--- description: Find out how John Wilson is shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership. title: 2021 TIME100 Next: John Wilson image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2fce52993329bb8/698a171d096a9455116a91e1/John-Wilson.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Feb 16, 2021 # John Wilson by Judd Apatow  HBO _How To With John Wilson_ is not what I expected. A year ago, its executive producer, Nathan Fielder, had trouble explaining it to me. “Well, John shoots video around New York City and talks over it. It’s really great. You have to see it.” When I finally watched the first episode, “How To Make Small Talk,” it rocked me. It’s very awkward, and very funny. John winds up at spring break in Cancún, Mexico, seeking friendship. For a moment, you wonder if he is making fun of everyone partying in pre-COVID days. He starts hanging around with a young man who is wild and ridiculous in his pursuit of fun. This all leads to a very intimate conversation where the man admits he is there because he is grieving the loss of a friend who committed suicide. I watched in tears. What has John Wilson created? What is this format? What he shows in _How To_ is not the view from a video camera. It is how we all see the world through our eyes. We walk the world, occasionally catching glimpses of ourselves in mirrors as we observe beauty, madness, comedy, horror, magic, pain, absurdity, joy, ugliness, love, connection. It is life. This strange, seemingly lonely, sweet man is us. _Apatow is a film director, producer, writer and comedian_ John Wilson Is on the TIME100 Next 2021 List ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937665/john-wilson/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937665/john-wilson/"},"headline":"John Wilson","datePublished":"2021-02-16T22:41:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:47:30.653Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937665/john-wilson/","keywords":["list","franchise","TIME 100 Next"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2fce52993329bb8/698a171d096a9455116a91e1/John-Wilson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2fce52993329bb8/698a171d096a9455116a91e1/John-Wilson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937665/john-wilson/","name":"John Wilson"}}]}] ```