Nate Bargatze | |
|---|---|
 Bargatze in 2017 | |
| Born | (1979-03-25)March 25, 1979 (age 46) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
| Comedy career | |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Medium |
|
| Genres | |
| Subjects | |
Nathanael Bargatze[1] (/bɑːrˈɡɛtsi/bar-GET-see; born March 25, 1979)[2] is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He has been called aclean comedian, and has been noted for hisdeadpan, monotone delivery.[3] Bargatze was the highest-grossing stand-up comic in 2024, with over a million tickets sold across his shows.[4][5]
Bargatze was born inNashville, Tennessee, to Carol and Stephen Bargatze,[6] on March 25, 1979.[2][7] Stephen was aclown, member of theInternational Brotherhood of Magicians, and motivational speaker,[8][9][10] while Carol worked in the ticket office for theVanderbilt Commodores.[10][11] After a troubled childhood, Stephen had initially studied to become apreacher, but ultimately graduated fromTrevecca Nazarene College with a bachelor's degree in education, 10 years after leaving high school.[8][9]
Raised in a devoutly religious Christian household, Bargatze is one of three children.[12] His father practiced magic tricks with him while growing up, and Bargatze stated he performed in skits with his church group, beginning when he "was around 11".[6] He attended DuPont Elementary inOld Hickory, Tennessee until fourth grade, when he transferred toDonelson Christian Academy (DCA) in Nashville, where his father had a day job as a history teacher.[10] He competed in track and field at DCA and tried out for the basketball and golf teams, but was cut from both. He graduated in 1997.[13]
Bargatze then attendedVolunteer State Community College in nearbyGallatin for a year.[6][14] During this time, he had various jobs, such as working in construction, manning a cellphone kiosk atWalmart, and delivering furniture. He enrolled inWestern Kentucky University, but flunked each of his courses and dropped out.[15] He also had a stint working atApplebee's and later landed a job as a meter-reader for a water company inMount Juliet, Tennessee.[10][16] He was a fan ofThe Bob & Tom Show, a radio program which often hosted comedians, and it inspired him to become a comedian himself.[17] One of his fellow meter-readers, Michael Clay, also had an ambition to become a comedian, and together they decided to quit their jobs and both pursue a comedy career.[16] Bargatze's parents were supportive of his decision and attended his firstopen mic event.[15]
Bargatze began his comedy career in 2002,[10] and moved toChicago to attendThe Second City, animprovisational comedy troupe. He soon decided against improv and instead enrolled in Jim Rauth's Comedy College, which focused onstand-up comedy.[17] At this time, Bargatze rented a basement apartment with his former co-worker Michael Clay and worked as a waiter at a nearby bar.[16] He performed fill-in spots atZanies Comedy Club in Chicago, and also performed at Zanies Nashville.[10][18]
In 2004, Bargatze moved toNew York City,[19] where he became abarker for the renownedBoston Comedy Club, handing out flyers inGreenwich Village in exchange for stage time at night in the club. Bargatze also worked as a dogwalker and aFedEx delivery driver during the day to support his comedy career.[15] He has called theJerry Seinfeld documentaryComedian (2002) "life-changing" and a "big reason" why he moved to New York.[20][21] While at the Boston Comedy Club, he saw comedians such asDave Chappelle,Louis C.K.,Patrice O'Neal, andBill Burr perform live.[15] Bargatze stated that it took "about a year" before he received a paying gig in New York.[19] He spent most of his early years performing for single-digit crowds.[15]
Bargatze had a turning-point year in 2008, featuring onComedy Central's stand-up showLive at Gotham,Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and theJust for Laughs comedy festival inMontreal.[17] He toured extensively with theUSO, performing for American troops stationed in countries such as theBahamas,Greenland,Honduras,Iraq, andKuwait.[22][23] He co-hosted a podcast,It Could Be Better, with Chris Laker andYannis Pappas from 2009 to 2013.[24] He won both New York's Comedy Festival and the Boston Comedy Festival in 2010,[25][26] and released his first 30-minutespecial in 2011, as part of an episode ofComedy Central Presents.[27][28]
Bargatze decided to move toLos Angeles in 2012, taking inspiration fromJerry Weintraub's quote "as soon as you feel comfortable that's when it's time to start over".[24][29] He released his first comedy album,Yelled At By A Clown, in 2012 onAspecialthing Records.[26] It was on theBillboard Top Ten Comedy Charts for two weeks, peaking at No. 2.[30][31] Bargatze received effusive praise fromMarc Maron, and appeared on theWTF with Marc Maron podcast in 2012.[22][32] He was booked onLate Night with Jimmy Fallon in 2013.[33] He also was part ofJimmy Fallon's Clean Cut Comedy Tour that year.[34][35] Speaking of his participation in the tour and his choice to be aclean comedian, Bargatze said: "I grew up watching clean comedy. Starting out, I wanted my parents to come watch me. I still think that way, even though I'm a parent now. I'm a clean comic, but I don't really want people to notice it. ... A good compliment for me would be, 'I didn't even notice that you were clean.' That's my goal."[36]
In 2014, Bargatze developed a deal withNBC Universal to create a sitcom based on his life, with Fallon serving as producer. NBC ultimately scrapped the project.[37][38] Also in 2014, he auditioned forThe Daily Show and made it to a final shortlist of two.Jordan Klepper was hired instead of Bargatze.[38] After two years in Los Angeles, Bargatze returned home to Nashville, deeming it more suitable for his wife and daughter. He initially kept the move to Nashville quiet as he did not want people in the industry to think he had quit comedy.[39][40] His first hour-long special,Full Time Magic, was released in 2015 byComedy Central.[41][42][43] The album version ofFull Time Magic reached No. 1 on theBillboard Top Ten Comedy Charts.[44] The special premiered on the same night asFloyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao. Bargatze said, "Nobody watched my special that night. I didn't even watch it, since I wanted to see that fight so bad."[45]
Bargatze had a breakthrough in 2017, whenNetflix launchedThe Standups, a series with each episode containing a 30-minute set by a different stand-up comedian. Bargatze was featured in the first episode.[29] He said it "changed everything" and that there was a significant increase in attendance at his first gig following the episode's release.[46] In 2019, Bargatze released an hour-long special,The Tennessee Kid, on Netflix.[47] Sarah Aswell ofForbes named it as the best comedy special of the year.[48] Also in 2019, Bargatze filmed a pilot of amulti-cam sitcom forABC based on his life.Katie Aselton,Debra Jo Rupp, andKurtwood Smith were cast as Bargatze's on-screen wife, mother, and father, respectively.[49][50] The pilot was not picked up. Bargatze recalled in 2024 that "I don't think there was a lot of entertainment made for people not on the coasts during that period," and said that while his subsequent success led to renewed interest from networks, "I don't know if I'd do a sitcom now."[38]
Bargatze began hostingThe Nateland Podcast in 2020 along with Brian "Breakfast" Bates and Aaron Weber; in 2022,Dusty Slay joined as a fourth host.[51][52][53] Netflix released Bargatze's next stand-up special,The Greatest Average American, in 2021. It was filmed outdoors atUniversal Studios Hollywood and was nominated for the 2022Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.[54] Also in 2021, Bargatze was featured in an article inThe Atlantic that called him "The Nicest Man in Stand-Up".[15] In 2022, he voiced the character Grady in thePortal spinoff gameAperture Desk Job.[55]
Bargatze's stand-up specialHello World, filmed at theCelebrity Theater inPhoenix, Arizona, was released in January 2023 onAmazon Prime Video.[56] It set a record for Amazon's most-streamed original comedy special, receiving 2.9 million viewers in its first 28 days.[3] On April 15, 2023, Bargatze drew 19,365 attendees to a performance at Nashville'sBridgestone Arena, breaking the venue's all-time attendance record.[57] Bargatze stated that after his show he took a chair from the arena to his house to prevent anyone from breaking his record.[58]
Bargatze hostedSaturday Night Live for the first time on October 28, 2023, and for a second time on October 5, 2024.[59][60][61] In those appearances, he attracted attention for his portrayal ofGeorge Washington in sketches that mock the American language andsystem of measurements.[60][62][63][64] Also in 2024, he performed at theNetflix Is a Joke Festival at theHollywood Bowl.[65] Bargatze said hostingSNL led to a "giant, giant leap" in his career.[66] He was the highest-grossing comic in 2024 according toPollstar.[5] He toppedBillboard's Boxscore ranking of the highest-grossing comedy tours, with $82.2 million gross income from 1.1 million tickets sold across his 148 shows, setting a new record for largest one-year gross by a comedy performer in Boxscore history.[67] Bargatze returned to Netflix to release his next special, titledYour Friend, Nate Bargatze, which premiered onChristmas Eve 2024.[17][68]
In March 2025, Bargatze stated that he would make his first feature acting role inThe Breadwinner, a film he co-wrote withDan Lagana. He announced the film's release date as March 13, 2026.[69] Bargatze hosted the77th Primetime Emmy Awards in September 2025[70], where he courted controversy by introducing a $100,000 donation counter to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, that would have $1,000 reduced for every second an award winner would go over 45 seconds.[71] This resulted in backlash for Bargatze, despite later personally donating $250,000 after the counter had reached $0.[72][73][74]
Bargatze has namedJerry Seinfeld,Steve Martin,Brian Regan,Bob Newhart, andBill Cosby as being some of his comedic influences.[75][76][77]
Bargatze married Laura Blair on October 13, 2006.[78][79] She is originally fromHuntsville, Alabama.[24] They met in their 20s when both were working at anApplebee's on Thompson Lane, Nashville.[29] They have a daughter and live in Nashville.[17][80] Bargatze is a Christian.[81][82] When asked in a 2025 interview withThe New York Times if he regards his comedy as service for God, he stated: "I am second to God. Second to your family, second to the audience, second to everybody. You live to serve, so it's very much a calling in that aspect."[81][83] He added that he is reluctant for his comedy to be labeled as "faith-based" because people "write stuff off. Or they take it, especially now, in very different ways."[81][83]
Bargatze's second cousin, Ronnie Bargatze, was a three-sport athlete who later became a basketball coach atVanderbilt University in the 1970s and was inducted into theTSSAA Hall of Fame in 2018. As a result, Bargatze has been a lifelong fan of theVanderbilt Commodores.[84][85]
Bargatze drank heavily while starting as a comedian, and said he "got very close" to sabotaging his career due toalcoholism.[15] He stated that he stopped drinking alcohol in 2018, recalling that: "I wasn't able to drink like a regular person. I knew, 'Alright, well, if I want to go to the level I want to go to, I have to get this out of my life or I'm not going to be able to get to that level'."[66]
An avid golfer, Bargatze participated in thepro-am of theSimmons Bank Open in 2023, and is friends with professional golfer and fellow Nashville residentBrandt Snedeker.[85] Bargatze also competed in theAT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in 2023, where he was listed as a 7handicap.[86]
Bargatze avoids discussing politics.[38][87] When asked in a 2024 interview withThe Hollywood Reporter if he had been tempted to do so, he said: "Yeah. As you're coming up, you're seeing other people [have success sharing their opinions.] ... And you'd see guys pop up and they'd go that route and they'd get pretty popular doing that, and you're like, 'Should I be saying something? I'm not saying anything.' But I'd remind myself that that thought is about me, it's not about [the audience,] and I should stay in my lane."[38]
In 2024, Bargatze contributed $1.15 million to the development of an indoor athletic facility atDonelson Christian Academy, his alma mater. The school subsequently named the facility in honor of him.[13] Bargatze stated in 2025 that he wants to build a theme park in Nashville, dubbed Nateland, similar toOpryland USA, which he worked at as a teenager before its closure in 1997.[88][83]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Refs. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Are We Good? | Himself | Documentary film | |
| The New Yorker at 100 | ||||
| 2026 | The Breadwinner | Nate Wilcox | Post-production; also writer and producer |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Refs. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008–2009 | Late Night with Conan O'Brien | Himself | 2 episodes | [89] |
| 2011–2013 | Conan | Self / Comic guest | 3 episodes | [89] |
| 2013 | Late Night with Jimmy Fallon | Self (guest) | 2 episodes | [89] |
| 2014–2023 | The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon | 13 episodes | [89] | |
| 2014 | Maron | Self | Episode: "Radio Cowboy" | [89] |
| 2017 | The Standups | Self (standup) | 1 Episode: "Nate Bargatze" | [89] |
| 2023 | Late Night with Seth Meyers | Self (guest) | 2 episodes | [89] |
| 2023, 2024 | Saturday Night Live | Self (host) | Episodes: "Nate Bargatze / Foo Fighters" "Nate Bargatze / Coldplay" | [90] |
| 2024 | John Mulaney Presents: Everybody's in LA | Himself (guest) | Episode: "Helicopters" | [91] |
| Nate Bargatze's Nashville Christmas | Himself (host) | 1 episode | [92] | |
| 2025 | 77th Primetime Emmy Awards | Television special | [93] |
| Year | Title | Network | Refs. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Comedy Central Presents | Comedy Central | [94] |
| 2015 | Full Time Magic | [95] | |
| 2019 | The Tennessee Kid | Netflix | [96] |
| 2021 | The Greatest Average American | [97] | |
| 2023 | Hello World | Amazon Prime Video | [98] |
| 2024 | Your Friend, Nate Bargatze | Netflix |
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Grammy Awards | Best Comedy Album | The Greatest Average American | Nominated | [99] |
| 2026 | Your Friend, Nate Bargatze | Won | |||
| 2025 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) | Nominated | [100] | |
| Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special | Nominated |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)