Is Nathan Fielder's Micropenis in 'The Curse' Real?

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The new dark comedy series The Curse is a masterclass in discomfort, following married couple Asher and Whitney (Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone) as they film Flipanthropy, their TV show-within-a-show which purports to renovate homes while simultaneously battling gentrification and giving back to the community.

The specifics of whether or not their show actually helps people propel much of the show's narrative, as does Asher's insistence that he and his wife are "good people," even when all evidence points to the contrary. But what viewers will almost certainly remember from the series premiere has nothing to do with flipping houses.

During a family meal with Whitney's parents Paul (Corbin Bernsen) and Elizabeth (Constance Schulman), Paul places a tiny carrot onto Whitney's plate, and a giggling Whitney insists that this in-joke is "not funny." It's a scene that makes sense moments later, when we cut to a full-frontal shot of Asher urinating, and it is revealed that the character has a micropenis.

It's far from a one-off sight gag. In a subsequent, deeply uncomfortable scene in Paul's vegetable garden, it is made clear that Asher's insecurities about his penis are affecting his marriage. His father-in-law gives him some advice while blithely urinating on his crops, revealing that he too has a micropenis.

"People are a lot like tomatoes," says Paul. "You have your big old beefsteaks.. and you got your little tiny cherries. They’re very different, but once you slice up a cherry and you put it in a sandwich, it tastes great. Once you put it between the bread, it’s all the same."

"Be humiliated. Embrace it," he continues. "You say it once. You say it to a complete stranger. ‘Hello, I’ve got a small penis.’ You think they’re going to laugh at you, but they’re going to laugh with you because life’s a fucking joke."

Is Nathan Fielder's micropenis in The Curse real?

Following on from several other scenes featuring prosthetic penises in TV, from The White Lotus to Minx, it is pretty clear that both Asher and Paul's micropenises in the first episode of The Curse are also fake. But for some men in the real world, their heightened conversation reflects some very real concerns.

It is worth remembering that size truly isn't everything, says Justin Lehmiller, PhD, a research fellow at the Kinsey Institute and author of Tell Me What You Want, "Consider taking time to build an emotional connection first and then find a time before clothes start coming off to bring it up," he says. "When you mention it, you might think about saying that you can make up for what you don’t have in size—and then some."

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