How To with John Wilson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7aSybHRa6s

http://johnsmovies.com/
https://www.hbo.com/how-to-with-john-wilson

hell yes

It's a pretty spectacular and accomplished show right out the gate but the many vimeos at that "JohnsMovies" links show this is a formula he's been perfecting for awhile.

I've watched the first two episodes twice and new gags jump out at me, like when he spends a fwe seconds honing in on the "One Leg, 24 Crimes" (paraphrasing) headline though we're meant to be paying attention to the one that relates to the actual episode story

absolutely thought that author was john malkovich and now its got me wondering if kyle mclachlan was ever there at all

http://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/852/ff8/3c41b03244b1409c1dd0c6ca44bb650c77-kyle-maclachlan-subway.rhorizontal.w700.gif

https://i.imgur.com/A6tjXmh.jpg

Simon OTM, this is just so dense with jokes

third episode was my favorite so far

hard to talk about this show without spoiling one of
its main appeals, which is the sort of unconscious way wilson wanders deeper into or adjacent to his subjects, i.e. the mandela effect stuff in ep 3

I'm a fan. The part that he gets removed from the MTV audience in Cancun cracked me up.

I don't think I've ever seen a show structured quite like this one, you never have any clue what's gonna happen from one minute to the next

thanks for starting this thread, first two episodes were really special. it’s gotten to the point where whenever he takes an interest in a person you know it’s gonna be very worth it. kind of a whole show made out of those nathan moments where he would let his subject ramble into transcendent ridiculousness

Wow at the ending of the third episode. I feel like he intentionally started with two straightforward episodes before diving into the true weirdness. I wonder if that will be more the vein of future episodes.

I'm fascinated by the Mandala Effect, I don't think there's anything to it but I love that there's this bonkers conspiracy theory that isn't rooted in something political or nefarious

favorite part was the line "the worse your memory was, the more these people liked you"

I liked that it was a seemingly benign/not racist conspiracy community, though I'm sure if you dig into the real circles you'll find some unsavory ties to other uh movements

i just love that their conclusion is “we’re interdimensional travelers” and not “human brains process and store information very similarly”

"this guy claimed he invented Pokemon"

I squealed with joy when I realized we were going to get a glimpse into his archiving process in this episode

that journal seemed way too elaborate to just be a prop for the show

it looked unhealthy! but i'm glad he's finding ways to make it productive.

I'm fascinated by the Mandala Effect

i could've sworn "Mandala" was spelled "Mandela," must be a timeline warp situation.

SAME

First two episodes we've seen have been great. What a weird show.

The ending of ep.3 with the stickers is really good. One of these Mandala effects on me is an interview with Joaquin Pheonix on a red carpet where he asks the interviewer if he has a large frog crawling out of his hair and, honest to god, I could not find evidence of that video for years but I googled it a few minutes before making this post and found it right away, but just a 20-second snippet rather than the full thing. I guess the full video had been suppressed by his agents or whatever, as the clip I watched has only 50,000 or so views rather than the millions the original clip would have had. I also swear on my life that there were a couple of years that you couldn't find the footage of the Fabio Goose incident as well to the point that I started seriously considering that I had imagined it.

I love how deeply public access TV this show is, but with HBO's travel budget

I have no idea how it got on HBO but I gotta thank Nathan Fielder and Adult Swim's influence

someone please seed the torrents for S01E02 and S01E03 already

uhhh theres footage of the fabio goose incident??

I managed to get S01E02 but am on my 3rd attempt at E03. drag.
E02 was quite interesting.
Hadn't really been aware of that before.
Dpers seem a lot of central London has intermittent stuff up every time I'm there too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjAYxpXUklc

not the moment of impact if that's what you're looking for.

just learned this season is only six episodes :(

it's fine if they're all this quality

It's impressive to me that he even put three of these together, considering how many months or years must have spent getting all this footage, and the cataloging sorting etc.

i'll take episode four over most television

what a journey

it’s like what if adam curtis except better

It's impressive to me that he even put three of these together, considering how many months or years must have spent getting all this footage, and the cataloging sorting etc.

― early-Woolf semantic prosody (Hadrian VIII), Saturday, November 14, 2020 10:20 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

yea this. ep 4 i finally had the galaxy brain dawning of how these are prob assembled

t/s TLC Tugger vs TC Tuggers

"but they still let the pigs go whoever they want"

that shot was so brilliant

how in the world did he get that

let me tell you I hooted and hollered at that shot

Holy shit at that episode. I liked the last one a little better, but this was wild.

how in the world did he get that

I'm assuming when you are filming nearly all of your waking hours in NYC you are going to get some things.

one of the most explosively funny and deeply disturbing episodes of tv, i've ever seen. more please.

t/s TLC Tugger vs TC Tuggers

right?? i have so many questions

The guy must have a few years of video files stored with pretty intense metadata. There's definitely more than one moment showing "Before and after" shots from the same location that look like they're least a year apart from each other.

yeah that occurred to me with the shot of the lawyer's office and its "great view"

will never think of parasite in the same light again

missing this show, bring on s3!

premieres may 30th!

oh shit! i missed that news, vc just made my day

I was enjoying it until the s1 episode with his ridiculous attempts to make risotto, where he scraped all his failures into the toilet, wtf. I stopped watching after that but I might be ready to forgive him and pick it up again.

That episode was the one that turned me into a huge fan, not so much the risotto but the reason why he wanted to make it <3

that was nice but I also felt the ep was too much about him - I mean the show is about him obviously but there was too much forced situational comedy and not enough passive nyc documentary footage. or whatever you call it.

I totally get what you mean, but I thought he handled it really well and the sincerity helped overcome my hesitation about it. I will say I was decidedly less enthused about the follow-up he did in season 2, but it did lead to some great only in Vegas footage.

oh shit! i missed that news, vc just made my day

― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, March 31, 2023 9:32 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

my bad got my thread wires crossed and thought this was the tim robinson thread. not sure if there’s been an official announcement about wilson but it’ll come later this year

sorry to unmake your day :(

https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/how-to-with-john-wilson-renewed-season-3-hbo-1235174889/

no airdate yet though

July 28th! :)

but final season :(

https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/how-to-with-john-wilson-ends-season-3-release-date-trailer-1235625228/

I skimmed over the list and literally have no idea if we ever saw S2, or, if so, if we watched every episode. I think we saw at least one? This is one of those shows I like but my wife only sometimes likes. She'll see an episode she likes, then watches another one and hates it, then doesn't want to watch the show anymore. Then some time goes by and I suggest we watch another episode, and she frowns and says no way, I don't like that show. And I tell her, but you do! You liked that one episode a lot, there might be more you like! And she just shrugs.

hey new york

those nxivm dudes are going to haunt JW for the rest of his life lmao

also holy shit @ the closing shot of the miniature piss-bottle vessel

Vry excited this is back

silo man made up for the lost footage... yeeeesh

was laughing incredibly hard at the jump cut from "can i come with you?" to being in the truck approaching burning man, a perfect example of what makes this show special

is the only way for me to watch this to sign up for HBO for a month?

i think it's also on some new service called "Max"?

Like this episode much more than the first. Partly due to myself giving it a bit more attention than the first. Thank God I don’t live near any of these disagreeable people

I guess that means I am the disagreeable person

Something lacking so far this season is the personal element the first two had. The themes have stayed similar, but it seems maybe the success of the show has removed him from a melancholy lived experience which he explored tangentially through the themes in the past. Oh well, even without it, it’s good television. God bless John

Doesn't get much more personal than having to look for public toilets because the one in your house is fucked up imo.

I spoke too soon, damn that was a good episode. He hasn’t lost it!

Sad this is the last one! This could definitely ride at a least a 4th season

The change of “topic” in episode 4 is incredible. No one else watching this?

if you like the silo man from episode 1, recommend to check out this jenny perlin film

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR80yoayxVc

I'm watching! Haven't seen last night's episode yet, but really enjoyed the vacuum cleaner collectors.

Was curious about how the collectors themselves felt and found some message board posts: https://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREADM.cgi?44808_6

"We didn’t look silly at all! They put us in a good light."

Looks like there was drama in the vac community at the time based on those messages (and that one introductory clip about banned members). The vacuum Mets story about his dead dad was really moving.

just watched the first one and realized how much I'd missed this show. idk how to explain it exactly but the tone and realness of the show is something very different from anything else on TV. like just talking to people who haven't really ever been in front of a camera, watching people try to explain things they've never really laid out before, it's really interesting. in a way it's the most real just on television. also this ep was pretty fucking gross at times, when he was talking to that bladder doctor I was wondering if I should just fast forward, luckily the episode did not go in that direction (as it kinda did once in the past)

I'm watching, just not caught up yet. It's very true that this show is often not good to watch while eating dinner, it's a calculated risk.

How To Clean Your Ears honestly could've been much worse on that front.

Attempts to watch the very gross first two episodes of the new season during during dinner have been unsuccessful.

The third episode (with the giant pumpkins) was a welcome relief, it's always a respite from grossness when he gets out of the city, lol.

I've just caught up with s2 after getting over my toilet risotto hissy fit described upthread. too many highlights to detail but the avatar fan club/support group was incredible (and not punching down as suggested above). s3 not on bbc yet.

I've only seen the first two s3 eps so far, but I'm really enjoying it.

It gets better every episode this season

one thing i cant shake is how john wilson kinda looks like terry richardson :(

pleased to have confirmed my suspicions, based on his accent, that Bruce Beveridge is originally from the Chicago area (he used to live in the suburb where my mom now lives)

Last episode was a bit Baby's First F For Fake but still good. Very strong season in general.

Attempts to watch the very gross first two episodes of the new season during during dinner have been unsuccessful.

― Chris L, Monday, August 28, 2023 9:33 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

second episode isn't very gross after the first 2 minutes

crazy how utterly unappealing this show makes NYC look sometimes. that episode was neat because it then shows a place which is basically the polar opposite of NYC and hey, that looks pretty unappealing too. but it all speaks to the wide variety of bullshit people can learn to live with and there's something beautiful in that. also a good example of how funny this show can be, particularly when he's interviewing those basement ravers with the kid and the kid is just constantly banging on shit the entire time

The silo bit reminded me of the crazier Grand Designs episodes, where you get the sense that the family dream home the husband is building is being inflicted on said family, rather than a shared desire.

NYC is faithfully represented here, but the difference is that usually those ugly details are not lingered on especially in a show.

🫡

what an end

3rd episode was a trip, love the ones that explore what doors having an HBO show will and won't open. scene with the party girls was pretty funny - "come on, you're not from HBO, this isn't gonna be on TV..."

was a bit bummed that they never caught the camera thief at the cat show, I guess the fact that the show doesn't always have perfect endings makes it real

UK ppl this is on bbc2/iPlayer right now
at least I think it is, I've not started watching it yet, saving it for a treat

S3 on bbc now. Ep 2 (how to clean your ears) is simply phenomenal. How do people offer themselves up like that? The loud music couple in the basement, jfc.

Sad I've finished watching it. The whole thing now feels like an elegy for the 21st century. As soon as I saw Mike in the last episode I was drawn to him. Not sure (genuinely) how I feel about his self-surgery being addressed in such a brief way. Googled and found him on Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/HowToWithJohnWilson/comments/16hsben/my_thoughts/

I do love that the last episode of the show examines the idea of living eternally vs finding comfort in the fact that nothing lasts forever

kinda wonder how that guy came to be on the show in the first place, the episode makes it seem like John bumped into him in a food court, guessing that wasn't actually the case

This title makes it sound like he's got more stuff brewing...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwGWoqyQqTE