Nathan Fielder

Early life

Fielder was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, where his parents, Eric and Deb, were social workers. His family is Jewish. He attended Point Grey Secondary School. Fielder was a member of the school's improv comedy group, which also included comedian Seth Rogen. Fielder worked as a magician during his teenage years and remains a fan of magic as a member of The Magic Castle in Los Angeles.

Fielder studied business at the University of Victoria, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce in 2005. Fielder originally aspired to be a dentist. He worked briefly for a brokerage firm after university, before quitting to start his comedy career.

Career

After receiving the 2006 Tim Sims Award for outstanding Canadian comedy newcomer, Fielder went on to join the cast of the CBC comedy series This Hour Has 22 Minutes as a field correspondent. He has also helped write for Canadian Idol. In 2010, he wrote and directed a number of sketches for season 2 of Important Things with Demetri Martin on Comedy Central. He was also featured as a guest voice actor on the Season 2 finale of Bob's Burgers, Beefsquatch, as well as the Season 6 episode, "The Land Ship."

Fielder auditioned for a role in the television show The Office but was unsuccessful.

Fielder played the role of Jon Benjamin's boom operator in the 2011 television series Jon Benjamin Has a Van, and played Bob Woodward in the "Washington, DC" episode of Comedy Central's Drunk History. As of 2013, he now stars in his own show on Comedy Central, Nathan for You. The show is based on the Nathan On Your Side segments that he did for This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Fielder has also guest-starred on the Adult Swim show Rick and Morty. He appears in the 2015 film The Night Before, and will be appearing in the 2017 James Franco-directed movie, The Disaster Artist.

Other ventures

In Oct, 2006, Fielder started his YouTube channel, comprised mainly of short sketches involving him and his friends.

Fielder and his friend, Chris Locke, started an "alternative jazz pop duo" called "Side of Smooth." They released two songs on YouTube: "Morning Walk" and "Chow Down." A third song was started, but never finished. Fielder said: "It was about our characters' friend that died and all the lyrics were just us saying "why" over and over."

Summit Ice Apparel

Fielder started a not-for-profit company called "Summit Ice Apparel" in 2015 after learning that the Vancouver-based company "Taiga" posted a tribute to Holocaust denier Doug Collins. Fielder had worn Taiga products from his youth until 2015 and felt betrayed by this revelation. He decided to start his own company after not knowing which company to trust. This ordeal was shown during Season 3 of his show Nathan for You. Summit Ice Apparel is dedicated to producing quality outdoor apparel and raising awareness of the Holocaust. 100% of profits go to the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre in Vancouver, Canada. The company had close to $500,000.00 in sales in the first six months.

Fielder left a note on the Summit Ice website (at the bottom of the "News" section) for the Vancouver Mayor: "If the mayor wants to give Mr. Fielder the Key to the City, please contact: [email protected]"

In 2017, Fielder opened up a pop-up shop in Vancouver, Canada where members of the public could buy Summit Ice Apparel or exchange their Taiga jacket for a Summit Ice jacket. Fielder himself worked the register. A film crew was on-site, presumably filming for Season 4 of Nathan for You.

Dumb Starbucks Coffee

On February 7, 2014, a coffee shop called "Dumb Starbucks Coffee" opened in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The shop stated that they were operating as a parody of the global coffee company and coffeehouse chain Starbucks and utilized the chain's siren logo and name in their signage, cups, and other materials. The shop mocked items considered to be standard to many Starbucks locations such as Norah Jones CDs and drinks by using the term "dumb" in front of the names, such as "Dumb Norah Jones Duets" and "Dumb Iced Vanilla Latte." Beverages and pastries were distributed free of charge. A few days later Starbucks announced that they were not affiliated with the shop and that they were "evaluating next steps" due to the shop deliberately attempting to mimic the look of a traditional Starbucks location.

The identity of the person behind the shop was not released initially and various artists and comedians such as Banksy and Tim & Eric were theorized to be involved with the prank, as their production company Abso Lutely Productions had applied for a filming permit at the Dumb Starbucks Coffee location. On February 10, 2014, the shop was closed by the Los Angeles County Health Department due to it not having the permits required to operate a coffee shop. Shortly thereafter, Fielder announced that he was behind the parody and the Los Angeles Times noted the prank's similarity to other skits performed on Fielder's show Nathan for You.

Personal life

Fielder was briefly married to a children's librarian, Sarah Ziolkowska; they divorced in 2014. Fielder and Ziolkowska met in Canada.

Fielder has a younger sister named Becca Fielder. Fielder is listed as a female on his Green card. He has two cats, Rocket and Jackie.