Nathan Fielder is a breakout star. Here’s how the Toronto comedy scene and Humber College shaped him - Toronto Star

The co-director of 'You Can See Everything' made dozens of video shorts at the school and helped organize events at the Rivoli.

Long before Nathan Fielder’s documentary “You Can See Everything” entranced critics and audiences with its reality-bending dissection of Silicon Valley fraudster Elizabeth Holmes, he was just another young performer trying to stand out in Toronto’s underground comedy scene.

What set him apart was his ambition to be different, say those who met Fielder after he enrolled in the 2006 class of Humber College’s one-year comedy writing program. The Vancouver native arrived with a bachelor of commerce from the University of Victoria in one hand, a camcorder in the other, and a workhorse spirit that immediately served him well.

Andrew Clark, who taught at Humber before the comedy program was dismantled earlier this year, remembers being struck by the 23-year-old’s commitment to making successful bits, rather than simply aspiring to be famous. He wasn’t just funny, Clark says, but also a great communicator with a knack for writing insightful essays about comedy.

On the docuseries “Nathan for You,” Fielder parodied the famous coffee chain with “Dumb Starbucks.” 

“He always seemed very focused on doing exactly what he wanted to do creatively,” Clark told the Star. “He was clear, smart and funny.”

Since those formative days at Humber, Fielder has become one of the most distinctive voices in North American comedy, acting as special correspondent on CBC’s “This Hour Has 22 Minutes,” and hosting the satirical business show “Nathan for You” on Comedy Central. He won a Peabody Award for HBO’s high-stakes meta re-enactment series “The Rehearsal,” and his latest project, “You Can See Everything” (co-directed by Lance Oppenheim), is now in the Oscar conversation.

Clark said those skills were already being honed when he knew Fielder. He remembers often glancing out the classroom window and spotting him and a small group of classmates in the quad below, camera in hand.

“There’s Nathan and his friends making a video,” Clark said. “I was thinking, ‘Wow, these guys don’t really quit.’”

When Fielder returned to Humber in 2018 to speak to students, Clark said the comedian told the class he produced dozens of clips in his year at Humber, ranging from wry skits to musical parodies.