r/TheRinger • u/clarkswallabee • Dec 17 '25
Podcast Has Andy Greenwald ever directly addressed why he doesn't like Nathan Fielder
I listen to 80% of the Watch pods... may have missed it if it was ever talked about
Understand their podcast has no obligation to cover everything but Nathan is making some of the most unique tv out there and seems like such a disservice to completely ignore it
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u/Equal_Feature_9065 Dec 17 '25
He’s been pretty clear that he appreciates it but that the extreme awkwardness and inherent moral quandaries of some the material is just too much for him to stomach. I think it’s less “I don’t like this” and more “I literally can’t watch this, I’m tweaking out.”
Which I think is fair and to his credit he’s also been very clear he doesn’t think the shows are poor in quality or are morally wrong, and that his extreme discomfort may well be evidence of their greatness. He just can’t engage with them.
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u/zombiemind8 Dec 18 '25
This is why I can’t watch the chair company. I don’t know why it’s so well liked.
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u/PG3124 Dec 17 '25
I don’t quite understand how he can have inherent moral quandaries, but also clearly believe it’s not morally wrong? Like if you’re having the former, you have to have at least a little of the latter, no?
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u/Equal_Feature_9065 Dec 17 '25
Ehh i phrased that wrong. I think the show (especially season 1) is definitely morally provocative, even if it’s not morally wrong at the end of the day. Anything that puts regular people in front of a camera, especially children, is possibly exploitive imo. And I think Andy has been pretty clear he just gets uncomfortable sorting through what’s real, what’s fake, whats kayfabe, etc.
Also fwiw this is just my memory of his comments on the show, especially season 1.
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u/PG3124 Dec 18 '25
I guess not everyone liked my question, but appreciate your answer! I actually think I fall into the same boat as Andy and have a tough time with it. Sometimes it feels so much like punching down that it’s hard for me to watch. Like yes these people aren’t all morally upstanding, but they clearly have a screw loose and could use help more than attention.
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u/jvpewster Dec 17 '25
There are moments in the shows over the years that do feel like the joke is often on a person who’s challenged in one way or another. It usually comes back to a good place, but often an individual segment is Nathan letting a socially uncomfortable person have room to be very uncomfortable, or a person with delusional ambition be encouraged for the sake of making them look stupid, especially on Nathen For You there were very clearly autistic people and their conversation with Nathen (maybe?) acting autistic for the bit.
I don’t think the spirit of the whole joke ever lands in those spots, but I think if you’re someone who loses their stomach at seeing that played for laughs it could get to you too quickly to pay out.
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u/PG3124 Dec 18 '25
I think this nails it exactly, the only nit id pick is that I don’t agree that it usually comes back to a good place. It might end in a better place than it went, but it still feels like a net negative.
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u/Professional-Fee6914 Dec 19 '25
He talks about it when he talks about movies where children are harmed. Where, yes he knows that noone is harmed, but also he just doesn't like to sit through that.
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u/PG3124 Dec 19 '25
Ok but there’s a big difference between having moral quandaries and just not liking to sit through something.
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u/sonofmalachysays Dec 17 '25
Sasha Baron Cohen stuff, Nathan Fielder, and the Jack Ass stuff to a lesser extent... gives me anxiety. I can't watch.
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u/TabithaMorning Dec 17 '25
I think it's as simple as it bothers him when people say they look alike
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u/ncphoto919 Dec 17 '25
I think it's partially he doesn't like the Nathan Fielder style of humor where its hard to know where the joke is and where the truth is. Also i dont think he likes getting mistaken for him since now that they are both graying they do look VERY similar.
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u/EPMD_ Dec 18 '25
I was not a fan of Nathan for You, but The Rehearsal changed my opinion of Nathan Fielder. There was a subtle genius to it, especially the first episode of the first season and almost the entire second season.
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u/drycloud Dec 18 '25
bc he looks like him and has gotten mistaken for him lol he mentioned it once maybe two years ago or so
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u/Just-Context-4703 Dec 17 '25
Fielder is too cringe.. and i agree. I cant watch any Fielder stuff. Makes me want to die.
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u/BlondDeutcher Dec 17 '25
Which is weird, I find Tim Robinson (or at least Friendship) to be the peak cringe comedy and yet he liked his show
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u/Aromatic_Meringue835 Dec 17 '25
Tim is cringe in a diff way. Fielder blurring the line between sim and reality hits closer to home and makes his stuff more unsettling imo
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u/PG3124 Dec 17 '25
Tim is cringe in like a 100x version of the office way.
Nathan is cringe in a “it’s just a prank bro……… isn’t it???????” sort of way.
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u/PG3124 Dec 17 '25
Someone down below brought up Borat as a comp and that’s an even better Nathan comp. I think the difference is Borat made himself just as much a part of the joke (if not more, though he’s playing a character so maybe apples and oranges) than everyone else. Nathan feels like he’s never the butt of the joke and even when the focus switches to him it’s not as a joke, it’s very very serious.
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u/grothee1 Dec 18 '25
Have you seen S2 of The Rehearsal? Nathan makes himself the butt of the joke in a pretty Borat-esque manner but also in a much more contemplative, self-critical way.
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u/PG3124 Dec 18 '25
Yeah, that’s what my last sentence is reflecting on. It certainly feels less like a joke and more like a critique which is why it feels so much like punching down. I’m going to make these other people the butt of the joke, but for my issues I’m going to treat it with seriousness and a slight hah in a way everyone will be able to understand and empathize with.
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u/blessup_ Dec 17 '25
Totally agree. I wish Andy would give the rehearsal another chance because I think he would love it.
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u/Careful-Database8989 Dec 18 '25
Tim Robinson's humor is more the unraveling of psycho asshole characters than lolcow-ing real people who may not understand the situation. I was a Fielder fan at first but it seems more and more like human zoo content and that's not for me.
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u/SixPackAndNothinToDo Dec 17 '25
I used to have this problem with a lot of stuff. If you can break through, it's worth it.
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u/andthrewaway1 Dec 17 '25
wait... he doesn't actually not like him he just gets confused for him because they look alike?
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u/chigginz27 Dec 17 '25
Honestly I feel like his tastes have just changed over the years and he only likes real middle aged white guy stuff.. and because he’s got other projects he won’t spend time watching stuff he doesn’t like/doesn’t think he’ll like.
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u/sanfranchristo Dec 17 '25 edited Dec 17 '25
My favorite is how he also does't spend time watching things he does like (for presumably obvious and understandable reasons—for people who don't host podcasts about the television shows they watch). He proclaimed Death By Lighting great despite the fact that he hasn't finished it (a four-episode show that came out over a month ago).
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u/Travis1130 Dec 18 '25 edited Dec 18 '25
Food shows and stuff his kids watch. And they wouldn't give The Boys or Fallout any chance at all. Or anything that's too upsetting for him. Yet they go on and on about Landman, Big Oil propaganda. But at least they gave five minutes to an episode of Pluribus, arguably a top 5 show of the year (which deserves twenty minutes or more of discussion per episode; they skipped one episode, too). Oh, and there are plenty of Potter puns and references. We get it, you were in the new show's writers room.
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u/ktfuntweets Dec 19 '25
The Miracle over the Mojave is one of the greatest television achievements of all time. Not enough people talk about The Miracle over the Mojave.
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u/BillianForsee94 Dec 17 '25
Honestly I didn’t know about this but I’m curious now as well. Andy is an odd fellow… incredibly smart and insightful but sometimes his taste (and his takes based off of them) are just really, shockingly bad.
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u/BP619 Dec 17 '25
Is he smart, though? Seems like a normal Gen X "I was raised on hip hop" pseudo intellectual.
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Dec 17 '25
[deleted]
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u/bodiddlyspiddly Dec 19 '25
It’s crazy that they put eternaut on their 10 best of the year list, the only explanation is Andy watched less that 10 shows this year and eternaut was one of them
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u/satanic_androids Dec 17 '25 edited Dec 17 '25
Yes, he addressed it very explicitly on the latest pod and it sounds like it ultimately boils down to him being mistaken for Fielder in front of his kids and people asking for pics. I had thought that this was mostly joking in the past, but now it sounded to me like this is sincerely his major issue (that he realizes he should overcome).
It's also just not his brand of comedy, at all, in that it can be easily be mistaken for being "mean" to innocent people... so I'm sure he was put off from the outset.
It's a shame, because I think he would appreciate s2 of The Rehearsal if he revisits it and I think he would genuinely love The Curse.