RIP 'Nathan for You'

Oh, Nathan for You. Since 2013, the show has been a brilliant and scathing indictment of late capitalism, taking a scalpel to the blight of corporate consumerism and the way it drives small businesses to debase themselves in a long and futile attempt to claw their way out of the shrinking middle class. It's also, you know, funny as shit.

But now, it looks like chili cooks will have to dream up their own ways to sneak their product into sports arenas from now on—because the show is apparently done. On Wednesday, Comedy Central announced that the fourth season of Nathan for You, which aired in 2017, will be its last, Pitchfork first reported.

"For the past five years Comedy Central had the pleasure of working with the brilliant Nathan Fielder on Nathan For You," the network wrote in a statement. "His innovative and quick-witted humor has made the show a comedic touchstone and we’re proud to have been a part of it. We respect Nathan’s decision to end the series and look forward to geeking out over his next project."

Of course, this is Nathan Fielder we're talking about, a man who routinely scams the news into covering a fake goat rescue or fitness routine or whatever, so who knows—this whole thing could just be a complicated ruse to trick people into thinking that Nathan for You is dead right before Comedy Central surprise-drops a brand-new season in our unsuspecting laps. It's possible.

It's also possible that Fielder just got a little tired of doing variations on the same routine he's been doing for the past five years and decided he was ready to move on. And, yes, it's possible that trying to read this whole thing as a scam is just a coping mechanism to not have to face that fact that Nathan for You really might be over.

But if the news is true, and the season four finale where Fielder helps a Bill Gates impersonator find his long-lost love really is the last we'll ever see of Nathan for You, the show picked a pretty incredible episode to go out on. Maybe the guy just realized that once you earn a gushing essay in the New Yorker from goddamn Errol Morris, it might be time to call it a day. Not a bad way to go out.

Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of VICE delivered to your inbox daily.

Follow VICE on Twitter.