10 Hilarious Details In The Rehearsal We Can't Stop Thinking About

There's probably no doubt that "The Rehearsal" is one of the most intriguing HBO shows to have been released in a while. As the events of the show unraveled, it went from a fairly innocuous if not tedious experiment to something that challenges our preconceived notions of free will and choice. Nathan Fielder might be a madman for these experiments, but he also proved himself to be perhaps the most humanistic and thoughtful comedian currently working. He just happens to display these characteristics of his comedy in an unconventional way.

As thought-provoking as the show is, it can't be ignored that it is also objectively hilarious. A lot of this comedy came from the subjects that Fielder featured on the show, as well as from his natural reactions to what they say or do. This is a similar vein of comedy shown throughout "Nathan For You," but the key difference here is that the joke wasn't centered on those subjects. The main butt of the joke was Fielder, a man playing God until every type of experiment he could think of for every type of setback was rendered useless. If we're being honest, these jokes are pretty funny. From the small details to entire scenarios, here are some of the funniest moments from "The Rehearsal."

The fact that Fielder found his subjects on Craigslist

Think about the last time you used Craigslist. Can you instantly recall that moment? I can't, and yet, it is still a wildly popular website that can be used to find almost anything for sale. Furniture, cars, and even missed love connections can be found on this extremely cursed but useful website.

Perhaps that is why it seems so fitting that, according to the first episode of the series, Fielder revealed that he found trivia fanatic Kor for "The Rehearsal" through Craigslist. Now don't get me wrong, Kor is a very nice gentleman, and I would love to attend a night of bar trivia with him. There is also nothing inherently wrong with going on Craigslist, either. However, when we get to the subjects of Angela and Patrick in the series' later episodes, the fact that Fielder scouted Craigslist for show participants in a worryingly vague post makes a lot more sense.

The so-called night owl

In the second episode of the series, Fielder hires a man that claims to be a night owl to periodically turn on the crying of a mechanical baby left in the care of Angela. After all, child labor laws say that child actors can't work in the middle of the night, and even if they did, no child's parent would want to agree to let their kid stay in a stranger's home for a night.

Anyways, Fielder isn't in the mood to be staying up all night controlling a mechanical baby, so he hires a guy who claims he thrives in the nighttime. Unfortunately, that isn't necessarily the case — the guy fell asleep on his first night, which didn't result in the best job in the world. Nevertheless, he was kept on, presumably to keep Fielder company and to talk about the U.S. government's sasquatch liaisons. Didn't you know those were a thing?

Patrick probably being a Dragon Ball fan

Recently, "Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero" surged into American theaters, topping the region's box office with a $21 million opening. This is really great news for anime fans, who have often been under-represented at the box office despite numerous successful anime series getting film adaptations.

Perhaps one of these fans is Patrick, who first appeared in the third episode of "The Rehearsal" trying to figure out how to approach the topic of his grandfather's will to his brother. See, he feels like he needs a cut of the inheritance money because of all he's done for their grandfather in his dying years. Specifically, Patrick says he should get some of the money because he changed his grandfather's diapers while they watched "Dragon Ball Z." I mean, if that isn't love and commitment, what is? I hope he was among the viewers who contributed to the success of "Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero" at the American box office.

The Raising Cane's actress pretending to eat a chicken wing

I am not exaggerating when I say that this brief moment is a work of pure, unadulterated genius. She's only on screen for just a few seconds, but her glee in holding up a chicken wing to her face and then putting it back in the basket after pretending to bite into it numerous times is incredible. What makes it even better is Fielder's downtrodden look as he watches her pretend to eat the wing. It's comedic genius, and I will not be hearing anything otherwise.

Everything about The Fielder School of Acting

Maybe if I attended this acting school, perhaps I would actually still be acting today! Jokes aside, the Fielder School of Acting is an absolutely fascinating subplot of the series that really unravels the demented voyeurism behind "The Rehearsal." In order to find actors for his experiments, Fielder sets up the eponymous school to teach others about the convoluted acting method he has established. However, in order to take things one step further to ensure the information is being delivered the right way, he engaged in the method himself, posing as his student, Thomas, while an actor gave the class to a group of other actors.

This experience and the rabbit hole that follows results in the downward spiral that defines the rest of the show. Fielder himself seems to realize how insane these rehearsals and what he is asking of his participants are. This brief moment of clarity, however, is ignored due to how far gone he actually is. In turn, we as viewers need to be with him on this rollercoaster ride as well. You've made it this far; now, both you and Fielder need to see it to completion, or else it would feel like these rehearsals were all for nothing.

Thomas' collection of stuffed animals

I have nothing to really add here. Thomas has a ton of stuffed animals, from UglyDolls to a Pikachu, and it is incredibly endearing. I'd want to hang out with him.

Angela's passive-aggressive reaction to Dr. Fart

Throughout the course of the series, we get to see how Angela isn't exactly the most understanding when it comes to what other people think is fun. For instance, back in the third episode, she pulled Fielder aside to explain how Halloween is a satanic holiday and that she wouldn't dress up with him and Adam. Of course, she's entitled to her beliefs to a certain extent, but they can be a bit absurd at times.

Perhaps the best example of these absurd beliefs is the Dr. Fart sketch that Fielder and Adam made in the fifth episode. In the sketch, Fielder pretends to come into Dr. Fart's offices sick, with the doctor prescribing him many ways to fart. When he says he still feels sick, the doctor tells him to eat some of his poop, or rather a Snickers bar. While Fielder and Adam find the video hilarious, Angela's quiet passive aggressiveness is off the charts as she calls it disgusting. In an argument later on in the episode, she chastises Fielder for introducing him to "adult subject matter," despite poop jokes being prime humor subjects for six-year-olds.

Fielder forgetting about union rules for background actors

In the show's final episode, Adam is preparing to have his ninth birthday party. Given how this is in the aftermath of Angela's departure from the experiment, Fielder wanted to ensure that this party was as realistic and accurate as possible by using background actors as guests. Unfortunately, that didn't quite end up going the way he planned.

That's because he apparently forgot all about the SAG-AFTRA regulations for background actors. According to him, he didn't realize that union background actors can't actually speak while on the job. That resulted in some really great awkward moments where he tries to navigate the awkwardness he created — when Adam blows out his birthday candles, Fielder has to tell everyone that they can actually clap, leading to just a couple of people doing so. On the bright side, he ended up saving $15,000 because of this snafu, which is definitely a steal given how much he probably spent making the Alligator Lounge and Raising Cane's replicas.

Adult Adam as toddler Adam vaping

Much like the Raising Cane's actress, this three-second or so scene of a fully-grown man in children's clothes vaping outside the house is a work of art. Please hang this in the Louvre.

An assorted selection of the show's best one-liners

There are some lines made throughout the series that are just really incredible, but, unfortunately, do not have the legs to justify their own individual sections. In order to rectify this, here is a compilation of some of the best lines from the show.

  • "It's days like these where I curse the Chinese for inventing gunpowder" – New York City police officer, "Orange Juice, No Pulp."
  • "First off, it's eels" – Angela's date being asked his biggest fear, "Scion."
  • "I don't want you to use language you wouldn't use" – Fielder after hearing Patrick use anti-semitic comments in his rehearsed conversation, "Gold Digger."
  • "If your performance isn't accurate, you could ruin someone's life" – Fielder addressing the Fielder School of Acting, "The Fielder Method."
  • "I don't wanna work" – Fielder School of Acting student upon hearing they'll be taking on their acting subject's jobs, "The Fielder Method."
  • "Is that it?" – teenage Adam to the camera crew after climbing back up from the playground slide, "The Fielder Method."
  • "The farts aren't working, I still feel sick. Do you think it's cancer?" – Fielder play-pretending with toddler Adam, "Apocalypto."
  • "It was cool to own my own bar that HBO paid for" – Fielder potentially foreshadowing the HBO Max financial troubles in his replica of the Alligator Lounge, "Apocalypto."
  • "Oh, okay" – Fielder at any given moment throughout the series.

All six episodes of "The Rehearsal" are available to stream on HBO Max.