As reported by Vulture, former California state judge Anthony Filosa—best known as the surprisingly cooperative legal consultant on Comedy Central’s Nathan For You—has died. Filosa appeared on Nathan four times, warning host Nathan Fielder about times he had broken the law or was about to break the law, and on one memorable occasion, how to put himself in a position where he’d be labeled as a sex offender if he couldn’t escape from a robot in time. Filosa was 78.
In his Los Angeles Times obituary, Filosa is described as being “loved for his keen sense of humor, beautiful singing voice, and love of movies,” none of which should be too surprising for people who saw him on Nathan For You. The show is all about Fielder using his business “expertise” to help people with absurd schemes, often by manipulating the general public into accepting a ridiculous thing for relatively straightforward purposes. For example, one episode involved promoting a Los Angeles souvenir store by telling people that a movie was going to be filmed there, which Filosa explained to Fielder was definitely fraud. He explained, in a deadpan and entertainingly autoritative way, that the only way to avoid charges would be to refund everyone’s money or make the movie for real. Fielder chose the latter.
Filosa’s obituary says he was “especially proud” of this recurring role on Nathan For You, and Fielder posted a little remembrance for him on social media yesterday:
The obituary also notes that, in lieu of flowers, his family would just like people to toast Filosa’s memory with a glass of wine and the words, “that’s a wrap”—which it says he said at the end of every day in court. We’d also like to suggest toasting with his iconic Nathan For You quote, “Something might happen here, and if it does…so what?”