If you were scrolling through Twitter—or X, whatever we're calling it this week—back in October 2022, you probably saw a face that perfectly captured the essence of despair. It wasn't just any face. It was Nathan Fielder. He was sitting in the stands at Citi Field during a high-stakes Wild Card game between the New York Mets and the San Diego Padres.
The Mets were getting absolutely hammered. Max Scherzer, their ace, was giving up home runs like he was tossing BP. The energy in Queens was shifting from "postseason hype" to "existential crisis" real fast. Then, the jumbotron found him. Nathan Fielder, the architect of The Rehearsal and Nathan For You, staring into the middle distance with a look of pure, unadulterated misery.
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Most celebrities do the "jumbotron wave." They point at the camera, they flash a white-toothed grin, maybe they do a little dance. Nathan did none of that. He just... existed. He looked like a man who had just realized his entire life was a rehearsal for a moment that wasn't actually happening.
Honestly, it was the most "Nathan Fielder" thing he could have possibly done without actually saying a word. Within minutes, the screenshot was everywhere. It became the definitive meme for the 2022 Mets season. People were joking that the game itself was just a bit for The Rehearsal Season 2. One fan tweeted that the Mets' performance was a social experiment Nathan designed to test the limits of human patience. It felt true.
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There is always a question with Nathan. Is he "on"? Or is he just a guy who happens to have a naturally uncomfortable resting face?
Here’s the thing: he wasn't alone. If you looked closely at the wider shots or the Getty Images from that night, you’d see he was sitting with Emma Stone and Benny Safdie. At the time, we didn't fully realize what that meant. We just thought, "Oh, cool, weird celebrity friend group."
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The Curse connection
In hindsight, the Nathan Fielder Mets game appearance was basically a soft launch for their show The Curse. They were in the middle of production or prep around that time. When the jumbotron hit him, he wasn't just a fan; he was part of a trio of some of the most creative (and specifically awkward) minds in Hollywood.
- The Vibe: Pure awkwardness.
- The Result: A viral moment that cost $0 in marketing.
- The Irony: The MLB official account later tweeted a photo of him actually smiling to prove he was "having the time of his life."
That "smiling" photo was almost funnier than the miserable one. It felt forced, like a hostage proof-of-life video. It didn't matter, though. The damage was done. Nathan Fielder had become the patron saint of the "lol Mets" era.
What people get wrong about that night
Some people think Nathan was there specifically to film a segment. There were rumors that cameras were following them for The Rehearsal. But as far as the public record goes, they were just attending a game. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes a miserable comedian is just a guy watching his team give up seven runs.
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It's sort of fascinating how we project narrative onto him. Because his work blurs the line between reality and performance so aggressively, we can't accept him just sitting in a chair. We assume there’s a script. We assume there’s a hidden microphone.
The reality? The Mets just played a really bad game of baseball. Max Scherzer surrendered seven earned runs—the most in his postseason career. If you were a Mets fan in that stadium, you looked like Nathan Fielder too. He just happened to be the one with a hit HBO show.
Breaking down the viral impact
The reach of that one jumbotron clip was insane. It didn't just stay in the sports world. It crossed over into prestige TV fan circles and general meme culture. It worked because it was authentic to his brand. If Tom Cruise looks sad at a game, people worry he’s having a bad day. If Nathan Fielder looks like he’s staring into the abyss, people think it’s a masterpiece.
Basically, Nathan has trained us to find humor in his discomfort. It's a weird superpower. He can make a 1-7 loss feel like a scripted comedy beat just by sitting still.
If you're looking to capture that same "Nathan-esque" energy in your own life, or maybe you just want to understand why his comedy works so well, start by re-watching the first episode of The Rehearsal. Pay attention to how he uses silence. That's exactly what he did at Citi Field. He let the silence (and the scoreboard) do the talking.
For fans of The Curse or his older work, that Mets game remains a landmark moment in "off-duty" performance art. It reminds us that the best marketing is often just being yourself—or at least, the version of yourself that the world expects to see. If you ever find yourself on a jumbotron and you don't feel like waving, just take a page out of Nathan's book. Stare into the soul of the camera. Say nothing. Let the internet do the rest.