It didn’t seem like a difficult question: How would John Wilson describe “How to With John Wilson”? But after a long pause, the 37-year-old filmmaker laughs sheepishly, defeated. “This is still a challenge for me,” he admits over Zoom. “I still don’t know how to host this show, even after a decade of making it work.”
Let me try: Over the course of three terrific seasons, “How To” forged its own inimitable path in the nonfiction space, each episode initially promising to provide viewers with practical advice (“How to Make Casual Conversation,” “How to Split the Bill”) before host John Wilson’s investigation into the subject matter invariably led him into new, funny, uncharted territory. Backed by B-footage of strange sights on the streets of New York, wryly juxtaposed with Wilson’s amusing, low-key voiceover, “How To” never made fun of the strange subjects who came into its orbit (be they UFO eyewitnesses or vacuum cleaner collectors), but instead crafted poignant, human snapshots of proudly quirky individuals.
Wilson knew this season would be his last, and he wanted to end on a high note. He accomplished that, earning Emmy nominations for writing and hosting a nonfiction show. “How to” had actually been a part of Wilson’s life long before it premiered on HBO in October 2020: In the early 2010s, he began making independent short films in a similar vein with titles like “How to Keep Smoking.” As he puts it, “It would take me a year to make 10-minute material,” but once HBO greenlit the series, with Nathan Fielder (“The Curse”) as executive producer, Wilson learned to work in a more focused way.
John Wilson with his camera in “How to Make It with John Wilson.”
(HBO)
“Having structure is good, but being accountable to other people is also really important,” he says, with the same sweet, eager demeanor as on “How To.” “You’re up against a deadline and you can’t think about things too much for too long, which is a dilemma I often have when I’m alone. That kind of intense, chaotic production ended up creating these weird moments of serendipity, just because of the momentum of the process.”
While Fielder's groundbreaking “Nathan for You” was sometimes accused of being mean-spirited toward its average American protagonists, “How To” is almost miraculously even-handed, allowing people like an elderly Arizona resident named Mike, who in the series finale explains why he castrated himself, to tell their stories free of ridicule.
“People want to be remembered,” Wilson suggests, explaining how she gets people to open up. “If you meet with them on their own terms and in a space that’s comfortable for them, then they feel like they’re in control, which is why I always like to go into people’s homes or bedrooms.” As for avoiding turning her subjects into objects of scorn, Wilson says, “I don’t want to do anything that I think will upset them. I have to do the work as if I’m going to see them every day.”
It's not just John Wilson's themes that are revealed in “How To,” he himself has slowly used the forum to discover parts of himself.
(Peter Fisher / For The Times / Peter Fisher for Los Angeles Times)
But it’s not just his protagonists who are coming out: Little by little, “How To” became Wilson’s forum for unearthing parts of himself. In one touching episode, he briefly but tenderly acknowledges a period when he was “fooling around” with a high school friend, which left them confused and embarrassed about his sexuality.
“In season three, I wanted to include as much stuff as possible,” Wilson says. “I don’t always talk about deep emotional stuff with friends or colleagues — this job is a container for all those feelings. I just try to do it as if no one else is watching.” Were his friends surprised by what they learned about him on “How To”? “I don’t usually ask anyone how they feel about it,” he says. “They might be surprised and talk about it on their own. But I just assume that no one is talking about me anywhere else if I can’t hear it.”
“I don’t always talk about deep emotional issues with friends or colleagues; this job is a container for all those feelings. I just try to make it look like no one else is watching,” says John Wilson.
(Peter Fisher / For The Times / Peter Fisher for Los Angeles Times)
Perhaps it’s for the best that he can’t articulate exactly what the ephemeral magic of “How To” is: What always made the show so special was its freedom to wander, its power arising from unexpected connections between the episode’s subject matter and profound, accidental epiphanies stumbled upon along the way. For Wilson, it was a chance to address life, loneliness and the very nature of truth. Maybe. He’s not sure.
“I haven’t worked on the themes of my own work yet,” he says, laughing. “It’s a lifelong project.”
