‘The Rehearsal’ Portrays Paramount+ Germany as Nazis After Removal of ‘Nathan for You’ Episode

Spoilers ahead for “The Rehearsal” Season 2, Episode 2

Nathan Fielder just turned the streaming wars into a more literal war, as on the latest episode of “The Rehearsal,” the comedian portrayed Paramount+ Germany as literal Nazis. The bit was sparked by the streamer’s removal of an episode of Comedy Central’s “Nathan for You.”

As with all things concerning Fielder, this is going to take a minute to explain.

In its first season, HBO’s “The Rehearsal” attempted to help people through difficult situations by designing customized “rehearsals” for them; elaborate productions filled with trained actors that allowed them to act out every possible scenario. Now in its second season, “The Rehearsal” is attempting to solve commercial airplane crashes. As wild as this leap may seem, it does make a degree of sense. Fielder uncovered a correlation between plane crashes and poor cockpit communication between pilots. So this season, Fielder has dedicated his HBO comedy show to understanding and fixing this problem.

That’s where Paramount+ comes in. While trying to think of a time he felt frustrated at someone while still being worried his anger would have career ramifications — a situation co-pilots may find themselves in — Fielder thought of the streamer. In late 2023, the comedian discovered that an episode of his Comedy Central show “Nathan for You” was missing from Paramount+. The episode in question follows Fielder as he starts his apparel line Summit Ice, a Holocaust awareness brand with the tagline “Deny nothing.” Though the brand was created for the TV show, it has raised millions for Holocaust awareness, according to Fielder. But because he also co-created and stars in a Paramount show, Showtime’s “The Curse,” he felt conflicted about confronting the company, fearing that his anger could impact his chances of getting a Season 2.

Season 3, Episode 2 is still not available on Paramount+. An insider familiar with the matter confirmed to TheWrap that the episode was pulled following a standards review. The official Summit Ice website also alludes to the removal on its About Us page, and TheWrap has reached out to Paramount+ for further comment.

That’s in line with what Fielder said happened in the latest episode, out Sunday. The comedian learned that the episode was pulled from Paramount+ Germany as was any other content “that touches on antisemitism in the aftermath of the Israel-Hamas attacks,” Fielder said in the episode.

“This act by Germany triggered the attention of other European Paramount branches, and they in turn pulled the episode, too. Before long, the ideology of Paramount+ Germany had spread to the entire globe, eliminating all Jewish content that made them uncomfortable,” Fielder continued.

He then devoted the rest of the episode to what he does best: rehearsing. Fielder portrayed a confrontation with an unnamed executive from Paramount+ Germany. But because this is Fielder we’re talking about, the brand’s corporate headquarters was placed in a war room and the executive was dressed like a Nazi as Paramount+ soldiers trained outside.

“I know you guys probably feel a lot of shame about what you did in the past and now you’re trying to overcompensate by being the world leaders in fighting antisemitism, but when it comes to art, I think you’ve got to know your place,” Fielder said to the fake head of Paramount+ Germany. “You have to let us Jews express ourselves because, honestly, the way you’re approaching this whole thing, people might get the wrong idea of what you actually stand for.”

But it wouldn’t be “The Rehearsal” without a late in the game plot twist. After realizing that the rehearsal felt off, Fielder encouraged the Paramount+ executive actor to improvise more. It’s during one of those rehearsals that the actor doubts whether Fielder is actually interested in understanding the streamer.

“You designed this office to look like a war room, dressed me to look like a Nazi. Pretending to want feedback but you don’t actually want the Paramount+ perspective or the German perspective,” the actor said. “Look at you pretending to be serious. This is not sincere. You’re just a man with a grudge using his television show to smear us instead of trying to understand us.”

At the end of the confrontation, Fielder stares outside as his fake Paramount+ soldiers march. Nothing is resolved. Although, the Summit Ice episode of “Nathan for You” is available to watch on Max.

New episodes of “The Rehearsal” Season 2 premiere Sundays on HBO and Max at 10:30 p.m. ET.

The post ‘The Rehearsal’ Portrays Paramount+ Germany as Nazis After Removal of ‘Nathan for You’ Episode appeared first on TheWrap.