Comment by evan_ | Hacker News Reader

Comment by evan_ | Hacker News Reader

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I would bet money that this is a stunt for the Comedy Central show "Nathan For You", which is coming back for a second season soon and does all kinds of weird business-y stunts like this.

In the first season he got a gas station to offer gas at a steep discount, but only after rebate- but you had to drop the form off in person at the top of a mountain:

http://www.comedycentral.com/video-clips/zhbu8g/nathan-for-y...

It increased business because people came for the low price, but only a handful of people actually decided to try to redeem the rebate. Those that did try to redeem it had to camp out overnight and solve riddles:

http://www.comedycentral.com/video-clips/q9ibj6/nathan-for-y...

On another episode Nathan tried to help a Haunted House to create buzz by getting someone to sue them for being too scary:

http://www.comedycentral.com/video-clips/nf0ws2/nathan-for-y...

He did this by making a couple think they'd contracted a disease and were being rushed to the hospital:

http://www.comedycentral.com/video-clips/wvuntb/nathan-for-y...

Not only does the article seem to be Nathan, but I also wonder if you are.

It's true. Everyone in this thread is an actor, we're trying to get Dumb Starbucks into Y Combinator.

It would be so awesome if this is from "Nathan For You" - that show is hilarious, especially if you appreciate dry humor and have ever watched a season of The Apprentice :)

I would bet $100 this is Nathan For You. That's my favorite show, and this has all the hallmarks of his style.

Looks like you were right! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo_deCOd1HU

Unfortunately all of those video links are blocked for countries outside the USA.

Negative. They are probably blocked in countries where Comedy Central does not have distribution. For example, they work in Sweden, where there is comedy central.

I'm able to watch them here in Japan though. Guess they're only selectively blocking.

You don't have a method for watching videos that are blocked outside your region?

oh you, Dumb Viacom

I don't think so, it would take a TON of capital to pull off something like this and after watching a few episodes I don't think it's feasible for the shows budget. All their stunts seem to be somewhat inexpensive in comparison to opening a store.

I dunno, presumably all of the equipment is leased, they probably aren't paying the employees much more than minimum wage, I bet it's within the show's budget. (Especially if it ends up only being open for a day or two.) If the experiment is successful they should end up making money.

Really, if you think about it, if you only plan on having it open short-term, and you have the money of Viacom (parent co. of Comedy Central) behind you, then capital is not an issue.

You're not going to buy the equipment, you're going to lease it. Paper cups are pretty cheap, and you're hiring people off Craigslist. Coffee's cheap too. And it looks like they're in an area that would be pretty cheap.

Cable shows like this are incredibly cheap, and that's why networks love them. A few hundred grand isn't chump change, but if they get a whole episode out of it, they're still making money.

You saw the first season, maybe CC bumped up the shows budget for second season.

I think the most expensive thing there is the sign. That's probably over $5k. Month's rent, depending on how bit the place is, maybe $2-4k. Couple days payroll, maybe $1k. Equipment lease I don't know, but maybe a few grand. More if they bought stuff, less if they found a closing Starbucks. Everything else (custom printed cups) maybe another $2k.

Total in my dumb estimate around $15k; maybe more depending on how elaborate the mockery is, or less if they tried to keep costs down. Anyway, in TV production terms, not much.

Almost certainly you're right, considering Tim Heidecker (an exec producer of the show) retweeted a pic

https://twitter.com/timheidecker

Honest question - how does that man keep getting work?

Even when you approach from a meta-comedy standpoint - something that his supporters claim is his main focus, he is just juvenile and idiotic. I think he's honestly just an idiot who has gotten lucky enough to be in comedy during the time in history that marijuana is very, very mainstream.

>he is just juvenile and idiotic

So since you think he's juvenile and idiotic, that means that he shouldn't get any work?

>I think he's honestly just an idiot who has gotten lucky enough to be in comedy during the time in history that marijuana is very, very mainstream.

I think he's hilarious and I don't smoke anything. If he truly isn't funny, how does he keep getting involved in different projects? Obviously some people must find him amusing.

I think he's got the same thing going for him that Andy Kaufman had. No one famous wants to look like they don't get it, or look dumb, so they play along.

Something, something, emperor's new clothes.

Reading stuff like this makes me like him even more. Sorry. Probably a holdover from how much I liked Beavis & Butthead as a kid, people thought that was idiotic too.

Pretty good guess

the wording of the letter sounds pretty natural if you read it in his voice, too

Looks like they got a bigger budget for season 2

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