Nathan Fielder Wants Wolf Blitzer to Know the FAA Is Dumb

May 29, 2025
9:53 pm

At the end of his 17-minute interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown on May 29, Nathan Fielder specified that he could have gone somewhere else to discuss season two of The Rehearsal but didn’t. “These days, a lot of people will go to alternative-news sources or comedy podcasters to get the word out about stuff, like Joe Rogan or Theo Von, but for me, it’s still CNN all the way,” he told the co-host with a little smile. His seemingly earnest admiration toward traditional news outlets followed an in-depth discussion about the theory Fielder explores in his HBO series: that miscommunication between pilots is a major contributor to commercial-airline crashes. The comedian’s CNN appearance, where he was joined by former National Transportation Safety Board member and Rehearsal co-star John Goglia, played in to all that makes the show so singular, particularly the tenuous balance between Fielder’s dry sense of humor (often at the “intimidating” Blitzer’s expense) and sincerity (a plea for the government to take this seriously). And he did it while wearing a baseball hat that has “737” on it.

But the FAA doesn’t seem to want to play ball with Fielder. In a statement responding to The Rehearsal shared by CNN, the agency said that it does “mandate all airline pilots and crew members to complete personal-communication training” and that it’s “not seeing the data that supports the show’s central claim that poor pilot communication is to blame for airline disasters.” Fielder’s response? “That’s dumb,” he said, adding, “They’re dumb.” Fielder points out, as he did in the show’s season finale, that the required “training” basically amounts to a PowerPoint presentation encouraging pilots to talk to one another.

Fielder’s post-season talk-show circuit has been less of a victory lap and more of an impassioned plea with a handful of jokes here and there, most of them visual. On May 27, he dropped by Jimmy Kimmel Live in full pilot regalia (that he bought on mypilotstore.com) to once again emphasize that yes, he’s a pilot, and yes, he does care about this communication issue in the cockpit. “When I put on the uniform, I’m sort of reminded that I can be serious and that I can do serious things because I don’t look silly when I wear this,” he explained, looking very silly. But for all that Fielder has made himself look foolish — like dressing as baby Sully — he’s clear to emphasize that the real clowns are the FAA, calling them dumb two more times before his interview ends.