The Rehearsal: UK release date of Nathan Fielder comedy docu-series on Sky, trailer - and how to watch?

HBO documentary series The Rehearsal follows Nathan Fielder on a quest to help people prepare for events that they are making them nervous.

The series is a social experiment which sees Nathan guide his clients through various scenarios until they are comfortable enough to actually go through with them.

What is The Rehearsal?

The Rehearsal is an American documentary style comedy series written, directed, and presented by Nathan Fielder.

The series follows Nathan as he helps people to rehearse difficult situations that they will have to experience for real in the future.

With the use of elaborate sets and hired actors, Nathan creates an environment that will mirror as closely as possible the event that the person is worried about.

Each situation is different - some are fairly simple such as confessing to a lie, while others are more complicated, like raising a child from a baby into adulthood.

The actors will run through different conversations with Nathan’s clients many times, preparing them for almost any eventuality when they have their difficult discussion in the real world.

The sets are constructed to replicate the real environment that each client will be in when they face their fears and really live out the situation that they have spent so long rehearsing.

In the trailer, Nathan says: “If you’ve planned for every variable, a happy outcome doesn’t have to be left to chance.”

Is The Rehearsal real?

Yes, The Rehearsal is a real docu-series - even though it stars a comedian and is designed to be funny, the people involved in the show and the scenarios they are rehearsing are all real.

In the first episode of the show, one of Nathan’s clients, Kor Skeete, is on the show to rehearse confessing to his trivia quiz partner that he lied about having a master’s degree.

Although Nathan is able to help him to rehearse his confession, at the end of the show Kor confronts him over the extent to which he has manipulated his personal life.

Who is Nathan Fielder?

Nathan Fielder is a Canadian comedian, writer, and producer who is best known for his Comedy Central show Nathan For You, where he played a fictionalised version of himself and offered outlandish advice to struggling businesses and individuals.

Nathan has also written and starred in comedy series Jon Benjamin Has a Van, and appeared in The Disaster Artist, The Night Before, and Drunk History.

His TV persona is that of a socially awkward, uncomfortable loner, which he says is based on a heightened version of his younger self.

Nathan has been friends with fellow comedian Seth Rogen since they were children, and Rogen told Rolling Stone: “More than almost any performer I’ve ever seen, he is willing to just sit there and do nothing for a long time, to the point that the people he’s interacting with are forced to reveal themselves, because the silence is excruciating. I think it’s not something everyone has the stomach for.”

When is The Rehearsal on TV?

The series premiered in the US on HBO on 15 July.

It will air for the first time in the UK on Sky Comedy and NOW on Wednesday 24 August at 9pm. There are six episodes in the series and they will be released weekly.

Is there a trailer?

Yes there is, and you can watch it right here: