‘The Rehearsal’ Season 2, Episode 1: Can Plane Crashes Be Funny?

Summary

Summary of "The Rehearsal" Season 2, Episode 1: Can Plane Crashes Be Funny?

The Prestige TV Podcast by The Ringer delves deep into the controversial and thought-provoking Season 2 premiere of Nathan Fielder's The Rehearsal. Hosts Charles Holmes and Jody Walker engage in a comprehensive analysis of the episode titled "Can Plane Crashes Be Funny?", exploring its thematic complexities, character developments, and the ethical boundaries it navigates.

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1. Introduction

The episode opens with Charles and Jody setting the stage for their discussion on The Rehearsal Season 2. They express their anticipation and mixed feelings about the show's latest direction, highlighting its blend of humor with sensitive subject matter.

• Charles Holmes [00:00]: "Welcome to the Prestige TV Podcast, the fake airline terminal of TV podcasting."
• Jody Walker [00:33]: "Certainly not the most cursed."

2. Overview of Season 2 Premiere

Charles and Jody discuss the ambitious return of The Rehearsal in its second season. They note the show's evolution from Season 1's exploration of rehearsing uncomfortable situations to Season 2's focus on manipulating emotions to create successful outcomes.

• Jody Walker [02:19]: "I love the first season of the Rehearsal... one of the great works of distorted genius on television ever."
• Charles Holmes [08:16]: "He's doing it and he's trying to solve it. Is he the devil or is he God?"

3. Character Analysis

Moody

Moody emerges as a central character whose interactions with Nathan Fielder drive much of the episode's tension and humor.

• Jody Walker [20:27]: "Moody. ... that type of person that if I was the parent, I'm like, you can't go around in a man like Nathan Fielder."
• Charles Holmes [27:28]: "When Nathan is basically telling him, like, hey, man, if you ever feel like you're getting nervous and you need to take back control..."

John G.

John G., a National Transportation Safety Board member, represents authority and poses a critical perspective on Nathan's methods.

• Jody Walker [24:31]: "John G. As I call him, who could still have many twists and turns."
• Charles Holmes [25:33]: "He says when he's giving the speech that he doesn't know is a setup."

Starbucks Girl

The introduction of Moody's girlfriend adds another layer of discomfort and complexity to the narrative.

• Jody Walker [22:39]: "The only moment for me where I was like, I want to put it on two times speed."
• Charles Holmes [23:19]: "She works at Starbucks."

4. Themes and Ethical Considerations

The hosts grapple with the ethical implications of using real-life disasters as comedic material. They question the appropriateness of blending humor with tragic events like plane crashes.

• Charles Holmes [15:40]: "Are planes falling out of the sky and crashing actually funny?"
• Jody Walker [18:53]: "These are real, real losses of life, real disasters."

They also explore the show's portrayal of rehearsals and the blurred lines between reality and performance.

• Jody Walker [08:39]: "Season two seems to be about taking humans and manipulating them and their emotions to make the most successful situation possible."
• Charles Holmes [35:09]: "If they make a mistake, it could be the difference between life or death."

5. Host Reactions and Insights

Charles and Jody share their personal reactions, oscillating between discomfort and intrigue. They commend Nathan Fielder's ability to provoke thought while simultaneously entertaining, despite the contentious subject matter.

• Jody Walker [14:36]: "I'm a journalist. Yes. They all have Wikipedia pages."
• Charles Holmes [31:14]: "If you are a pilot, here's the thing... Moody, you should be the man, bro."

They also discuss the show's technical aspects, such as editing and plot development, noting how these elements contribute to its impact.

• Jody Walker [26:07]: "Once you start getting sort of the participants, the real LOLs start rolling in."
• Charles Holmes [27:48]: "This is the most Excruciating."

6. Notable Quotes

Throughout the discussion, several poignant quotes underscore the hosts' perspectives:

• Charles Holmes [00:00]: "The Rehearsal, season two, though."
• Jody Walker [02:37]: "Immense discomfort, but inability to look away."
• Charles Holmes [14:31]: "Did you actually Google any of them? Like, did this actually happen?"
• Jody Walker [41:30]: "Nathan is the one who needs to experience this rehearsal."

7. Conclusion

In wrapping up, Charles and Jody ponder the future trajectory of The Rehearsal. They remain cautiously optimistic about Nathan Fielder's ability to deliver unexpected twists and maintain the show's unique blend of humor and introspection.

• Jody Walker [47:25]: "We're redefining rehearsals and what they can achieve."
• Charles Holmes [50:19]: "Bottom."

Their analysis highlights the delicate balance The Rehearsal strikes between comedy and critique, leaving listeners both entertained and contemplative about the show's direction.

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The Prestige TV Podcast offers an insightful exploration of The Rehearsal Season 2, providing listeners with a nuanced understanding of its complexities and the conversations it sparks about humor, ethics, and human behavior.

Transcript

[Charles Holmes]

Foreign. Welcome to the Prestige TV Podcast, the fake airline terminal of TV podcasting. I'm Charles Holmes from the Midnight Boys. She's Jody Walker from We're Obsessed and together we are here to talk about one of the cursed, most cursed TV shows. Not the cursed. The Rehearsal.

[Jody Walker]

Certainly not the most cursed.

[Charles Holmes]

Honestly. Fair enough. The Rehearsal, season two, though. First of all, Jody, how are you? Are the vibes in your. In your home, your apartment, as fucked up as they are in mine after you watch the first episode?

[Jody Walker]

Well, we are coming to you from a series of three interconnected studios in LA that are replicating my home here in North Carolina and Charles's home away from home at the Spotify studios.

[Charles Holmes]

Hell yeah.

[Jody Walker]

Be here here.

[Charles Holmes]

I will say it's no, it'll be no shock to you that as a 32 year old man who lives in LA, I'm in the Nathan Fielder hive. Like, he speaks to me, you know, like the women.

[Jody Walker]

Did you wear your hoodie just to make sure that we knew.

[Charles Holmes]

Yes. Here's the thing. I would love next Halloween to just go as Nathan Fielder with the laptop. I feel like all the honeys will just be like, that guy's vibe. Exactly. We love it.

[Jody Walker]

I had no idea how much I had missed the laptop sling until it showed up, I believe for the first time amongst flames, which felt fully appropriate.

[Charles Holmes]

Yes.

[Jody Walker]

And yeah, it's a perfect, simple Halloween costume.

[Charles Holmes]

Were you actually surprised? One thing I was surprised about before we kind of dig into the episode is how almost in my mind, iconic the Rehearsal has become. Because first, at first, in the first season, the, the laptop sling was just a bit. But the minute you see it for the first time in this, you're like, oh, we're, we're back in this world. Like now you understand the mechanics. And I don't know if we've ever talked about it. What were your feelings about the first season of the Rehearsal?

[Jody Walker]

Oh, I love the first season of the Rehearsal. Like, when I tell people about it, I get a kind of awe in my voice that I'm honestly not proud. Like, I, I think of it as one of like the great works of distorted genius on television ever.

[Charles Holmes]

Can we call it an achievement?

[Jody Walker]

Sure. I think, I think that something was achieved if. If nothing but people's immense discomfort, but inability to look away. It was so unexpected. And I think that's what's made season two. It's like, what's coming. I just, I did not know what to expect of season two. I think following the premiere, I know a little bit More what to expect. But season one spends so much of the time kind of unraveling the premise. It's not a success other than perfect, perfect trivia, participant core. The rehearsals don't work. You know, like, it's not so. It was so bold and confident to just come back into season two in this premiere cold open, basically, and explain nothing and to not be like, you know, I know this didn't totally work last time. I'm not sure if we cracked it. We may have ruined a few kids lives. It just comes straight back in and is like, and now we're just doing it bigger. Probably the way to fix it is just to do it bigger. High stakes.

[Charles Holmes]

Did you last time with The Rehearsal, Season 1, did you think that this was something, a premise that could be repeated? Because I remember coming out of that season, this, the first season of the rehearsal basically ends in this place where Nathan Fielder is almost having an existential crisis about fatherhood and his place in the world and the things that he's putting all of these people through. And then when they're like, all right, we're doing a second season, I'm like, what? Where's there to go? And when we get to this, where it's like we're taking on airplane crashes, I was like.

[Jody Walker]

What did Nathan Fielder know and when did he know? It was my main question there.

[Charles Holmes]

Before you go on. When did he know it? When did Fielder know it?

[Jody Walker]

His prescient ability to be six steps ahead and one step behind on screen, but always, always ahead is, I think, the genius and is, you know, I think also earns the criticism that season one got, that this is cruel, that this is could be an act of arrogance, that this is, you know, kind of like taking the worst of reality TV in terms of manipulation and coercion is kind of because he's so smart and he knows what he's doing and he knows what to expect. But I think, to answer your original question, I did think that. See, I did not expect this from season two. I'm not one step ahead, but I thought he could do it all over again. Because you never know what's real. That's the, like, the compelling thing of it is you don't know if Nathan having the existential crisis in season one is Nathan or if it's Nathan Fielder or if it's real or if it's a play or if it's in of entertainment or if it's in service of growth. And so it does kind of give the ability to hit the reset button, but that's not what he did. He has not hit the reset button. Gone back to episodic. And certainly, like in Nathan for you, there was growth. There was a slightly serialized aspect, the sort of series finale that a lot of the rehearsal comes out of. You know, it sort of built to that point. And I guess I thought maybe, you know, season one starts episodic and turns serialized. I didn't totally expect season two to, I think, go full serialized. So I felt like there could be a season two. And I often compare, in my mind, at least, this show, the rehearsal to, like, Jury Duty, which is. It's kind of like the Good Place version that feels difficult to repeat because a lot of people knew about it and you were. You were fooling someone who was cast specifically to be fooled and to be cool about it at the end.

[Charles Holmes]

Yeah.

[Jody Walker]

Here, or at least in season one, these people had presumably signed up for what they were doing. And I think there are a lot more people like that who do not know about the rehearsal. Like, I think there's still a pure world out there where you can get rehearsal participants. I mean, we still. We got moody. You know, it's serialized, but we got moody.

[Charles Holmes]

To your point, the. One of the most brilliant introductions I've seen in a while in the TV show is these two airline pilots are. We start with them in a plane. They're talking back and forth. Unfortunately, they crash, and it's revealed that they're in kind of like a volume type place. Like the type of place where they shoot, like the Mandalorian. And you could see whatever on the screen. And their crash ends with a fiery blaze and Nathan Fielder coming into the screen, almost doing the thing that we're talking about, which is, Is Nathan Fielder the devil? Does he know what he's doing is evil? Does he know, Like. I'm not saying it is, but there is this sense where you're like, please don't tell me he's about to do an entire season about airplanes falling out of the sky in 2025. Please don't. And then you're like, oh, he's doing that.

[Jody Walker]

He's doing it and he's trying to solve it. Is he the devil or is he God? Is this a construct that we take on? I don't know.

[Charles Holmes]

So can. Could you explain, maybe act like I'm an alien on planet Earth, which I sometimes feel like. How would you explain the elevator pitch of the rehearsal? Season two?

[Jody Walker]

Season two is, I guess, you know, season one was about taking humans and helping them Practice uncomfortable situations so that they can do them in the most successful way possible. Season two seems to be about taking humans and manipulating them and their emotions to make the most successful situation possible. Like, it does feel like it's kind of inverted the script of rehearsing so that we change the situation in season one and now we're rehearsing so that we change the people in order to change the scenario, I think. But to me, the premise is growing. It is not outlined in the same way that it is outlined in season one.

[Charles Holmes]

Well, even in season one, I feel like there is this level of were slowly getting the rehearsal aspect. Building and building and building. And part of the comedy is like, he's building this, this fake bar and he's hiring all these actors and how far is he gonna go? And in this premiere, it was so funny to be like, oh, it's totally normal for him to build a fake Panda Express. Because the guy's just like. I also want to bring this up our. One of our main protagonists for this episode, Moody, says, what? Teriyaki glazed chicken is one of the healthier options. And I'm just like, as someone who gets very high and goes to Panda Express fairly often, I was just like, I don't know if that checks out. I don't know if there's anything healthy at Panda Express. Am I being close minded about this?

[Jody Walker]

I guess if you really want to get into this. And the diet culture that I was raised in is like, I was like my guy. I know that you are not actually versed in any healthy ways because he didn't just say teriyaki chicken. He said teriyaki chicken and white rice. Anybody who's watching it's doing brown rice. You shouldn't, don't do that.

[Charles Holmes]

But white rice is healthy in this household. Fuck it.

[Jody Walker]

That's exact. That's exactly right. I said diet culture. Charles. I just think I. I think like that so quickly. Just told us a lot about what we needed to know about Moody and like kind of the point of adulthood in which he's in.

[Charles Holmes]

Yes.

[Jody Walker]

Where he's like taking steps, stabs at health, stabs at relationship, but lives in his parents house. Is fully a pilot. He was a. I'm gonna say it, a surprising pilot.

[Charles Holmes]

To me, I. I don't know if the show is this evil, but there was a level of him like, did you guys pick this cute kid for a very evil reason? Because I was just like, there was a moment like, this is this, is this is the man. My, like my life like the hands that my life is in right now. He's so young and precocious and just. I'm just like, this is the type of person that if I was the parent, I'm like, you can't go around in a man like Nathan Fielder.

[Jody Walker]

He's.

[Charles Holmes]

He's not. The vibes aren't great. He's going to destroy you.

[Jody Walker]

But he walked. But Nathan. And you know, we'll get to this. But he walks into that house and there's like, when he's listening in on the call with Moody's long distance girlfriend, when the camera pans out to reveal that Nathan is laying on the bed, shoes off, literally, like, twiddling his feet, like he's kicking his besocked feet. That's. And I actually found in that conversation what felt a little bit like a rare glimpse of perhaps Nathan Fielder and his actual ability to probe people, make them feel comfortable, get information out of them. Because when he is observing that call with the girlfriend, he's kind of like, what's going on, man? Like, why do you feel like this? Why do you feel like you can't talk to her? It almost feels like he's talking to a friend. And I don't think you got any of that in season one. What you did get in season one, I think, and kind of like to go back to a bit of the elevator pitch, is this premise that Nathan in season one, in early season one, learned how to do rehearsals that replicate the physical space, the conversation, the map graph of where things will go and how to react to something. But he forgot. And we learned this in the core episode of season one. He forgot to account for emotional response. And we see him try to learn that as he goes along. He tries to rehearse emotional responses. What he seems to learn at the end is that he can't really do that and that a lot of life is about the surprise of an emotional response. The genius then, of this season is not that he's kind of picking up a premise that he's already dismantled. It's that he's seemingly found the one situation, commercial aviation disasters, where a rehearsal could actually be the difference between life and death.

[Charles Holmes]

Yes.

[Jody Walker]

Which I think is how he describes rehearsals to his Fielder method students in season one, that if they make a mistake, it could be the difference between life or death. And I just. I would love to know the process of how he landed on this. Like how he figured out this pattern in aviation crashes, which are real. The ones he's naming are real.

[Charles Holmes]

Wait, did you actually. Did you Google any of them? Be like, did this actually happen?

[Jody Walker]

Yeah. Charles, I'm a journalist. Yes. They all have Wikipedia pages.

[Charles Holmes]

I'm a former journalist as well. And I'm just like, I trust you, Nathan Fielder. I don't need to fact check.

[Jody Walker]

Former journalist, Charles. Yeah, I mean, I trusted it. It wasn't like, I didn't think so, but I was just. I was curious because. Because the way that Nathan wants to study humanity in this series, I want to study Nathan. I want to understand how he found this premise. And then, as with so many things of his elaborate setups, you're like, is it sheer luck that this happens to be a major talking point in 2025? I mean, yes, it is. He's not like a psychic. Yeah, but the. But the fact that he found something that could benefit from a rehearsal according to the actual board member from the NTSB or whatever is, I just really impressive to me.

[Charles Holmes]

Well, if you're in. If you're in the writer's room, the thing that. The question that I keep circling back to is, are planes falling out of the sky and crashing actually funny? Because the first. Because they. He makes a joke in the first 10 minutes where he's just like, it's been 10 minutes, and there has not been one laugh. And I was like. Like, I know it is cliche to say you're cringing at a Nathan anything Nathan Fielder does, but there was a moment where I was, like, not clutching my pearls, but I'm like, these are real crashes. And like, he is. He is casting fake actors to read real transcripts from the black boxes of the. Of pilots that were, like, recorded before these crashes. And I'm like, this is so, so tasteless. But I'm almost. I'm. I'm just so intrigued by that tastelessness of a comedian being willing to even go there, because part of me would be like, these people. People died that, like, these. This is a real thing. I don't know if this is okay.

[Jody Walker]

Yeah. I think I loved what. To me, I was calling that, like, the Barbie moment, when he's like, we're 10 minutes in and we haven't laughed. It reminds me of in the Barbie movie when you're. They're zooming in on Margot Robbie's face and you're. And trying to sit, and she's saying that she's ugly and she's worthless, and you're just looking at her and thinking, she's so beautiful. And the Helen Mirren voiceover comes in to say, we obviously Cast the wrong person to be able to pull off this monologue. That's what this felt like to me. I was genuinely thinking in that moment, wow, we're pretty far into this and we haven't really gotten to the punchline, the twist. No, I'll say I hadn't laughed. And I'm curious to know if you, like, clocked your first laugh of the episode. Sort of like, because we did spend those 10 minutes, those first 10 minutes in chaos, in fire, but I was smirking a little because I was dying.

[Charles Holmes]

The reveal of when they crashed the first time and Nathan pops in. I laughed because it's literally like, I was just like, I remember thinking Nathan Fielder is the devil at the exact moment when he got. And that was like, that was the first time. But to your point, that whole, like, I was also clocky, where I'm like, I'm smirking and I'm like nodding along, but I'm not laughing out loud.

[Jody Walker]

For me, there was a slightly amping up of the humor of. You're right to point out that these are real people, which you didn't even know because you didn't go to Wikipedia. But these are. These are real, real losses of life, real disasters. But the continued joke of him popping up within the fire, like, and with the laptop sling, the like, the way that it keeps happening and he keeps circling was really getting to me. But I appreciated that he pointed out that this is technically a comedy series and we. There have been, there have been zero laughs. There have been several smirks, but zero laughs.

[Charles Holmes]

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[Charles Holmes]

Well, if. Let's. If we can like segment the episode maybe. Because I wanted to kind of figure out who the MVP of this episode was. I think the early contender when we've. We talked about him a little bit is Moody. Because I think that the genius of Nathan Fielder, who was the character in season one where he goes to his house and he's like obsessed with like numbers and shit. And you're just like Nathan Robin. Yes.

[Jody Walker]

Who crashed his Scion. It's got some letters. He crashed his Scion at 100 miles per hour.

[Charles Holmes]

And you're like.

[Jody Walker]

And he keeps saying it.

[Charles Holmes]

Nathan Fielder has a. Because I think he's actually from profiles I've read and different things you see of him. Like, I actually think he's a very awkward person just in general. I think part of his humor is the way that he can immediately connect with someone else who might be a little bit awkward or a little bit innocent and to your point, bring something out of him like that's actually the most human side. I feel like a Fielder where it's like he. He does seem interested in what makes kind of like people tick. And I think Moody is the perfect. Is the perfect protagonist for Nathan Fielder show because he's so innocent and so lovable. And there's a part of him being like my sweet, sweet panda express eating boy. Even the talk on the bed with. With his Starbucks girlfriend was sending me.

[Jody Walker]

The like repeated the repetition of Starbucks. Like the way that even when they start the serious conversation when they're in the plane later and he's like so like if hypothetically you were to have a customer and she's like, at Starbucks. Like the way they just keep saying Starbucks to me was the like Scion TC at 100 miles per hour that hit so hard last season, just so funny.

[Charles Holmes]

So the other mvp. MVP candidate for me was. Was Starbucks girl. Was that his actual girlfriend or an actress?

[Jody Walker]

That was really hard for me. I have like a really. Obviously any lover of this show is going to have like a pretty high tolerance for discomfort. That is the sort of make or break for if you enjoy or don't enjoy Nathan Fielder comedy. And especially the rehearsal. I think this was the only moment for me where I was like, I want to put it on two times speed. Was the introduction of that girlfriend. From everything I know about the rehearsal, she would be Moody's real girlfriend. But there was a difference between it. They didn't Touch.

[Charles Holmes]

They did. I, I, at one point, it seemed like they gave like a buddy, like, hey, good to see you. And I was like, this, this has to be an actress. This can't be his real girlfriend. They, they look like they just have met.

[Jody Walker]

I found it most generously uncomfortable and least generously a little suspect. The just generally how it rolled out. I did have the thought that she could be an Internet girlfriend. Like, they met long distance. They've never. They talk and they get on the phone and they're like, hey, boo. But they don't really know each other.

[Charles Holmes]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. He said that he had met her the last time in January and it's now March.

[Jody Walker]

I mean, I don't, you know, like, he said he'd met her, but I just don't know how real. I think it is possible that this is a mostly, you know, just an on the phone relationship where she's like, oh, yeah, I get. I talk to this guy. He's a pilot, whatever. And Moody's like, this is my girlfriend. She works at Starbucks.

[Charles Holmes]

I'll put it, I'll put it to you this way. I can't say much, but the minute they started talking, I was about, like, I was like, moody. I've been the other guy at Starbucks. I'm just like, get out.

[Jody Walker]

You're handing out anklets left and right. Charles, you are angel at Starbucks. When she said, move on. Angelle gave me this anklet. I said, that's a Charles Holmes move. I've ever seen it. Okay, wait. We can't move on, though, because my. I loved Moody. I was discomfited by the Starbucks girlfriend, but I loved. I'm going to call him John G. I didn't quite catch his last name, but the National Transportation Safety Board member.

[Charles Holmes]

I have his name. He is John Golia. I think he was a board member for a former board member of the National Transportation Safety Board. And he is daddy.

[Jody Walker]

Obsessed with him because you make a great point that, like, Nathan does is awkward. He does have this ability to connect with other sort of uncomfortable people. When he says at one point in the airport, he's like, talking to anyone is always hard, no matter how close you get to them. Just, like, confidently says that. I'm like, I could talk to a stranger for hours. That's not my life experience, but it is the Nathan Fielder life experience. But what I also love is when Nathan comes into the presence of a, like, deeply confident and capable person. I think last season that was like the Jewish tutor who had many Twists and turns.

[Charles Holmes]

Yes.

[Jody Walker]

And this season, it is John G. As I call him, who could still have many twists and turns. But what does he say? He says when he's giving the speech that he doesn't know is a setup. He's like bureaucrats. They don't have any backbones. That's never been my problem. My problem's I maybe have too much backbone. And I didn't have any questions. I was like, I completely believe you. That backbone is solid as a rock. And it is you. The loss of you, not the loss of Pete Buttigieg, which is the reason that planes keep going down.

[Charles Holmes]

I mean, I will say a laugh out lo. A laugh out loud moment for me is when John G. Comes back to the episode and they go to one of the trainings that they have in real life. And, like, Nathan is being his, like, polite self. And what is John G. Said? He's like, basically this. This professor's Borg.

[Jody Walker]

Nathan cues it up in the voiceover. He's like, john took me to see this and he thought it sucked. And then you hear John go, this guy's a boring professor. It's just so funny. He's got nothing but criticisms, but he's right about all of it. Once you start getting sort of the participants, the like, the real people, John Moody, the girlfriend, the real LOLs start rolling in, like you pointed out with Moody when they are in his hotel room. And first of all, the visual introduction of Nathan sitting on the toilet, the closed seat toilet, watching him brush his teeth is perfect. And much like reality tv, the best moments of this show, I think, are really made in the edit. Like, they are made in how this is put together, not the actual plot, sort of. And then. And then the kind of plot you can't expect. Like, no one can script that Moody cannot put that ironing board down to save his life.

[Charles Holmes]

That said more about his character and, like, how young he is. Because I've been in that same exact style hotel running late for some shit, and I'm like, fuck this ironing board. Like, I have places to.

[Jody Walker]

I was like, leave cash on the desk and get out of there. Like, leave a cash tip. Don't put the ironing board down.

[Charles Holmes]

I mean, even, like, one of the funniest moments from this episode is when Nathan is basically telling him, like, hey, man, if you ever feel like you're getting nervous and you need to take back control, grab the steering wheel, grab the yoke. And seeing this kid grab it. And I'm just like, this is the most Excruciating. Like, when I tell you I was like, I. This is why I hated this the first season and loved it in the same measure where there's parts of it where I'm like, I'd rather fucking, like, stick a needle in my eye than watch this kid do this.

[Jody Walker]

It was. That conversation in the plane was just unnerving. I don't know what they're trying to accomplish. Well, I mean, should we talk about the rehearsal?

[Charles Holmes]

As someone who falls in love with baristas constantly, I kind of wanted Nathan to be like, to Moody, hey, man, you know what it is? Even when he calls the girlfriend, their conversation is so short and clipped. I thought the same thing you did, where I'm like, this can't be his real girl. Like, this has to be some Internet thing. Because even when Moody is just like, yeah, you wanna. You wanna see my Batman Legos? I'm like, this is on hbo, man. Like, put the fucking Batman Lego. As someone on the Midnight Boys. I know what happens when I have to invite a lady over. I'm just like, you know what? We're.

[Jody Walker]

Throw a sheet over the Batman Legos coming in.

[Charles Holmes]

We're putting this in the box. Sorry, Bruce. Sorry, Robin. You'll come back out.

[Jody Walker]

No, he wanted it to be known. He was like, this is who I am. He said, I don't know if you want to get the Batman Legos. So sweet.

[Charles Holmes]

Even the way Nathan is, like, he lives with his parents. I'm like, we didn't. Because at first when I saw the house, I'm like, damn, they be paying pilots?

[Jody Walker]

Well, no, I will say that, like, he is a young pilot, and so he's not getting any, you know, like, he's getting the worst of the worst shifts. It's a. It's hard to be a pilot. I could understand how he would maybe not really have, like, a permanent girlfriend that he sees all the time, but I was still unmoored by the relationship with the Starbucks girlfriend.

[Charles Holmes]

Also, if we're going to be real, if you're a pilot, here's the thing. I love my job. I love podcasting. It's so much fun and great. There is a. There is a time when I'm out when. When people are like, what do you do? A nice, hot young lady is just like, what do you do for work? And I'm like, I'm a black man podcasting. I literally have to be like, I'm a podcaster. It's not about relationships or how women are shit. And they're like, well, what is it about? And I'm like, you know, this and that, Superheroes. And you just see their eyes glaze over. That's my cross to bear. If I was a pilot, bro, like, I'm just like, pilots, flight attendants. The stories I've heard from homies are just like, hey, I'm in your city for a day or two. People are like, they see the uniform, all bets are off. I'm like, moody, you should be the man, bro. You look great. You love Panda Express. So your wild pilot oats, you know.

[Jody Walker]

It'S a great lead in. Yeah. I would likewise like to introduce myself as a pilot instead of a podcaster and blogger, but here we are. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Charles Holmes]

You still use the b word in 2025.

[Jody Walker]

I don't say it, but it's true.

[Charles Holmes]

You're more than a blogger. You're more. We're more. We're more than our blogging selves. Honestly. Fuck that. I'm proud of blogging. I'm proud of. Yeah, that's what I'm, I'm tired of the judgment and the ire I, I, I that is thrust upon us. People need podcasts to listen to. People need blogs to read, you know?

[Jody Walker]

Yeah. Make us subjects on the rehearsal. We're worth it.

[C]

This episode is brought to you by Athletic Brewing Co. Non alcoholic brews. The other day it was golfing with some of the guys. They're like, hey, you want anything? I was like, I'm an adult. I got stuff to do tonight. I'm not doing one of these like semi retired deals you 18 holes and and see how it goes. Luckily, Athletic Brewing company had reached out to me. They sent me a bunch of stuff including the Irish Red or the Run Wild ipa and my personal favorite, Upside Dawn. A nice little golden goes well with a few holes of golf this March. Don't miss the sports action with athletic. Head to athleticbrewing.com ringer to find it near you or shop online. That's athleticbrewing.com R I N G E R to find award winning Athletic na Brews near you. Athletic Brewing Company fit for all times near beer.

[D]

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[Charles Holmes]

[e-mail] so the other my last MVP candidate because we've done Moody, we've done John, we've done Starbucks girl. The pilots were hilarious. Every single pilot. That was. Because once again, you're like, is this happening? When they reveal that they told everyone they hire, from the pilots to the people flying, to follow actual people, and it's revealed that one of the pilots follows a guy to his hotel, knocks on his door and then goes into the room, I'm like, is this, is this legal? This seems like stalking. This doesn't seem okay.

[Jody Walker]

It's the Fielder Method. CHARLES it is well established that there are some ethically blurry lines within the Fielder method, but boy, does it get blown up in this season. I mean, I do feel like we have to explicitly talk about the premise and the actual, the rehearsal that comes into play in this first episode. The general idea presented by Nathan to John G. Is that the commonality between many of these most disastrous aviation crashes is that the first. What are the. What are the captain and the.

[Charles Holmes]

It's like the captain and I want to say I have it here. It's like the first. It's the first seat. Let me see. Moody is the first officer. Yes, first officer.

[Jody Walker]

So many times the first officer knows that there's going to be an issue, can see it, but does not have the confidence or is shot down by the more senior officer. And if the first officer felt the confidence to literally take over the yoke and go back, turn around, steer the plane to safety, at the moment that they knew that something was wrong, then many of these flights could be saved. And I loved the moment when John G. Was like, you're onto something here. Like, it was like he knew it, but actually Nathan had put this thing together with all his little files, all his little three ring binders, all his little tabs, and all of his attempts to be serious, which is kind of other than the rehearsal itself, the through line of this serialized premise of season two is that Nathan has stumbled onto this thing. It is serious, it is life and death. And he both wants to take it seriously, be taken seriously. But he is a comedian who has been hired to make a comedic reality docu series or whatever the hell you call this concept. So that rolls into meeting Moody, who is the perfect candidate for needing to build confidence to approach, let's say, a more alpha personality, Much like Starbucks girlfriend, much like a pilot, the captain. And then Nathan sets up the rehearsal that will show him. That will show Nathan, not Moody. Nathan is the one who needs to experience this rehearsal. How captains and first officers relate to one another. I'm going to say I had a bit of a gripe here. Why like I can suspend reality to be like, sure. Nathan, for his, you know, high concept rehearsal practice, needs to build an entire functioning bar that he eventually gets a liquor license for because he's developed an emotional attachment for it. But the idea that to understand how first officers and captains meet one another, he needs to build a fully functional airport terminal, including a fully functional Panda Express. And not just build the structure, but hire 70 actors trained in the Fielder method, fly them to Houston to study their primaries. Not just fly them to Houston, also hire an 247 travel agency team so that if they need to follow their pilots to continue to study them and go inside their hotel rooms, they can book a flight 20 minutes before those prices. I'm just. What? And we don't know how many people are really taking these flights. Some of this could be fudged. Some of it building. Some of it could be fudged. The airport is real. There was Lomaine in those Panda Express bowls. And my thought is just that what he could have done to understand that was ask Moody. Cuz that's what he ultimately does. I mean, when the rehearsal once again fails.

[Charles Holmes]

I love that part. I love burning Warner Discovery's money. But I think if I could go Galaxy Brain, what I think potentially this season might be because I haven't watched ahead, is that weirdly this almost seems like meta commentary on which everything is on Nathan Fielder himself. And a show like Nathan for your, where it's like he basically breaks down this thing of like we can start saving lives if first officers are more willing to take control when they realize that to your point, the more alpha senior person who is all bravado is about to steer them off a cliff. And there's political implications, there's social implications, but I think for the Nathan Fielder project, to me that actually is his comedy. When you go back and you watch the best episodes of Nathan for your, you're always like, why did this person go along with Nathan? Why did they go along with this big dumb plan? Whether it's shit flavored ice cream or rebates and all this. Why didn't want somebody just take the control and be like, why are we doing this? And I'm like, I like that as an idea. I don't know if that's what the season will be about, but I do like Nathan kind of poking at this. When someone puts a camera on you or has some level of power or some level of fame over you, there is a level of you just shake your head and be like, all right, I guess I'm along for the ride.

[Jody Walker]

So I totally agree. I think the difference here and the further meta commentary, because there are always several layers, is that Nathan in this case is the one who looks foolish. I don't really have a question about why Moody would go along with this. You know, like it's. It's kind of no skin off his back. Like he's them building this airport. I mean, I would love to see if he had any questions because seemingly he did not. Clowns in his head. Literally. We haven't talked about the clown. Just all vibes, you know, whatever. I'll. I'll do what this guy says. I'm probably getting paid. Nathan is the one who shouldn't be doing this. And in this case, Nathan is the one. And. And the sort of meta commentary that I assume and hope will pres. Will present itself over the course of the season is that Nathan is in his head. Nathan believes that he has to take the reins. He has spotted this serious problem.

[Charles Holmes]

Yeah.

[Jody Walker]

And he has to make people take him seriously. And what's a great way to be taken seriously? Build a three warehouse long replica of an airport. This is the most serious rehearsal we've ever done. Don't worry about the fact that it is completely unnecessary. Like, the airport does nothing to advance the premise that if first officers could learn to harness their emotions and be more confident and let's face it, this is something that could be accomplished in therapy. But because Nathan has identified the specificity of it, he wants to accomplish it with rehearsals. And this is his practice, this is his science. So, like, I do like that aspect. That because he's in his head about it and he wants to be taken seriously, he does this insane and unnecessary thing, which is what we saw unraveling in the first season, sort of this One is starting at that level, and it's like starting at sort of life or death stakes.

[Charles Holmes]

I mean, there was. There's even this moment where when he's on the bed with Moody, he does almost a very un. Nathan thing where it's like Moody is describing this very complex worry that he has that his Starbucks girlfriend is hitting on or is being hit on and is going to be taken away by or fall in love with one of her customers. And Nathan is being almost too mature in this moment, and he's just like, why. Why would you worry about that? That does. That seems very, very weird. And the cringy part is like, if that is indeed his actual girlfriend, the very thing that Moody was scared of happening, you're just like, oh, this might actually be happening. And I do that. That's so interesting to me, how it's like I started feeling like in this episode, even the conversation that Nathan has with the. With one of the fake pilots, where he's just like, wait, did I actually say anything to you when I got in here? And the guy was like, no, you just kind of gave me some instructions and walked away. And you're like. I was like, is everybody just Nathan Fielder? Is everybody just this awkward and his society just built up of all these mini Nathan's in their head trying to, like, rehearse or change things that are out of their control, and they're just like, you know what? I'm gonna just sit and not actually say hi to anyone.

[Jody Walker]

Well, I mean, yeah. Who among us hasn't tried to control a situation that is out of our control? But also, who among us hasn't regretted not trying harder to do something about a situation where we did have some control or we had more control than we realized? And I guess the. The idea here is that these first officers could be taught and to rehearse their emotions, to couple that with rehearsing their physicality, and to pull back on the yoke when they feel like someone is telling them that something is out of their control, but they actually know that it's in their control. And as always, at least what we know from season one of the rehearsal, Nathan, the sort of character that he is on screen, is learning that lesson at the exact same time. And, you know, he has this whole inner monologue going on in this kind of crisis of confidence of I am a comedian. People see me as a comedian, which is obviously a bit of a farce as well, because he introduces that idea when he's listening to John G. Give his speech. And he's like, he's like. When approaching a serious man or when introducing a serious man to a comedy television show, Nathan says in the most serious voice possible, as the most serious man. Like, this is a serious man who is presenting this stuff to us. But he's having this crisis of confidence around, can I be taken seriously? Can I approach something seriously? I don't think I have the awkwardness that is often the through line of the characters and the people within Nathan Fielder's shows. But I know what it's like to feel like you're only valuable for your more corporate clown like qualities and that if you write a couple funny blogs, you can only write funny blogs forever your spit.

[Charles Holmes]

First of all, Jody, you are not only one of the most talented people at the Ringer, you're one of the most talented people I know. But Charles, I want if we both. Because I felt it too. Like, you are spitting. Like, you know, everybody just sees me as Coke baby Chuck the hater. And I'm more nuanced than that. All right, you are so honestly, my last question for you, because you're cooking and I can't really top that. This is amazing. Is, is there a possibility that season two of the rehearsal can surprise us in the same way that season one can? Because I remember the slow burn of season one of the rehearsal. People being like, what is this? Laughing but not knowing. And then when it hits, it's like, everybody in my life is like, yo, what the fuck is going on? I can't believe this. And I think the curse was even more exaggerated where it took until the last episode for people to be like, wait, what?

[C]

Huh?

[Charles Holmes]

Like, this was what I was watching. Do you think that Nathan Fielder can perform that magic trick one more time? Are we too on to him and his little trickster awkward ways?

[Jody Walker]

I mean, I think the really positive outlook here is that he's already started us in a very different place. So, like, the idea that there could be another sort of big twist and the twist in season one sort of being that we go from what we think is going to be a new rehearsal every week to, you know, the wild character of Angela Nathan grappling with fatherhood, children going into slides as teenagers and coming out as 6 year olds, 20 year olds dressed as babies so that child actors aren't harmed. Like the way that that season unraveled, we're just already kind of in a different scenario. I mean, I think it's notable that this premiere actually started out not with rehearsals, but with recreations. Yeah, like we're already sort of upended in what to expect. And I definitely think that that can be accomplished by Nathan Fielder is to, like, expect the unexpected, and you still won't get it. Like, you. There's no way to guess. I. I feel like what is going to happen next? And I also feel like the groundwork has really been laid, that the premise of the rehearsal and what a rehearsal is has changed. Cause I really love how it was seeded throughout the episode that now the sort of average rehearsal that we were. The kinds of rehearsals we were dealing with in season one are just, like a commonplace part of Nathan's life. The reveal that when he is talking to the United PR representative and you're like, this isn't going well, and then he gets up, goes down the hall, and you find out that it's a rehearsal. He's talking to one of his actors down the hall, but he cuts it off. It's not going well. He has not perfected the rehearsal. He is not ready to make this call. But these rehearsals kind of don't matter to him anymore. Yeah, he's moved on to bigger, better things. He. If he can get the confidence, is ready to save lives. Like, he is ready to change the face of aviation as we know it. And I think that starting on that level is. I don't. I certainly don't know where it goes next.

[Charles Holmes]

Here's the thing. I believe in Nathan Fielder, but if I believe in anyone more, I believe as a first officer, you are the greatest pilot ever. I would never take over the controls because you're always gonna land us where we need to go.

[Jody Walker]

Charles, you know that. You're the captain. I'm just an extremely confident first officer.

[Charles Holmes]

Ooh. Yeah.

[Jody Walker]

You're just like, I've been through the Fielder method.

[Charles Holmes]

You're like, he has crashed us so many times. I am not afraid to be like, hey, yo, relax.

[Jody Walker]

But, yo, no, but, you know, if you forget my favorite joke, I'm definitely gonna shout it out.

[Charles Holmes]

Yo, Jody. Thank you so much, guys. We'll be here checking in on the rehearsal season two. So hop in the plane. We will try to get you there safely. And if we don't, well, you always have the memories. So thanks, everyone. We'll see you again soon.

[Jody Walker]

Bottom.