What did Nathan Barley ever do for us? Well, he anticipated apps; Dapper Laughs, cloutrage, posho influencers, hipsters, and trending. He was making random, faux-artistic and pointless #content before pretty much anyone at the time…at least, on TV.
His cruel viral pranks on poor timid Pingu (Ben Whishaw) arrived at the time of ‘happy slapping” but we couldn’t have guessed how far that would go, with Mizzy getting arrested for something dangerous and stupid every ten minutes (he recently turned up at Wireless Festival and was in court AGAIN) or various Tik Tok airhead drools like Olli London, or the ever-pointless Katie Price joining Only Fans.
“Famous for being famous” used to be something the tabloids screamed, but now Andy Warhol’s assertion of “fifteen minutes” of fame seems to be getting, increasingly, extended, if you can keep provoking outrage, via your desperate attempts at notoriety.
Ultimately though, it seems that there have been Nathan Barley types as long as there have been people. Will the idiots keep winning? Only if we let them. “Peace and fucking, yeah? “
Hit The North 