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"FacebookPinterest\n\nNathan Fielder is here to help. The catch: things are going to get weird. In his Comedy Central series, Nathan For You, Nathan plays a version of himself\u2014same business background, more quirk\u2014visiting small businesses to dispense his unorthodox moneymaking advice. Advice like, say, appropriating the trademark of the world\u2019s biggest coffee chain to make $$$s. The results? Usually as successful as they are funny. We rang up Fielder to find out how he does it and get the story behind the new season\u2019s (already) most talked about episode: Dumb Starbucks.\n\n\n\nGQ: So how much do these business owners know about Nathan For You?\n\nNathan Fielder: We avoid telling people that it\u2019s a comedy show, or that the goal is comedy. But we don\u2019t lie to people in the way where we act like this show is something different. We just basically say someone with a business background, which I have, is going to come to them and give them some ideas on how they can improve their business or make more money. And, usually, the people we end up working with don\u2019t ask many more questions than that. The ideas that we try are unorthodox, and haven\u2019t been done before, and are usually very experimental, and often risky\u2014but there\u2019s usually some element of them that would work in the way that\u2019s intended.\n\nIs the goal to also reveal a universal truth of some sort?\n\nIt\u2019s usually not so much about the business all the time. I mean, sometimes it is. But there is definitely another level beyond the superficial goal of helping this business that the comedy takes place on. So in every segment, I usually see it as, like, we\u2019re exploring an idea that says something about people or how the world works. But there\u2019s no general mandate, like, we\u2019re satirizing this or that. It comes in more nuanced forms.\n\nAnything you\u2019ve learned along the way?\n\nIt just teaches me about human nature a little bit. People are nicer than I thought they would be, in general. I\u2019m not a cynical person at all, so, I mean I do think that most people are out to do the best and to be the best person they can be. But, overall, it\u2019s surprising just how kind people are. And inviting and trusting. Some people might see that as a dangerous thing, but I see it as kind of like a nice and hopeful thing that people aren\u2019t as cynical as some of my friends are.\n\nEver come close to breaking character?\n\nI am Nathan Fielder, in real life and on the show, and I have the same background in real life and on the show. If I were to step out for a moment, I\u2019m not sure people would notice that much\u2014because it\u2019s so much based on who I am really, and I just kind of exaggerate things. Once in a while something funny will happen and I\u2019ll try to rub my mouth to cover up a laugh or a smile.\n\nLet\u2019s talk Dumb Starbucks!\n\nI think most people are aware that Dumb Starbucks was a thing that happened, but I don\u2019t think that most people know that it was made as part of this story and this goal I had within the show and that there\u2019s a whole story behind it and it wasn\u2019t a publicity stunt. Just something that kind of inadvertently got that crazy and we kind of rolled with it. That episode takes up a full episode, and it initially starts, actually, in the way most segments start, with me trying to help a business. In this case it was a coffee shop. But then through a series of circumstances it evolved into this other thing, where I kind of ended up doing it on my own.\n\nLines were out the door\u2014what do you think it was that clicked with people?\n\nMy guess\u2014I\u2019m not an expert on this at all\u2014is that it was partially people that thought this was an anti-corporate type of statement and thought it was kind of a cool art thing. Partially people who thought this was a kind of a Banksy thing\u2014a lot of people wanted those cups and were selling them. Partially people who just had nothing to do that weekend and decided to go with a friend because it was better than whatever they had planned and they lived in the area. Partially people knew it was probably going to be shut down in some capacity and wanted to check it out while they still could. I think it\u2019s all those different things.\n\nA lot of people who were like, &amp;quot;It\u2019s so stupid. This is not a clever parody. You know, just putting the word \u2019dumb\u2019 in front, like, is not intelligent. You could have done such a funnier parody.&amp;quot; Which was so funny, because the point of it all: I was doing the minimum. To qualify for parody law, it doesn\u2019t have to be a funny parody or a good parody, it just has to be a parody. So from my perspective there was no point in putting more effort into it because the minimum was enough. Why even put one more ounce of brainpower? My goal in the show was also to trick people into thinking it was a Starbucks by using their logo, and the &amp;quot;Dumb&amp;quot; was kind of small. Obviously it turned into something else, but that wasn\u2019t the original goal. I didn\u2019t want it to be, like, this thing that people are coming to because it\u2019s a parody. I wanted people to come thinking it was a Starbucks.\n\nAny bestselling items?\n\nWe had this one thing called a Wuppy Duppy Latte\u2014it was the only thing that wasn\u2019t just &amp;quot;dumb something.&amp;quot; (We put that in there because the lawyer suggested that.) It\u2019s not really featured in the show, but I think people just looked at that and thought, Oh, that\u2019s interesting. I\u2019ll get that."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.gq.com/story/nathan-fielder-dumb-starbucks>