By Riley Eisenbeil
Staff Writer
CUB LIVE hosted its first spring comedy show of the semester on Feb. 11 at 8:30 p.m in Kendall Hall, inviting Canadian writer, director and comedian Nathan Fielder to campus for a Q&A. Students also had the option to attend the event virtually.
From the moment CUB posted about the event on their Instagram account, students — appearing in the comments section — were incredibly excited about the event.
Fielder is most known for his acclaimed Comedy Central series, “Nathan For You,” as well as other features in “the Simpsons,” “Bob’s Burgers,” “Rick and Morty” and more. He also raised over $750,000 for Holocaust education and awareness with his apparel brand Summit Ice.
Only a certain number of tickets were available to see the event in person. They were made available starting on Feb. 9 at 4 p.m. and anyone who did not purchase one, or anyone who preferred to tune in via Zoom, could access the event online through a link CUB sent on the event day.
The College’s director of Student Involvement, Dave Conner, was the moderator for the event. He started off the night by saying, “What’s up TCNJ? It’s Friday night, we got Nathan here — it’s gonna be a good time.”
Fielder and Conner went back and forth joking with each other about various things before diving into Fielder’s thought process when writing “Nathan For You.”
“I will say that good ideas come from weird places,” Fielder said. “I’ll say it’s like you just kind of keep talking and if something is funny you’re like ‘yeah that’s good.’”
Fielder’s humor is satirical, often confusing, and awkward at times, but that’s what his fans love about him. He doesn’t really try to make you laugh and half of the time you don’t even know why you do, it just happens. His sense of humor is not for everyone, but there are a good amount of people who know and love it.
“I’ve always admired how committed to the bit he is, and that his comedy is deadpan and intentionally uncomfortable to watch,” said Bella Trucco, a junior communication studies major, who has been a fan of Fielder’s work since she was in high school.
Trucco shared her reaction when she found CUB was bringing him for the Spring comedy show.
“I quite literally lost my mind,” she said.
Fielder went on to answer questions about his show and the legality behind some of what he wanted to do with it.
“We’d often kind of be new ground of what lawyers hadn’t thought of before,” he said.
His show revolved around creating ludicrous plans to help struggling businesses get back on their feet without telling them this is for a comedy show. With huge budgets and crazy plans, his show was unprecedented in the comedy world.
Trucco explained how, if you were already a fan of Fielder, this show was “a literal dream.”
“I could understand why people who have never seen ‘Nathan For You’ or don’t know much about Nathan’s work might’ve gone and felt confused, though,” Trucco said. “He definitely has a very niche style of humor.”
Throughout the 90-minute conversation, on top of answering countless questions, Fielder showed exclusive footage from his previous works and even invited a number of students up on stage to ask their questions directly to him rather than having to shout them from their seats.
Fielder’s visit to the college was a success. Although not everyone understands or fully appreciates his humor, enough of his supporters attended and the laughs that echoed throughout the concert hall were telling of the positive feedback from students.
“He is just inherently funny. It’s just natural. I don’t feel like his comedy is forced,” said Grayson Leslie, a freshman speech pathology and audiology major. “I really enjoyed the show and was endlessly laughing.”
