03x03 - The Movement

[bunniefuu]

My name is Nathan Fielder, and I graduated from one of Canada's top business schools with really good grades. Now I'm using my knowledge to help struggling small business owners make it in this competitive world.

This is Nathan For You.

If you need to move to a different house, you might call City of Angels, an up-and-coming moving company that serves the L.A. area. But lately, owner David Sassounian has been finding it hard to stay profitable with the rising cost of labor in his industry.

For us, our most expensive cost is our employees, for sure.

But after spending some time watching David's movers, I realized there might be a simple solution to all of his problems. So I paid him a visit to see if I could help.

Your movers are very in shape.

Our guys are in shape, yeah.

I mean, lifting all those boxes and furniture.

That's a great way to get fit.

Yeah, the guys are getting a great workout.

They're always getting a great workout.

And that's the idea. You see, the average gym member in America spends over $700 a year to perform physical labor that's very similar to the work that David's employees do. So if we can make a convincing argument that moving boxes and furniture is a better workout that going to the gym, David could tap into an endless supply of labor that would actually pay him for the opportunity to move stuff.

People don't usually pay to work... for somebody else.

I think you'll get a lot more people if they just think it's a workout, and we don't tell them that they're actually doing free labor.

I mean, that's just my opinion as someone who knows a lot about marketing.

I don't know.

I don't know if I can convince people to do that.

David was skeptical but agreed to give me a chance to prove that this would work. Launching a fitness craze, however, would be no easy task. I didn't know much about this stuff, but it seemed like every popular workout was based on a charismatic figure who's a living example of what the workout can do. I know I'm charismatic, and since the workout was my idea anyways, I thought it would be easiest if I just did it. But after reviewing the promotional images I took, I realized I just didn't have the body to be a convincing fitness authority. So I sent my producers to a local fitness convention, and they found a professional bodybuilder who seemed interested in being a spokesperson. So later that week, I brought him to my office to see if he could impress me enough to get the job.

I'm older, but watch me.

Look at me.

I can outperform you.

I can... you know, I look just as good as you do.

I see this as an opportunity really for me to teach.

Jack said all the right things, but what I really cared about was his body.

Yeah, you've got... seems like you've got a good bod.

Thank you.

Yeah. Jack got the job. And because his role as spokesman would be so crucial, I prepared an extensive contract for him to sign.

In the event of your death, we have the rights to your name, likeness.

Sure, sure.

DNA as well.

Okay.

Is that... are you comfortable with that?

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

That's fine.

With Jack on board, I walked him through my concept for a new workout called The Movement that would consist entirely of moving boxes and furniture from one location to another. My plan was to position Jack as the guru behind this workout in the hopes I could convince people he got his amazing physique solely from lifting household items.

Let's see some attitude.

Beautiful. And to really sell this idea, I hired an obese look-alike to pose as Jack before he lost the weight. Now that The Movement had its figurehead, I wanted to legitimize Jack with his own book. So to get the job done quickly, I contacted a ghostwriter who advertised his services on Craigslist and invited him to my office to see if he was right for the task.

What I'm looking for is someone who knows a lot about fitness.

Okay.

Is that you?

Yes.

You know, for my own due diligence, I need to know you're a good writer before hiring you, obviously.

Yeah.

So can you come up with an original sentence right now and tell it to me?

Um...

Okay.

Um, the candles flickered, the sheets were still, but all the energy in the room surrounded Roman and Kenzie.

Kenzie stepped forth and... gently touched Roman's arm.

He suddenly felt weak in his legs and trembled and fell as if his Achilles heel had been struck by a blade, but all it was was simply a woman's touch.

Wow.

That was a good sentence.

Thank you.

Obviously this book would be more fitness, but...

Yeah.

Austin seemed like a pretty good fit for the project, so I gave him as much information as I could about the workout and its founder, Jack.

What did he do when he was younger?

As a child?

Yeah.

Some things I don't know, and you're just gonna have to fill in the blanks yourself.

Okay.

Yeah.

All right then.

With Austin off to write the book, I had a cover designed, highlighting the fact that Jack got his body only from moving boxes and furniture and that he'd never been to a gym in his life. The problem was, in reality, Jack goes to the gym religiously.

I'm in the gym six to seven days a week.

With The Movement about to go public, I couldn't risk Jack being seen at a gym, or else we'd be exposed as a fraud. So I set up a private workout space so he could maintain his body in secret.

So you think this will work to maintain those muscles?

If this is, you know, what I have to do, uh, I can... I'll make it work.

All right, well, you gonna have a workout or...

Sure.

All right, uh...

Have fun.

I felt confident moving forward now that our secret was safe, and I was thankful that Jack was so committed to The Movement. And a couple days later, Austin returned with the completed book.

Steve Jobs?

Yeah.

I was one of his childhood friends.

Oh, okay.

Austin had taken a few liberties with Jack's life story, but for my purposes it would work. So I rushed published a bunch of copies and mailed them to media outlets throughout the state in the hopes I'd get some interest. And as luck would have it, we soon got the big break we needed.

So I have some exciting news.

Okay.

One of the most popular morning news shows in the state wants you to talk about The Movement live on air tomorrow morning.

Oh. Okay.

Wow.

How do you feel?

I felt, uh...

I felt like a... I felt a rush go right by me.

I mean, that is phenomenal.

Just so you know too.

I gave them this book...

Okay.

That I had ghostwritten about your life.

Mm-kay.

Obviously the author didn't know anything about you.

Right.

So he kinda made some stuff up.

Okay.

It seems like a big part of it is how you were childhood friends with Steve Jobs.

So... do you know Steve Jobs?

Steve Jobs, yes.

Uh, he... he's the Microsoft...

Apple.

Apple, right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So anyways, yeah, you might want to read it over to get a sense of what your life is like before tomorrow.

Okay, okay.

In the later chapters, it actually says you spend a lot of time volunteering with jungle children.

I don't know what that is, but you might want to bring it up, because audiences love someone who gives back and is charitable.

Okay, I'll be able to...

I'll tell them, you know, what they wanna hear.

Male announcer: You're watching San Diego 6 News In the Morning.

Welcome back.

We are in spring, but we're always looking ahead to summer.

And if you're looking to lose a couple of pounds, we have a free way to do it with things that are already in your home, and we have proof that it works.

We're gonna introduce you to someone.

Come in here and look at this before picture.

This is Jack Garbarino before...

This was Jack about a hundred pounds ago.

Now let's have you the grand reveal.

The big reveal.

This is Jack now.

Hello.

How great do you look now, Jack?

I look great, I feel great.

I feel a renewed person.

I'm lean and mean, and I'm a fighting machine.

Nathan: The news appearance couldn't have gone better. And over the next couple weeks, Jack made appearances on morning shows throughout the region.

Our next guest lost more than one hundred pounds and never stepped foot in a gym.

Can you lose a hundred pounds just by moving boxes and furniture?

One guy says it's possible.

Look at this man, he lost over a hundred pounds, and now he's sharing his fitness tips with all of us.

Jack...

Good to be here.

You're a story of inspiration.

Yes, um... Yeah, that was me.

I mean, you can see that I was a fat tub of lard.

[Laughs]

And, uh...

'Cause you can say it. I can't.

And you also came across Steve Jobs.

Yes.

How did you meet him?

Well, I grew up with him as a child.

No kidding.

He was my best friend as a child.

Were you able to keep that friendship with Steve Jobs so he could see what you were motivated to eventually become?

You know, he never saw me really at this fit.

We kept in touch, but...

That's it, simple as this.

I do work, charity work...

Okay.

With jungle children.

Jungle child is what?

Yeah, jungle children are children that live in the jungle.

A while ago I was working with a jungle child.

His name was Dendy.

He was a great inspiration for me.

And unfortunately, tragically he d*ed when baboons kidnapped and ate him.

It was actually one of the worst days of my life.

Where is this?

Nathan: Jack turned out to be an extremely compelling spokesman, and he was really hitting our message home.

In my opinion, gym stands for "giving your money away."

Never been to a gym in my life.

Never stepped foot in the gym in my entire life.

I got this body by simply just moving boxes and furniture.

If I could do it, anybody else could do it.

Sign up and you can see what we're doing to help people around the country.

Good work. You look amazing.

Thank you very much.

Yeah.

And before long, the movement inbox was flooded with requests from people wanting to try the workout. So I returned to City of Angels and convinced David to let us do our first workout on one of his upcoming moving jobs. With an opportunity to finally prove my concept, I was excited, but that's when I made a troubling discovery. When I stopped by the storage unit, I noticed that none of the water we had left for Jack had been touched. At first, I thought he might just be bringing his own water, but when I had the clerk check the gate access records, I realized he might not have been going to his private gym at all.

I don't see any... any report that shows it was accessed.

This wasn't good. I have major trust issues stemming from a non-sexual incident that happened when I was a child, so I didn't know if I was just being paranoid. But if Jack was still going to his old gym after saying otherwise to an audience of millions, the credibility of our entire workout would be shattered.

Never stepped foot in a gym in my entire life.

Nathan: I couldn't risk letting this guy destroy everything I had created, so I paid a visit to a private investigator I'd worked with in the past to help me find out if Jack was honoring our agreement. I want you to help me keep tabs on a fitness model that I'm working with.

Okay. Male or female?

Male.

Male, okay. I wanted to stay on task, but the conversation got sidetracked as Brian started bragging that he too was a model, who had appeared in a couple of magazines in the '80s.

And then all of a sudden, it just went from that magazine to that magazine and...

What magazine?

It was "Penthouse Magazine."

Oh, "Penthouse," sorry.

Yeah, years ago.

Years, years, years ago.

"Penthouse" is p*rn.

It's not.

Only time is when he's taking photos of you.

You know, you're with a gorgeous woman.

So you're fully nude in it?

Nah, can't really see much.

But you're penetrating?

Penetrating, you can't see.

That's p*rn, right?

No, it's not.

Not even close to being p*rn, no.

All it is, is just being a male model and taking photographs of you with another woman, very tasteful, very professional, nothing.

But your... your penis was erect.

Yeah, of course it was.

When you got a nice-looking girl...

And you're naked.

And you're naked, yeah.

But what do you call that?

What do you mean, what do you call that?

That type of modeling.

Um... entertainment.

You know, adult entertainment modeling.

Okay.

Once Brian was finished bragging, I filled him in on my suspicions about Jack.

He says he works out every day, so if he's going...

Obviously he has to work out to get that kind of body.

Brian agreed that something wasn't adding up and recommending a covert surveillance. So early the next morning, he picked me up in a Best Buy parking lot.

Let's do it.

And we headed to the neighborhood where Jack lives, parking just down the street from his home.

We just sit here and wait.

That's what we do.

After two hours of waiting, Jack still hadn't emerged, but I was determined to stick this out as long as it takes.

That's a woman.

Yep.

It's not p*rn.

"Penthouse"?

No, it's not p*rn.

I think it is p*rn.

p*rn is when you're having intercourse or fellatio, one of the two.

But you were with a woman.

Yes.

And so that means you did p*rn.

No penetration.

I just wish I waited a little bit longer till the kids got a little bit older.

Why?

'Cause divorce is...

'cause the kids were young and they were...

One was out of high school and going to college, and the other two were in high school.

I just wish that the little one was out of high school.

Some people, you know, don't want to wait it out, 'cause they figure, you know, they're wasting five years of their own life.

"I need to get out."

We do too much for our children.

After five hours of waiting, I was about ready to give up, but then Jack finally emerged. That's him.

Brian: Let's go.

Put your glasses on.

Okay, let's do it.

We're on a code five right now.

It's called a code five, mobile surveillance.

[Exciting music]

There he is.

Right turn.

I see him. Good job.

Lone Hill Ave.

Nathan: After making a quick stop at a drug store, I was hopeful he would just be heading back home, but unfortunately, Jack had something else in mind.

This is where he's going.

Wait, wait, wait.

Brian: Crunch Fitness.

Nathan: This wasn't good. Clearly Jack wasn't taking our business arrangement as seriously as I had hoped.

The guy lied to you.

He has no respect for you.

None.

Nathan: I was shocked to discover that Jack had been going to his regular gym behind my back. This had to be dealt with quick. So the next day, I had him meet me at the storage locker to confront him about what I saw.

So, uh, how's our secret gym been working out for you?

It's working out okay, yeah.

It gets a little hot in there.

Gotta get the workout and come out... you know, come out nice and drenched.

Mm-hmm.

Look, Jack, I know you haven't been coming here.

I know you're still going to your regular gym.

Mm-hmm, mm-kay.

Is that true?

Yes.

With his back against the wall, Jack admitted that the storage unit didn't work for him.

I... I can't get a good full workout in this... this gym.

Fortunately, I had come prepared with a compromise that would allow him to work out at any gym he wanted.

The way I see it, the only way you can go to your gym is in disguise.

Okay.

So do you think this is something that can work for you?

Yes, I'll...

I can put it to work.

Everybody was happy. And after telling Jack that I'd be secretly watching him for the next six months, I could now be confident that he'd stick with the plan, and our secret would be safe.

Thank you.

With Jack back in line, I reached out to our list of eager Movement participants and booked three of them for what I described as a free workout intensive. But in reality, these people were showing up for the real moving job I had scheduled with David.

Hey, everyone.

So I'm gonna start by asking y'all a question.

Are you guy ready to change your life with The Movement workout?

Yeah.

And what better way to pump them up than with an inspirational speech from Jack?

I lost over a hundred pounds just by moving boxes and furniture.

If I could do it, you could do it.

Now let's get started and let's start moving.

Great.

That was good, that was good.

Thank you, Jack.

Thank you, thank you.

You're truly an inspiration to us all.

Pleasure, thank you.

All right.

Now that Jack had inspired and energized the group, I handed each of them their matching team workout wear and headed to the client's home to have him fill out the necessary paperwork. Now it was finally time to see if these three strangers would complete an entire moving job for free.

What you'll be getting today is a full-body workout.

So in this house, I've prepared a bunch of furniture and boxes for you to move into this truck.

Got it?

Are we timed on this?

Is there a certain time limitation?

The goal is to move as fast as you can, because we want a cardio workout too.

Mm, okay.

And with that, they began.

Whoa, there's a lot of stuff.

Nice.

To be honest, I had my doubts going into this, but not only were they efficiently moving the client's stuff, to my surprise, the group actually seemed to be enjoying their workout.

I mean, I've helped friends move before, but I never thought of it as a workout.

So if you go like this, you'll get a bicep workout if you do curls.

Right, right.

Do you feel that here?

Yeah, I do.

Yeah.

It became clear they had all bought into the dream that Jack was selling. And after only 2 1/2 hours, the truck was all loaded up. It was a bit of a challenge to explain why we needed to go to a second house to unload.

We're halfway there, but this next part is the most crucial part because your muscles are training during exhaustion.

But it seemed like their faith in Jack's workout gave them the will to keep going.

There she goes.

It took five full hours to complete the move, but these people did it without ever thinking it was actual labor. And with everything unloaded from the truck, I congratulated my team on finishing their first workout and sent them off.

Nathan: The moving job was complete, and even though the homeowner had a few minor complaints...

The way they handled the boxes and stuff, I said, they're not professional.

Well, I appreciate that feedback.

I think that's really smart.

He eventually agreed to sign off on the job.

I'm not trying to give you a hard time.

No, it's okay.

Everyone has a different personality.

And that meant my concept was a success. So the next day, I returned to David to introduce him to the only employee he'll ever need.

This is Jack Garbarino.

Hey, Jack. I'm David.

Hi, pleasure to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

And it's his hard work and dedication that really made this workout happen.

Okay.

So anytime you need new movers...

Okay.

Jack can go on the news, lie to everyone in America, and you'll get a fresh batch of people ready to move houses for free.

That's great.

Yeah.

Thanks. Yeah, ready to roll.

All right, well, I'll leave you two to take it from here.

Thank you.

All right.

Yeah, so, um, you're my new boss.

So my job is to be out there to promote.

I can do news broadcasts and be out in the public.

I can do, you know, seminars or, uh...

You know, I know Steve Jobs.

He, you know, he passed away, founder of Apple.

I was happy that David now had the free labor he'd always wanted. And knowing that Jack was holding up his end of the bargain, I could be sure that The Movement's future was secure. But there was still one more thing that I had to take care of.

I just pulled up the dictionary definition of p*rn.

"Printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity."

You just Googled this, right?

Yeah, that's the dictionary definition.

"Printed or visual..."

Okay, it was printed, for sure.

No wonder why my parents were [bleep] so mad at me.

[Chuckles]

Hmm.

[Blows]

"I have never been to a gym in my life."

I have never been to a gym before.

"Never in my life."

Never in my life.

"I haven't even walked in the door to look around."

I haven't even walked in the door to look around.