9 Hilarious but Serious Business Lessons from Nathan Fielder and ‘The Rehearsal’
By comedian Law SmithNavigating the landscape of business and comedy in 2025 feels like flying a rickety, questionably-insured Cessna over the Andes with nothing but Nathan Fielder’s deadpan assurance as your co-pilot. The altimeter is broken, your co-pilot is wearing a baby costume for some sort of bit, and at any moment, the line between comedy and commerce might drop out from under you like a punchline that’s too true for comfort.
Welcome to the Rehearsal. No, not the rehearsal – but the real-life, business-makeshift version of Fielder’s world: a surreal, meta-experiment in authenticity, strategy, and the relentless pursuit of ROI (Return On Improv). In a world that feels increasingly scripted, the value is in the ad-libs.
Let’s break down the art of milking business and comedy with the same sincere absurdity that Nathan Fielder brings to the stage, as seen through a candid, occasionally unhinged conversation that starts with airplane landings and ends with presidential trivia, dad wisdom, and penis-size-by-country statistics. Yes, really.
Chapter 1: The Fielder Effect – When Comedy Changes Aviation, and Business Gets Real
“He’s actually doing something legit. I mean, like… he’s got a very unique take on just how to do shit. Like, I would never come up with that.”
Nathan Fielder is not just “the guy from Nathan For You.” He’s the mad scientist at the edge of comedy and business, pulling back the curtain on how artifice, awkwardness, and relentless bit-commitment can reveal deeper truths.
Let’s be honest: Most business advice is about as fun as reading an HR manual in a dentist’s waiting room. But when Fielder launches an episode about landing a plane, or stages an elaborate social experiment with a 10-year-old feeding him interview answers, he’s not just lampooning real business. He’s hacking it—turning mundane into memorable, and truth into an uncomfortable but unmissable spectacle.
Hot Take: Comedy As The Last Honest Profession
“You trust comedy because it’s like, there is truth in there somewhere, and the people who are making the jokes don’t want to lie like a news channel… making up sensational stuff.”
In a world saturated with clickbait, sensationalized news, and content written by bots that haven’t seen daylight since 2016, the best comedians—like Fielder—are the last honest brokers. Why? Because good comedy can’t afford to fake it; the crowd will sniff out a phony faster than a business coach on TikTok with three rented Lamborghinis in their garage.
Stat Check: According to Pew Research, nearly 50% of Americans say they get their news from digital platforms, but trust in traditional media has plummeted to record lows. Meanwhile, trust in comedians as social commentators has never been higher[1].
Chapter 2: Bit Commitment – From Andy Kaufman to Jackass and the Economics of Absurdity
“He’s got the balls to be able to stay in it all the time… to stay straight and well, and then apparently, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him laugh. Well, everyone says he’s autistic. And like, that’s, like, autistics’ favorite shows… because they’re like, I can relate to this… it’s not even—it’s like a documentary to them, right?”
Here’s the thing about commitment: In business, as in comedy, the bit only works if you never, ever break. Fielder isn’t just riffing—he’s living the joke, even if it means donning a giant diaper, becoming “Sully the Baby,” and drinking an ocean’s worth of milk on national television. Is it strange? Absolutely. Is it brilliant? Also, yes.
Compare this to Andy Kaufman, who blurred the lines between performance and reality until nobody (sometimes not even Andy) knew where the joke ended and the truth began. Or the “Jackass” crew, who risk spine injuries (and the occasional testicular rearrangement) in pursuit of a laugh. In all cases, the lesson is clear: There’s business power in outlasting the discomfort.
Research Insight: Commitment to an “authentic” bit isn’t just a comedic strategy. A Harvard Business Review study found that companies known for quirky, authentic branding outperform their more “serious” competitors by an average of 13% in annual revenue growth[2].
Chapter 3: The Education-Execution-Consistency Framework – Or, How to Actually Get Good at Stuff
“If you’re lost, get educated. If you’re educated, start executing. If you’re executing, you know, work on consistency. And I was like, yeah, that kind of is the progression.”
That quote isn’t Nathan, but it might as well be tattooed on the back of every entrepreneur’s hand. Here’s the framework for anyone feeling stuck:
Get educated (even if you have to teach yourself).
Execute (actually do the thing).
Get consistent (which is where most people fall off the wagon).
Let’s call it the EE-C Framework. Most people get lost somewhere between step one and step two, usually because they’re waiting for permission, inspiration, or an easier path. Here’s the truth: In business and in comedy, nobody’s handing you the mic (or the term sheet). Grab it anyway.
Stat Check: Only 8% of people who set New Year’s resolutions achieve them, according to a University of Scranton study[3]. Why? Because they miss the execution and consistency steps. The lesson: Plan less, do more, and commit to the bit—whatever your “bit” is.
Chapter 4: AI, The “Thinking Machine” Delusion, and What ChatGPT Can’t Do For You
“I’m using the LLM machines to help, but… I saw an article yesterday. It was like, here’s what you shouldn’t do with ChatGPT. And it’s like, I did all 11 things on this listicle.”
Let’s address the digital elephant in the room: AI isn’t the silver bullet. Every week, a new article claims ChatGPT will replace therapists, marketers, or even comedians (good luck, robot). But the data doesn’t support the hype. Apple’s own studies show that, for now, “thinking machines” don’t actually think—they aggregate. They imitate. That’s why AI-written jokes read like they’re workshopping at a Toastmasters meeting for C-3POs.
Stat Check: Only 14% of Americans trust information generated solely by AI, according to Pew Research[4]. Human insight, intuition, and humor still reign supreme—especially in industries that thrive on connection and authenticity.
Chapter 5: The Fishing Lesson (or: Teaching Your Kids, When You’re Not Really Good At It Yourself)
“I do want to take the kids to learn how to fish, but I can’t… I tried to teach my son about a year ago, and it was miserable because… I was like, Man, I got to watch YouTube videos to do this, and then, like, that’s not gonna work, because I’m gonna have to do it myself, to really teach them, and I don’t have enough time, right?”
Business and comedy are both a lot like trying to teach your kid to fish when you don’t really know how to fish. You’re bluffing, googling, making it up as you go. And sometimes, the best you can do is just teach them how to cast—and hope they don’t hook themselves (or you) in the process.
The deeper lesson? Expertise isn’t about having all the answers—it’s about being willing to start with what you’ve got, make mistakes, and keep showing up. As Law says, “That’s a good start.”
Research Insight: The best leaders aren’t the ones with all the answers, but the ones most willing to ask questions and try. Stanford research shows that curiosity-driven learning increases creativity and long-term performance in both kids and adults[5].
Chapter 6: When Marketing Gets Real – Yacht Flags, Political Tribes, and Presidential Flexes
“The legit boats out there all had, like, the Trump flag, not even the red MAGA one, like, one that just says Trump… It took everything out of me not to make jokes for my family to get upset about, because I… used to when the first time around to be like, ‘Best president of all time, right?’ And they’re like, ‘Are you serious?’ I’m like, ‘No.’”
Here’s what Fielder, and really all great comics, remind us: The only thing weirder than the joke is real life. Business is tribal, politics are performative, and sometimes the only way to cut through the noise is to be the one person in the room who can see the absurdity and call it out—without getting booted from the yacht party.
Stat Check: According to a 2024 Pew study, political polarization in America is at an all-time high, with over 72% of Americans saying they avoid discussing politics at family gatherings to prevent arguments[6]. And yet, as comedy shows us, someone’s gotta say what everyone’s thinking. Sometimes, that’s the only real value add.
Chapter 7: Penis-Size-By-Country, “Boogie Nights,” and The Power of Unfiltered Curiosity
“Germany, Nigeria, Jamaica, what are we ranking? Penis size, big to small. Let me do it… Thailand is the smallest… Jamaica’s number one… No, Ecuador’s number one, baby. 6.93 average, yep, go for that. That’s a ballpoint pen.”
Now, let’s talk about unfiltered curiosity—the ability to ask questions nobody else will, whether it’s about business models, comedic structure, or, yes, international genital statistics. In comedy and business, the questions that seem “off limits” are often the ones that cut through the noise and make people pay attention.
Fielder’s gift—and the lesson for any business leader—isn’t just in being weird. It’s in being relentlessly curious, asking the questions others won’t, and turning discomfort into engagement. (And sometimes, into viral content.)
Stat Check: In a 2022 NYT feature on viral trends, 82% of the most-shared social media posts were those that made audiences “feel something new”—curiosity, surprise, even shock[7]. Playing it safe is a surefire way to be ignored.
Chapter 8: Friday Afternoon Work, Fake Awards, and The ROI of Not Taking Yourself Too Seriously
“All you have to do is fill out this thing, and I go, okay, it forces you to buy the trophy to win the award. So I just made a press release like I won it, because I did.”
In both business and comedy, the world is full of fake trophies, meaningless awards, and people who mistake “busy work” for actual ROI. The ones who win (and laugh hardest) are usually those who are in on the joke.
Don’t take yourself too seriously. Write the 5,000-word press release, Photoshop your own award, and always, always question the metrics. At the end of the day, the best work gets done when you let your hair down and remember that most of it is a game.
Research Insight: Gallup has shown that employees who feel free to be themselves at work are 42% more likely to stay at their job, and 35% more likely to report higher job satisfaction[8].
Chapter 9: The Final Lesson – Comedy, Business, and Truth (in No Particular Order)
Nathan Fielder isn’t just a comedian; he’s a business philosopher for the post-truth era. The lesson? Commit to the bit. Ask the uncomfortable questions. Embrace the weird. And never, ever let the crowd (or the market) tell you what’s too absurd to try—because that’s probably where the gold is.
In a world run by algorithms and optimized for engagement, sometimes the only way to win is to stay human. To tell the truth, but make it funny. To run the bit until you’re the only one left standing—or at least the only one left still laughing.
Sources[1] Pew Research Center. "Americans’ Changing Relationship With News," 2024. [2] Harvard Business Review. "The Business Case for Authentic Branding," 2023. [3] University of Scranton. "New Year's Resolution Statistics," 2022. [4] Pew Research Center. "Public Skeptical of AI-Generated Content," 2024. [5] Stanford University. "Curiosity and Creativity in Leadership," 2022. [6] Pew Research Center. "Political Polarization in the United States," 2024. [7] The New York Times. "The Science of Going Viral," 2022. [8] Gallup. "Employee Engagement and Authenticity at Work," 2023.