Comedy Is Too Sad Right Now
thegamer.comThe Rehearsal, Nathan Fielder's new HBO show in which the comedian helps regular people prepare for stressful life events by fastidiously recreating the circumstances under which those events will occur, is unlike anything I've ever seen. In each episode, Fielder radically alters the audience's perception of what the show is, moving from the premiere's relatively straightforward exploration of the premise, to a deeply meta and self-reflexive deconstruction of the typically unexamined norms of reality TV in the episodes since. But, after revisiting Fielder's previous series, Nathan for You, and laughing so hard it hurt, I can't shake the feeling that I wish The Rehearsal was one of the funniest shows of the year, in addition to being one of the best.
The show has its moments. One scene, in which Fielder hires actors to discreetly spout trivia while in earshot of The Rehearsal's subject so that he can internalize the answers to the week's bar trivia ahead of time allowing him to focus on the confession he's actually training for, gave us the immortal line, "It's days like these that I curse the Chinese for inventing gunpowder." But The Rehearsal, in general, is less concerned with scoring consistent laughs than it is with fully exploring its ideas. It's a great show, as a result, but one that is melancholy and thoughtful at least as often as it is hilarious.
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The Rehearsal is one data point in an increasingly common trend. In the singular cultural moment that was the summer of 2021, Bo Burnham's Inside appeared like a UFO streaking across the night sky, taking on totemic significance among Millennials and Gen Z; a defiant piece of art made in response to
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