‘The Rehearsal’ Season 2, Episode 2 Precap: The Height of Absurdist Comedy

welcome to the prestige tv podcast aka the wings of voice of tv recaps i'm charles holmes of the midnight boys she's jody walker of we're obsessed and while nathan Fielder might have been erased by the Paramount Corporation, we have not. That's right.
We're back to talk about the second episode of the rehearsal season two. But before we do that, Jodi, let me know everything.
How are you doing? How's the rehearsals in your life going? Oh, Charles, everything is going great. I'm just so glad that you saw the star potential in me to bring me on as your co-host today.
And it's why I've prepared my very special rendition of Amazing Grace, which I will sing for you now. Ooh! They cut the audio, but it was gorgeous.
We had to cut that audio because honestly, I'm signing you to Prestige TV Records. All right.
We can't let that get out until we have a marketing uh a marketing budget behind it working it and i'll be real you want to know who is on this zoom who has heard my beautiful voice before at karaoke justin sales and i were at karaoke two weeks ago killing it i you know what i had a whole two weeks ago yeah I had I started with sexy back we did a little

Sierra one two step

and ago killing it I you know what I had a whole set weeks ago yeah I had I had sec I started with sexy back we did a little Sierra one two step and then I had to like bless everybody with some neo so sick I I did almost start crying you know it's been being single on these LA streets has been tough and I I did shed a tear I was like why did I choose one thing can cure you so, it is karaoke. You would make it way farther in Wings of Voice than I would.
You would have been passed. I would have not.
Justin says in the chat, it was beautiful. Thank you, Justin.
Justin, you know, notably requiring some training and confrontation and rejection, says that it was beautiful. Hell yeah.
Well, before we get to we get to that guess what jody we have some mail from our listeners can i can i read this great email that we got please do all right shout out michael baker quote he said i don't know what you guys did with joe and rob but please don't hurt them first of all do we look like kill like killers sadistic murderers what did he think that we did with Joe and Rob? We love Joe and Rob. All we did was put them in one small room and try to suck out some of their podcasting talent and take it on as our own.
We have been conducting a series of rehearsals with them so that we can learn from their greatness. Is that so bad? We are the rehearsal versions of Joe and Rob.
We are. But if real versions.
We're like there's weird holographic severance versions of Joe and Rob. Just stuck in there.
You're Joe. Wait, no, I'm Joe.
You're Rob. That's right.
Our friend, Michael Baker, he said, Brie, where the idea came from, there was a chapter around this very thing in the Malcolm Gladwell book, Outliers, about 20 years ago. If I had to guess, I'd say that's where the idea came from.
And Michael might be on to something because I did some Googling. I did not read the chapter of the book because it's just been a very busy week in my life and my brain is not working.
But I was just like, oh, Michael, let me see. And chapter seven of Gladwell's 2008 book is indeed all about airplanes in the various ways faulty communication between pilots, dispatchers and the like can lead to horrible accidents.
So my question is for you, Jody, if you're Nathan Fielder, are you afraid that like Gladwell might step to you and be like, hey, yo, this was my block. You're stealing ideas.
Fuck this. Let's fight.
I mean, I think most art is an exchange of ideas. And this is definitely an expansion on Chapter 7 of Outliers, which mostly focuses on, I don't know if you saw this in your research, but mostly focuses on a specific Korean Airlines crash,

which was mostly due to poor communication or the inability for the co-pilot to assert themselves to the captain. But what's interesting is a lot of what Malcolm Gladwell came down to in that chapter is that this was sort of a cultural issue about confrontation and the ability to confront a superior, tell them they're wrong, and does ultimately assess that the solution to this could be practiced.
But I think if Malcolm Gladwell were going to step to Nathan Fielder, he would have a larger case, which is that a lot of what that book, Outliers, is about is the 10,000-hour rule, which is that if you practice anything enough, you can become a master of it, which is kind of also the concept of the rehearsal. If you rehearse something enough, you know, we're not rehearsing trivia for 10,000 hours, but the idea is that if you practice something enough, you can master it.
What I think is really interesting so far in season two is that while in season one, to the extent that it went off without a hitch before everything got kind of crazy out there in the woods, it was about mastering scenarios so that you could kind of expect every twist and turn. Season two so far is sort of about mastering emotionality and behavior, which is a lot more difficult of a thing to tame.
But once again, I think I said this last week, is also just kind of therapy. Like, what Nathan Fielder is doing is just sort of behavioral therapy in the most absurdly comedic way possible.
I mean, the other thing, if we're continuing on the outliers of it all, I feel like this episode was also interesting in that I'm like, oh, Fielder has put in 10,000 hours of doing this type of comedy and I think this episode in general is like the Russian nesting doll where it's like he goes all the way back to Nathan for you and it's like it's the Fielder cinematic universe where it's like we have a little bit of Nathan for you we have some of the curse we have previous seasons of the rehearsal and I'm just like each we have Canadian Idol which we didn't even know was in the Fielder universe but now it is and that brings me to we didn't do this last week or we did it a little bit but this episode especially there's a lot going on so if you don't mind can I can I start with a plot kind of synopsis a little bit about everything that happens and then we'll get into the episode cool please charles help the people out all right so episode two is directed by fielder written by fielder carrie kemper adam black norton and eric not our nicola sorry if i butchered your name nathan creates a fake aviation theme music show called wings of voice this show is based off canadian idol a spinoff of American Idol, a show where Nathan Fielder got his break as a young producer who was basically telling people that they are not good enough to be on Canadian Idol. The reason for creating Wings of Voice, Nathan wants to put his collection of first officers in a scenario where they have to put bad singers down gently.
From there, the episode spins out, and we learn that Nathan is upset that an episode of his Comedy Central show was removed from Paramount plus this episode in question season three episode two horseback riding man zone why was the episode removed you asked according to nathan quote in late 2023 a decision was made by paramount plus germany to remove the episode in the region after they became uncomfortable with what they called anything that touches upon anti-semitism in the aftermath of the israel hamas. Through a series of recreations, Nathan confronts the fake head of Paramount Germany in order to get the episode reinstated on the streamer.
With that done, please give me your initial reactions to episode two of this season. It is unbelievable.
I think two things are happening in this episode. it Fielder is at the height, I think, of his absurdist comedy of being able to say something in a monotone voice that just absolutely rips you apart.
when he says that, you know, he's bringing in the co-pilots to be judges for a fake singing

competition show in order to, he says, I hope, talking about their ability to be confrontational,

I hoped this could be revealed in an aviation-themed singing competition.

Just ain't that just the gist? I mean, the season like started at such an absurd level, much more so than season one. And it's just getting wilder.
I will say about this episode, there was a lot going on. Yeah.
And there were a lot of themes to connect. And I think for me, individually, the basically three things happening here.
One, Wings of Love, the singing competition. Two, singling out our sort of two participant main characters, Jeff, who we'll get to, and Meredith.
And then, of course, going to Paramount Plus Germany. all perfect like they're so funny each each one but they're they almost felt like vignettes and while the exposition is there to connect them they were a little disparate for me my feeling is that in the totality of the season they will feel all more connected i don't think that any of these things exist in a vacuum.
And there is something already two episodes into this season that feels like we are painting a big, big picture. And at times when those puzzle pieces are going into place, they don't look like they'll fit.
But I think in the end they will. No, I actually agree with you so much because I love this episode.
I thought it was funny, but there were moments where I feel like we're getting out of a zone where the last two things that Nathan Fielder has done, The Curse, and the first season of the rehearsal felt way more to me contained and honed and just very specific. Like The the curse is a perfect example of a show that i had a lot of difficulty week to week there was funny moments there was moments like what's happening and by the time you get to the end punchline you're like this is genius and with the first season of the rehearsal it felt very much like fielder was tapping into something that maybe was a little bit more artistic, a little bit more thought through.
And this episode almost weirdly and probably on purpose reminded me of watching Nathan for you, where that show is broken up into a bunch of different bits. And like, some of them are really, really funny.
Some of them don't work as well. And for this, I was just like, Oh, this reminds me of a Nathan for you episode where he's trying to string together all of the vignettes he's trying to string all of them and have a thematic backbone to them and i'm like i don't know if they if that is actually there but it was still really like it was so funny i almost didn't care as much by the end of the episode.

And I also think I trust it. Yeah, I don't totally care because I'm laughing and it's funny and it's so big.
It's so big and crazy what he is doing in this episode and on this show in general. But what's exciting is that we get to look forward to how this might continue.
because I do think I started feeling like, wow, this is kind of all over the place about the time

that we get to look forward to how this might continue, because I do think I started feeling like, wow, this is kind of all over the place about the time that we arrived in fake Germany. Yes.
But then by the end of that vignette, when the actor is basically confronting him about what he feels is a false sincerity, I was like, oh, yeah, everything we're doing here is about what quantifies and qualifies sincerity within this episode, within these people, within rejection, within confrontation. And then what is sincere about Nathan, the character? What is sincere about Nathan Fielder and what he's presenting to us, and does sincerity even matter is what it felt like Nathan was taking on by the end of the episode and what I assume we will continue to follow as he continues to try to figure out aviation safety.
No, I could not agree.

The theme that pulls it all together.

I could not agree more.

This, I had a similar feeling of like when,

I thought the episode was completely,

completely went off the rails.

When he recreates the fake Paramount Plus Germany.

And, but then when he sits down

and he has this very likeassioned speech about art and what art means and censorship, and then the fake CEO has another speech where he's calling him out on his bullshit. And I'm like, wait, what's happening? I'm like, is this genius? And then they end on the punchline of Nathan looking out the window and seeing all the soldiers and I'm just like please don't tell me these are Nazi soldiers that are supposed to be working at Paramount and then you see their little arm bands they were Paramount Plus soldiers when they had the little Paramount Plus band on with the little logo I was just like okay it's back to funny.
Like this is all back to being so funny, so locked in. But the thing I kind of wanted to talk to you about is what does this episode have to say about Nathan? Because the more and more I watch like this kind of air of Nathan Fielder, it seems like he is trying to figure out what his persona is and poke at it uh and try to reveal something about himself and how not only he's perceived as a performer but what is that boundary between nathan fielder the comedian and nathan fielder the human because i think he like he knows that there is something discomforting about him and the way he talks and the tempo of his humor.
And he's always leaning into that. And I'm like, what does he actually think about the Nathan Fielder project? I mean, I think that I really do think that he's a genius and that he has, like you said, he's done his 10,000 hours of this kind of content.
And I think he does it because he likes it. But what it does feel like is he is showing us the absolute mastery of it.
Because I think in this episode, especially, he really takes what who could be naysayers down this road of, well, what does sincerity mean for you? Because I think that probably the largest criticism against him as a comedian, as an, and as an artist is that he takes advantage of the awkwardness or the sincerity of these real people that he puts on his shows and that he makes them look foolish and that he's not careful with their humanity and that at the worst that he is encouraging audiences to laugh at them because they're not laughing. The thing that makes it funny always is that these people don't know that what is happening to them or around them is hilarious.
And that could seem inhuman. I think if we believe that Nathan has a map that Nathan Fielder has a mastery over it, then we can believe that he is being careful that these these people are cared for in some way, that he does care for them.
And I think that we really, for me, see his mastery of that. You were talking about that, like, it really starts, like, it feels like it's going off the rails, and then you see the Paramount Plus soldiers, and you're like, what the fuck is going on? But then it all circles back to the Wings of Love competition.
Nathan Fielder, or Nathan, goes back in, pours his heart out to this child, this child that he is rejecting, gives her this beautiful speech. We see a completely different Nathan than you've ever seen on the rehearsal.
An earnest, kind, not monotone, smiling, seemingly sincere Nathan. And then what does it all end with? Him looking at the score and then deciding to make it whatever he wants it to be.
He turns the six into a nine. What does sincerity matter as long as the final product makes you laugh, makes you feel

better, makes you feel something? I think his ability to just never let you settle into an

idea, never let you make up your mind kind of what's going on here is the goal yeah i think that's what he's doing and i think also what this episode revealed to me and why by the end of it i was i appreciated the journey is that i think it's very intentional that he starts as him as a junior producer on um canadian idol because what i realized i was like oh if you think about the big thing big things that Nathan Fielder has done if you think about kind of his filmography all of it in some ways is like this loving ode to reality television I think it's like easy especially for men to be so dismissive of reality television to feel that there's no art to it that there that there's nothing to be said about it. And I think with Nathan, I'm like, oh, I think you're a genius actually at reality television.
You started your journey on this competition show. You saw everything that happened behind the scenes that we don't ever get to see.
Then you're in front of the camera for something like Nathan for you. now you're the person who's building the artifice and even when you watch the curse you're just like this guy loves ht hgtv so much he knows the tics of it he knows what makes it awkward what makes it uplifting and with this episode I'm like this is almost to, a guy being like, can there be anything like sincerity in something in an age where it's like every singer who went on that show wanted to be seen, whether they made it to the actual end round and they won the they're not even competing for anything like money.

They just want to be on TV.

And I do think that there is a level of likeathan kind of pointing out if that is your ultimate goal even when someone is super sincere to you when nathan has that speech in front of that that girl he's giving all this advice first i was just like this seems very practiced i don't even know if this is sincere that girl is like shaking her head she still gives him a six though because like at the end, I want to be a singer. I want to be on this show.
You told me no. And you're stopping me.
And I was like, oh, that's, there's something so dark and comedic, but also true. Oh, Charles, let me tell you what, if those are themes you're interested in, you're going to like reality TV.
As a studier myself, as a bit of an anthropologist of reality TV, I always say that reality TV is the sports of human behavior. And in reality TV stars, we are seeing elite athletes, people capable of performing at the top abilities of human behavior, spectrums you didn't even know existed.
But I think, like you say, what Nathan Fielder knows

is that editors and producers are the artists of human behavior.

That's who's creating really good reality TV.

You have to have the performers,

but you must have the people who shape it into something interesting.

And so you're right.

What he is really doing here is just putting the producer in front of the camera. But then that's a performance too.
But you're seeing him produce the dark, funny thing that he's making and you're seeing how it affects him too. And then, you know, presumably in years to come, the camera will just keep moving back and back and back, showing him in an editing bay, showing him, you know, pitching Paramount Plus, like just going back and back and back on this process.
I mean, and I think the genius thing that I was realizing too about this episode is that you are kind of comparing a lot of the rehearsal to almost like psychotherapy or going to therapy and it's nathan fielder is making literal that feeling that i feel like all of us have especially if you're in front of a camera or you're doing anything that's in front of people social media whatever where you just want somebody to tell you the rules of engagement if i can just say fantastic a bunch of times to someone and they'll just like me more, we want that. We want that formula.
Mara D, even through to your point, through the camera, she just has this reality show thing about her. The moment she started talking, I was just like, she's not even trying to do anything, but her presence, the way she's talking, the way they're editing her, I'm just like, oh yeah, I'd give her a good score too.
Like I understood intrinsically why a singer would be like, oh, okay, sure to Mary D. And then when Nathan's in the room, there's something like, like, she's a pleasant person.
And I mean, I do think it's really funny to, it's so impossible to know how Nathan Fielder really is, but it is funny to think about like the impetus of so many of these projects being like, why does Mara D get to innately be pleasant and I don't and how do I emulate it? I'll tell you, I do, I think my single biggest laugh of the episode is him studying her behavior, studying her fantastics, fantastic. And then and then it all gets to the point where a guy, he says, what's your name? And the guy says, Danny.
And he says, beautiful, beautiful name. Let's go to some MVPs of this, because we kind of briefly talked about Mara D.
Jeff, lead pilot i was i don't know where and to your point they're being like an art to this type of show to building this i'm like you just don't find a jeff anywhere like jeff when he when he arrives i'm just like okay like where is this going i know this is about cringe-inducing. And then when he starts talking about getting kicked off every single dating app, I was like, this is a version of a guy that I have had, like a random guy I've had a conversation with who's trying to basically explain to you, like, no, no, no, no, you don't understand.
It's crazy getting kicked off a dating app. I'm like, what did you do, you do man and the more he just starts talking he has this one line that i was dying where he's just like yeah there sure are a lot of latinas there and i'm like where's that i was like you're in the coffee why are you talking about this a lot of beautiful latina women there i'm gonna have to learn some more espanol i'm gonna get on duolingo i was like jeff is about to get

his ass kicked off of duolingo too all the dating apps instagram and duolingo like i could not believe jeff i and i thought what was so interesting about jeff and mary d sort of as well is like they are people who sort of present very briefly, in Jeff's case, as like socially capable. You know, like you could put them in a room.
They'd know how to talk to someone. Jeff undermines that at every turn.
It's incredible. Like the speed, and I actually don't think this was editing the speed with which he in the conversation which we'll get to like in the cockpit with mara d the the speed with which he was like oh so you're celibate it took them like three minutes once they were in the fake air maybe maybe like 30 seconds for him to get there with i mean i what i would love to know the where I would like the camera to continue to zoom out through seasons of the rehearsal is to somehow know what Nathan is thinking as the creator of this show when he hears Jeff first of all can I say can I quote what Jeff said right before he informs us that he has been kicked off of every dating app he's ever joined.
He says, I'm not a psychologist, but I feel like I know how to read people pretty well. And then immediately tells Nathan that he has been kicked off of every dating app he's ever been on.
And there's no reason. They don't give you a reason.
They don't even tell tell you why he signed up using his mom's email and he's just like yeah there's something their algorithm they can tell your face i got kicked off as well i'm like what if your mom wanted to be on bumble now you fucked up her shit too now you gotta borrow her phone every time you want to get on bumble man like there's this isn't for you. Other people are not for you.
He was unbelievable. I could not believe my ears any moment that he was talking.
And also like his tiny shirt, like he is wedged into that pilot's uniform. The second they drop the captains into ding ding ding return of the season one bar nate's lizard lounge in the partial recreation of the houston airport incredible um he's like oh those the female pilots over there i'm gonna go talk to the female and immediate alarm bells get away from them i get away from them women that's where i have to judge nathan i would have been like, if I'm a producer, I'm like, well, no, no, keep him away.
Truly. Everyone was saying after episode one, like one episode into season two of the rehearsal.
And Nathan's already like broken up a couple, which is funny. It's a funny observation, but I think we should be extremely clear that Moody and that woman, to the extent that they were ever dating, were never going to last, so I don't think Nathan Fielder did that.
But I would like to say that two episodes into Nathan Fielder, into, sorry, two episodes into the rehearsal, and Nathan Fielder has just, like, put a woman in an extremely precarious harassment

situation but also the thing that was like so just hard to watch but like weirdly just mesmerizing is Mara D deflecting like her ability to just like nod and be pleasant and the thing that Nathan, as the producer of the show,

had noticed about her when... Like her ability to just like nod and be pleasant.
And the thing that Nathan,

as the producer of the show,

had noticed about her

when she's basically telling all of these people,

no, you can't go to the next round.

And seeing her do it in front of this just like terrible human,

you're like, this is riveting fucking TV.

How did they, how do you even get to,

there was even a point where I'm just like,

wait, how did we get to this point in the show? Like, is this the same episode? What is this episode even about? And then, but you know, what's interesting on the behavioral level, and I'm sure we'll get there in future episodes, but it's, he keeps saying that perhaps Meridi has like, she's the secret. Like, you know, she the special strain of dna that we're going to be

able to identify and then replicate in other people that she is able to reject people without them disliking her yeah and if you're capable of recreating that then presumably in the future first officers could know that they can confront their captains without their captains getting so upset that it creates professional repercussions for them. But what we see when Marity actually gets in the cockpit with someone who would gladly ruin her life and who has no respect for women, who truly can't get a single word out to Nathan before he's saying that you have to walk on eggshells with a woman.
He would, of course, call them female colleagues because they might get offended, you know, just like when you're trying to be funny. Hey, Jeff, here's an idea.
Don't try to be funny in the cockpit. Fly the damn plane.
This is i will say this is these are the pilots that are getting me to and fro i'm just like damn just did it make me feel great but also i think if we're going deeper into the episode the thing that i thought was so intriguing was nathan ends up casting himself we see a version of fake nathan and Nathan return to fake Nathan first of all seeing his phone be the background and Banny Safdie was there I was just like alright we are this is going too far but I was dying I was like fake Nathan what was so interesting about fake Nathan is there's this moment where he's reading the email that he sends

to Paramount Plus when he it's revealed that a season three episode is taken away the summit ice

episode and Nathan says something to the effect of I don't know why I was being so polite and it was

this moment where I'm like oh the real version of Nathan Fielder or at least the real version that

he's presenting even as he's typing the email is someone that has put in the 10,000 hours of

Thank you. The real version of Nathan Fielder, or at least the real version that he's presenting, even as he's typing the email, is someone that has put in the 10,000 hours of being this maestro of discomfort.
but in his own personal life when he's writing an email to uh to this company that didn't even give

him seemingly any warning that they were taking down something that he had worked hard for

he's going through this process of being like why did i add so many exclamation points why why was i so fucking cheerful and like i think fake nathan like asked him like how are you feeling and he was just like i don't know i don't remember and it was this moment where i'm like does nathan fielder know as much about himself as we think he does in terms of just like i think he knows nathan fielder the character better than any comedian has known a character before but like that was a moment where i'm just like oh is he trying to say like when it's like i'm in a room typing up an email i'm just like y'all i i go through the same societal motions that everyone does. I don't want to be disliked.
I want to get another season of The Curse out there. I have to do all of the same mundane bullshit that makes me seem likable.
Well, I think the only thing we can be sure of is that Nathan Fielder knows us. That Nathan Fielder knows and intimately understands the audience and the way that we will respond to things.
And it's how he gets out in front of things and has these hilarious moments. It's how he says things in the exact right tone because he understands how we will receive them.
We don't know where he falls within, you know, larger humanity. And if he, as a genius, puts himself within that or outside of it.
But I do think that in every episode, we should probably say where we felt most seen within the episode. And hands down, it is watching Nathan Fielder over index on how many exclamation points he's using in an email.
That's where I've put in my 10,000 hours is taking exclamation points in and out of emails. I will say.
The farther I've become like my job is just become watch this TV show, come in and speak on this mic. I don't have to write as many emails.
But when I do, had the same thought i'm like why the fuck are you talking like like why are you writing an email like this like just stop the bullshit man like i'm like the most pleasant version of myself even if i'm like super angry and i'm like i've gotten those emails as well where i'm just like this person is really pissed off but this email is super nice and i don't even know like it's just such a disarming thing where you're just like well i can't be an asshole back now like i would this is going in the record i'd look terrible and i'm not i'm not saying that you or me or anyone should write crazy emails but i think i've also been on the other side of an email that was very carefully worded and i'm gonna receive it how i'm gonna receive it you know it's like if like, if it pisses me off, it's going to piss me off. And then I might go back and read

it like three weeks later and be like, oh, they worded this very carefully. They meant what they

said. And I completely misunderstood it.
You are at the end of the day, always still writing

to another human. There's only so careful you can be.
In this case, he is writing to

Paramount. Well, he wasn't ready to Paramount Plush germany but ultimately that's where things were headed paramount plush germany so have you before this episode have you watched the summit ice episode of nathan for you i haven't watched it in so long i that i did like a a small rewatch of some of my favorite nathan for you's before we started talking about the rehearsal this season.
But I haven't watched that one in a long time. I did check and it is still not on Paramount+.
All right. That was going to be my follow up question.
I was just like, I tried to like log into Paramount+. They're just like, you need to reset your password.
I'm like, fuck this. I'm just asking asking jody but it was this using even that and his like because i was the whole time i was interrogating i was like how actually angry or self-righteous about this is nathan fielder or is he did this moment happen in his life he gets angry about it and then he's like this would make great content this would make this would make a great episode of the show because like i think we've kind of been circling around this feeling of the whole paramount plus thing almost comes out of nowhere it's almost like this aside in the journey where i'm just like you trying to connect this back to making sure like air like pilots are heard more and communicate better.
So planes don't crash is so tenuous, but you almost don't care. Like it's like good, like good reality TV.
It's just like some of the best reality TV. There's like we're going on vacation.
And then there's this entire subplot that's happening on like the periphery of the show where you're just like, that's actually the thing I want to follow. And I was just like, why is this even in the episode? I mean, I do think it takes us back to the thing that kind of kicks up in the latter half of season one, which is that Nathan is, in addition to trying to help someone solve their problem via rehearsal, he is also discovering issues within himself that he relates to that he's trying to solve and rehearse and work on in the human condition as well.
So like in that way, it's like, oh yeah, classic Nathan kind of following a side quest of trying to figure out why he was so pleasant in the face of this thing. My assumption is that real Nathan Fielder doesn't super care if one episode of a long-running TV show was pulled from Paramount Plus,

but it's a good example of where does being pleasantly confrontational get you? Because I think that's, I was starting to say this earlier, that in The Cockpit with Marity and Jeff, you see her working through a difficult situation pleasantly and without offending the other person, a, by the way, very gendered skill, which he sort of gets into, but not totally. And also, as accidentally pointed out by Jeff, a big part of this communication difficulty in flying is often between the male powerful captains and a woman co-captain.
One could ask, should we perhaps be working on the captain's behavior and ability to receive feedback instead of the first first officer's ability to be brave enough to give that feedback? And perhaps if they felt like they had a receptive captain, they might be more willing to do so. Or if it was received upon first comment, they might be more willing to do so.
I don't know. Where does the fish rot? But it did not seem to me like if put in a situation where Meridi had to be confrontational in a non-pleasant way and get her point really across, I don't know.
I don't know if that's something that we can do. What we've seen that she can do is get people to like her and to seem sincere.
But does that mean that you're capable of asserting yourself when it matters? Maybe that's in episode three. I mean, my question then for you is, do you think, and this might be looking a little forward ahead, is do you think Nathan Fielder thinks of himself as the head captain or the co-captain? Because there have been a couple examples in these first two episodes where nathan's doing a good job of almost trying to get the audience to think that he's closer to a moody than he is to our uh our head pilot but then there's other moments where almost like nathan fielder's like poking at himself being like when is when are any of the co-captains around me going to say enough? Like, like, stop.
And like, it's, it's this interesting thing where I'm like, I think he's doing it on purpose where you're just like, wait, where is Nathan in this? Because like, he is the master orchestrator. He is the head pilot of this.
But a lot of times he's not presenting himself as such. He is presenting himself as like one of the people who is like just trying to learn how to be likable, but also have a backbone.
And I'm just like, you're Nathan Field. This is your entire show.
Like HBO, the Warner Discovery Company gave you millions of dollars, bro. You're the head captain.
You're the problem. But that, at least with the Nathan that were presented when he sees himself like that when that is reflected back to him that he is the captain he is the one who can't be approached he is the one who is in charge and people are scared to tell him no or to present their feelings truthfully to him people are scared to be sincere to him that is a position that he's uncomfortable with because everything about himself would tell him that he is the first officer, that he has trouble asserting himself, that he checks his exclamation points and emails to Paramount Plus.
But then he's casting 70 actors, getting HBO to give him the budget to partially recreate the Houston airport. He is in charge.
I mean, I think the way that he waffles so wildly between those two positions would suggest that Nathan Fielder and Nathan often just forget that they're human at all and that they subscribe to the things that they're studying. And I think that would probably be the point.
But also I'm like, well, if I was insane and put myself in this situation, if I was a genius who created that show, I mean, just in my everyday life, in my professional life, it's like there are times when you're the leader where someone might be scared to approach you with an opinion that counters your own. And there are times when you're that person who's checking your exclamation points.
Yeah. No.
And of course, for the captains and for the worst of the captains, you know, like the just walking ego that we see in Jeff or maybe some of the transcripts for these flights that have gone down, there are places in their life where they're not in charge. And they're very happy to be in charge in this cockpit.
And I'm curious what this show is making people think about airline pilots. I mean, if I'm going to be honest, the most revealing thing is, and I notice this about people in power, like my personal life all the time when those pilots walk into the bar and like everything kind of changes.

it is this thing where it's just like i've seen it happen where you have some type of power over someone some type of leadership maybe it's a work event and you walk into the bar the room changes

and you can kind of see this thing in like a leader or a boss's eyes where they're just like i so badly just want to be part of y'all i want to have fun i want to be at the bar talking or whatever i don't want this weird thing where it's just like people are like laughing at jokes that aren't funny and they're whispering or they have to change the subject and i was like oh there is something funny there as well where it's like these these like captains are assholes like like even the way they talk the way they walk nathan is like shedding a light on just like oh you get a certain level of power in your life and it does change you but there was almost a sadness i felt where i was just like god damn like no one wants y'all here like no one in this bar wants you here right now and that is and i think what i i what i thought when watching them in the bar suddenly together is well when does the first officer become the captain yeah Yeah. Because that's the trajectory here.

If these first officers stay in this career, they will become captains like many of them. That's what will happen.
Will their whole personalities change? because the first officers we're being presented with, at least,

are like extreme cases of, you you know sweethearts at best meek at worst like when is that going to be when are we going to get dark moody is basically like when when is when is moody going to become jeff like is that a change in his future i actually if i'm being real i know moody's a real person that was something i was thinking about where i was just like is there something about being in that chair where a moody who is like this meek has this meek individual who has what seems like a very fake relationship with the star starbucks barista does he become jeff and is just like fuck yeah i'm getting kicked off all the apps and i'm harassing uh my co-pilot asking how old she is and like trying to set her up with my dad i'm like to me that's actually not as much as as you probably think it is and but maybe if we kind of are like forecasting this was like the first episode where and there's only been two but this was like one of the first moments where I'm just like has the rehearsal and the Nathan Fielder project gotten too insular where it's like because I've kept up with him because I've watched a lot of Nathan for you because I watched the first season of the rehearsal the curse I've've seen a bunch of things that he's been in this was like catnip for me I got all the jokes I got a lot of the things I was just like this is insane but I love this episode but I was just like if you just had watched the first season of the rehearsal because you just saw people going like crazy over it do you watch this episode be like Summit Ice wait why is this real like it's like are you just you're like the curse i i don't have paramount plus i didn't watch that are you just kind of like what the fuck is happening i think you no one should watch season two of the rehearsal which without watching season one of rehearsal. But I think you've got enough of the vibes to get it.
Like, I haven't watched that episode of Nathan for You in a super long time. And I kind of was like, did not remember all the swastikas, you know? But like, I think you can get on board with understanding that he is completely absurd and sets people up in absurd situations and that that's what he's doing on his other shows too.
I mean, the curse is a little different, but no, I don't think so. I, I, I think, I think it's already pretty insular, you know, like I think it's already a pretty high concept situation that

if you're on board for it, you're on board for Nathan Field. I think my like fear of does this work? Can he make it last? Is more so that the thing that exists in the real world, the aviation safety aspect of it is like, is that a theme he can really keep going through six episodes? And is the idea here that he's really going to solve it? And is it? I mean, of course, it would be great if it was kind of a problem that was solved.
But it's like this small problem within this huge thing, you know, like flying is still the safest form of travel that there is. Wait, is that true? Yeah.
More than like subways or trains? I mean, well, okay. I said yeah really confidently.
I always hear that. That's what people always say when their plane crashes is like, it's still, you know, it's safer than driving statistically.
Obviously, if a plane goes down, that is like a great tragedy and is a mass casualty event. And so there's, it can't all just be statistics, but it's, it's a very, very strange thing that Nathan Fielder is doing

in this season of the rehearsal,

right down to us just being like,

so are pilots really like this?

Like, what are we supposed to think about pilots?

And I would like to say,

if there are any especially self-aware pilots listening,

please do feel free to email us

at prestigetv at spotify.com if you have any thoughts on how pilots are being presented and if it is accurate guys i honestly i could not agree more if you are a pilot i'm talking head pilot you the co-chair we'll take voice memos we'll take emails like give it like i want the pilots in my life or in the greater like these are not pilots in my life but you could part of my life. If you send us an email, you're a part of our life because there is a level.
I will say the things that I've heard about, um, just the aircraft industry are more like, damn, it's great to be a pilot. I, my hinge is crazy.
I'm in a new place. That's all I know.
So, you know what I mean? Which also why. I've known some pilots from Hinge.
I don't know if, Jeff is certainly not representative, but they're, you know, they move around a lot. That was also, how were you getting kicked? I've heard from pilots and stewardesses that dating is extremely easy for those two jobs.
And I'm like, how much fuck shit were you up to to get kicked? I'm just like, there's not, you can literally just be like, I'm in your, I'm in your city for two days. I'm a pilot.
I'm a stewardess. And everybody's going to be like, hell yes.
Is there anything about Jeff that suggests to you that he could literally just say that thing and then stop talking. He's incapable of not talking, even when he's with Nathan.
He just can't. He so did not have to tell him that he's been kicked off of every dating app he's ever joined, including seeking arrangements.
He didn't have to say that he's been on seeking arrangements, but this is a person who feels like he must say everything that enters his mind and then you must not be offended by it. Otherwise you can't take a joke.
Also what probably makes it even funnier is I'm like, when I see him, I'm just like, oh, he looks like an asshole. But there was this moment where I'm just like, yeah yeah if you just shut the fuck up and got out of your way you'd be fine you'd be on your second or third marriage you'd be fine and then the minute when he gets to the seeking arrangement part i was just like oh you're sick i was like oh you this is bad oh no oh no i was like he kept listing each app and i was just like mary d might not have like solved aviation safety with whatever exists inside of her but I would like to be able to selectively take a dose of whatever was making her say oh yeah cool what she like kept saying very specific things to him like it was this kind of like bro-ish statement where she was like um she kept saying yeah right on yeah right on he was like a lot of beautiful Latina's there she was like, um, she kept saying, yeah, right on.
Yeah. Right.
He was like a lot of beautiful Latinas there. She was like, right on.
I would like to be able to selectively take a vial of like right on juice when I am about to encounter a particularly terrible person who I don't want to, in that moment, tell them that they need to be a better person. I just want to be like, yeah, right on.
I will say, you could tell Mary D has, like, she's said that phrase so much, and she's done all the permutations of, like, what is the perfect phrase to say to a bro-ish, like, captain that I need to shut the fuck up? And she's like, right on. And to your point, I was just like, that is the greatest phrase, because it's just like, you're not that interested, but you're almost saying, saying like right on.
It's such a learned behavior. That was a really like interesting look into what it's like to just get into that space with a stranger where you're doing your job.
But maybe you also have to do some small talk, but also hundreds of lives are in your hands. And like that's clearly such a sort of like muscle memory learned behavior i always think about like how do dental hygienists like learn how to talk to someone who can't talk back because your hands are in their mouth but like lead on a pleasant conversation they just learn it and like this is what mary d has put her 10 000 in on is yeah, right on is like handling the ego of a Jeff.
How do you then insert into those 10,000 hours, the emotional capacity to stand up to someone when it counts and kind of only when it counts, because who has the energy to point out when Jeff is wrong every time he's wrong like that's what we're seeing with Mary D she has a really specific kind of energy to just let it slide off her back but who has the energy to be selectively confrontational and how do you teach it i will say that is a perfect place not only to end this but you are my podcasting maridine you know just make me feel great yeah right on right on right on guys that has been your episode of uh prestige tv with me and jody keep uh tapping in every single week. We just let Joe and Rob out of the basement.
They will return to talk about The Last of Us whatever show on Apple Plus. I forget the name of it.
What's the Jon Hamm show? Your friends and neighbors. My friends and neighbors.
The friends and neighbors. Joe and Rob will be back.
We will be back. Thank you to Justin.

Thank you to CT.

Thank you to everybody behind the boards helping us.

And like, yo, guys, have a great rest of your week.

And Donnie, I almost forgot Donnie.

My bad.

Fuck.

Donnie, you're the greatest.

Thank you so much, Donnie.

All right, guys.

We will see y'all very soon.