What are you doing here?

(I’m so sorry if the eyes are hard to see, my dumbass software hates me /silly)

Nate Shapiro was openly and proudly gay, and openly and proudly sexually active, during the AIDS crisis. Like. the real life AIDS crisis. In 1995 (and before, because YDKJ, much like Rome, wasn't built in a day), the peak of AIDS deaths, Jellyvision wrote an openly gay man into their game with very little fun to be made of it and I think that is really fucking cool.

but I also think it effects his character. One thing you're gonna learn about me eventually is that I like to research historical events that characters were a part of and implement them into said character in order to get to talk about interesting historical stuff and enrich their narratives and that's what this analysis is gonna go over. How did being gay on live TV during the mortality peak of the AIDS crisis affect Nate Shapiro as a person?

I think, what I'll go over for now, is how it contributed heavily to his 'untouchable' persona. Gay men in 1995 were stigmatized, written off as irresponsible, dangerous, or doomed due to HIV/AIDS, and so he had to make those assumptions look ridiculous by being so sure of himself, casual about his beliefs, and confident in his personality. It's why his first instinct is to control a room. He's known to be stubborn, but that control gives him the ability to steer how people see him before they can decide for themselves and, according to his fears, for the worse. This instinct comes from seeing how quickly narratives about gay men can be twisted into cautionary tales or weapons against the community, though I don't think he consciously realizes any of this comes from a place of self-protection, and I certainly don't think it's a fake personality. He was definitely confident and smug before he was put on camera, but I think having the weight of perception on his back certainly added to the parts of himself he decided to amplify. Adding to this the fact that it's implied that Nate owns at least part of the YDKJ franchise, and that YDKJ Vol. 1 didn't have an in-universe cult following at release, the success of the gameshow depended on him as a lightning rod, being the face of the brand and all. Failure would end up politicized, and he can't afford to be misinterpreted lest he risk that, so he ends up as emotionally sharp and socially smart. or like. something.

sources, for those who want to learn a little more :3

[1]

[2]

Him being unapologetically queer is so interesting to me from the fact that he has made himself the sex appeal of the studio. Nate is known for being flirty and making sex jokes and he's generally seen as the guy that sleeps around - this is fine, nothing wrong with that, but from the fact that it's a) during the AIDs crisis when this is set in place and b) a character in a story, to a degree, really sticks with me.

point a, I think is explained very well here in the top post. Making a gay character that isn't afraid of it is SO interesting to see. You're at a point in time where not only is being queer closely associated with being immortal but it's also when just general sexual activities between gay men is stigmatized. It's saying something when you do that, and it genuinely shows a lot to the company's values I think. Middle of gay people are bad and they create one that's so proud and smart and generally not just the but of a joke. in universe it's a way for him to make a point that his existence isn't something bad. I really think Ando manages to explain it better than I could, and that's awesome.

point b .... I've been thinking about this for a few days. I am a total movie guy, ask anyone that knows me, and after a while you can start picking up what different traits getting tied to actions and how it shows what the world around us reflects back . That being said I find the casanova being applied to Nate so interesting. Usually a person who falls into this trope (either sexes, particularly in this one being male) has some kind of self worth issue that's become the root of their life. It doesn't particularly matter if it's something they can fully acknowledge or are aware of , but it is something they're trying to make up for. In Nate's case I think it's probably a doubt in ability + internalized fears from when he grew up. It's easier to not acknowledge something especially if unpacking it would impact your work persona - it's easier to laugh at a sex joke and make yourself eye candy than go "I don't think I deserve what I've made and I can't really handle the kind of pressure I've put myself under." I do think his personality is, as Ando said, just a dialed up version of what he's usually like. You don't decide to make a game show if you're not a little bit of a pompous ass, and definitely not play a major role in it. He can mostly see the point in what he's creating but still feels a need to fill a point of "I'm not satisfied" and doesn't fully know what he wants from that. and the way he decides to fix it is through short lived fantasies. You can ignore the discomfort but you'll always want something more or such. I don't think he can ever really get to the point of understanding exactly why he's dissatisfied, because it's easier to see yourself as something shallow . especially if being shallow works fine for what people expect from you

I snuck a peek and found no one that's not me So I juggled my feet across town, decked in motley Seeking applause to seem oddly godly Channel one! We want you to watch me

something something Cookie is notoriously horrible to work with, seeing himself as the only important person in any given room. He does ridiculous and often violent stunts to garner attention, the lack of consequences adding to the God complex he's got going on. No matter how many times he hurts people, though, he's still the star and he's still needed for production. [you all could interpret 'we want you to watch me' as a binjpipe thing if you want, im not really including that here]

Attention expected wherever I walk in Absently serving my talking But at least you'll catch that I matched my shirt and my socks when Only my face can fit in my coffin

The first two lines are rather obvious, but I find some people don't get this last line in general. This is a euphemism for the clown (Cookie in our case) having a 'big head', or an ego so large it makes him horrid to be around. This sounds like someone we knowwwwww

Laughter, applause, and abrasive bells Covered in glue, so I'll stick Everything's huge, oh Everything's huge but my car

Laughter, applause, and abrasive bells Covered in glue, so I'll stick Everything's huge, oh Everything's huge but my car

These parts are more 'doing increasingly disturbing stunts to stick in the minds of those who he entertains' lines, so I'm not annotating them. I wonder if he ever thinks about how Nate never had to do that, nor did Guy or Buzz really. Schmitty does it, but to a lesser degree. Something something 'I wonder if he knows his market value starts and ends with the lack of compassion that is pushing him away from real world connections and making him more and more miserable',,, or maybe I'm thinking about this too much

Channel one Channel one Channel one Channel one Channel one Channel one

Head like the tail of a peacock Consumed by the movement of grooming my plumage A whole pack of lions outweighing my seesaw Crooning my tune after nobody queued it

Love this whole part honestly. As I've said, the head being a stand-in for his ego makes this meaning much clearer (while also in the song having the extra layer of clowns having colorful faces :3 thats cool but irrelevant here) He has an ego so disastrous that it's comparable to the symbol of flashy ego/self-serving vanity itself, the tail of a peacock. He's consumed by maintaining this self image, pushing himself further and further into his persona (we see what he does in 2011), even as it causes the 'pack of lions' (people in his real life) to begin really disliking him and ruining his fun (outweighing the seesaw/stopping his play). As more and more people start to dislike him, he draws himself deeper into work that is beginning to stop its favor for him as well, 'crooning his tune' (continuing his destructive habits) 'after nobody queued it' (despite them not being desirable anymore)

Ratings are great, but the studio's empty I'm fading away from the few who have kept me Getting replaced by a beautiful memory Channel one, the view for the many

This whole song is wonderful for him but this is what sold it for me. As You Don't Know Jack becomes more of a relic, a pleasant, nostalgic thing with his name attached to it, he's really left with nothing. The studio's empty, and the few who did put up with him were his coworkers (Schmitty being a main name here), who are moving on to other jobs as well. Guy and Buzz are gone, Nate's spotty, and Schmitty's trying to keep a connection that Cookie's always taken for granted. Instead of leaving the studio behind with a beautiful memory, like his fellow hosts did, he's replaced by it, because he can't take his work with him, and his work is all he was.

Doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo Doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo Doo doo doo, doo doo doo

Whenever I- Cut! Uh, alright, that was, that was lovely, very tender Thanks Let's, let's make- Ah, bring it back to the fun part and we'll just call it a day Alright God

And so forms his inability to be sincere outside of self-deprecating jokes in these new games. He has to be kinder, more level-headed, because he isn't irreplaceable anymore. And, while he's miserable, he refuses to say anything, not because of producers like in this song, but because deep down his ego will always take priority over his basic needs. I said I wouldn't bring up binjpipe but we even see that with the favorite pen.

Laughter, applause, and abrasive bells Covered in glue, so I'll stick Everything's huge, oh Everything's huge but my car Laughter, applause, and abrasive bells Covered in glue, so I'll stick Everything's huge, oh Everything's huge but my car

Nate: Ah, yes; Mauve, Violet, Ecru, Magenta, Jasmine, Seagreen, Unyellow, Natural, and Pink! The colours of the rainbow!

[for fun, I decided to actually compile the colours. since “Unyellow” and “Natural” aren’t colours, I used purple (an ‘un’ yellow) and peach (a skin/flesh tone)]

Someone cosplaying as their Nate interpretation and lip-syncing this audio! (It’s beautiful)