The Rehearsal (2022) Review

The Rehearsal (2022)

The Rehearsal follows Nathan Fielder, who, in an attempt to guide people through basic, every day situations, creates a series of rehearsals to help his subjects feel prepared for any outcome they may encounter. 

If you’re in any way familiar with Nathan Fielder’s work on his series Nathan For You, you’ll understand the ridiculous lengths he’s willing to go to for his craft. With his newest show, The Rehearsal, however, it seems he has finally pushed comedy to its breaking point and created something that may have started out for laughs, but far surpasses the medium by Season 1’s end. With the first episode, the groundwork is laid for an eccentric but straightforward concept that is as absurd as it sounds, going to extreme lengths to help Kor confront a decade long lie. Over the course of the series however, the concept, and show as a whole, devolves into a crisis of existential terror that involves Nathan’s efforts to help a woman prepare for motherhood, and by proxy, greatly affecting real lives in the process. 

Unlike any of his projects before, Fielder faces a true self-reckoning with the ethics of his production, character, and self and is resolute in a goodwill to remedy error, alleviate suffering, as well as learn and forgive, shedding a tear and baring his ass following the trauma such a production leaves on his actors (mainly the children). 

The Rehearsal, directed by Nathan Fielder, is a true testament to Fielder’s trademark brand of Kaufman-esque humor, where it becomes near 

indistinguishable whether or not art is being made or a crime is being committed, as he pushes the boundaries of comedy and reality television as a whole. 

9.4/10