auditions. He has the actress look
into his eyes and repeat “I love you”
over and over, and over—11 times actually, until Fielder appears to start
tearing up. An act or not, the scene is brilliant in its effect. For just a
moment, we get to feel like we know the sad s.o.b. behind the prankster.