Nathan Fielder, host of Comedy Central's "Nathan For You," admitted on Monday that he was behind the mysterious Dumb Starbucks storefront that opened in Los Angeles last weekend. On Tuesday, he appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" to talk about the experience of opening up an exact duplication of a real Starbucks with the minor change of putting the word "dumb" in front of the menu items.
"On my show, I help people with out-of-the-box marketing ideas to grow their own business," Fielder said. "This one was so good that I wanted a piece of the action myself."
Despite Fielder and Comedy Central's claim that parody laws protect Dumb Starbucks, the actual Starbucks corporation is not pleased with the stunt and is reportedly pursuing legal action.
But Fielder believes that this will only hurt them: "If they do continue down this road, they risk losing me as a customer."
Starbucks is not the only party displeased with Dumb Starbucks. The store got shut down by the Los Angeles health department, which is interested in penalizing Fielder for operating without a food license. Fielder told Kimmel he could face six months in jail.
This stunt was not the first time that Fielder has faced potential jail time. On the first season of "Nathan For You," Fielder constructed an elaborate stunt where he risked exposing himself to children and immediately going to prison. You can watch that episode, and the rest of the first season of "Nathan For You," on Comedy Central's website.