Nate Bargatze
Appearances
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I remember we waited in line to meet Oral Horscheiser. Who's that? The pitcher for the Dodgers. The pitcher for the Dodgers, yeah. Met him at like a Sears. Okay. You know, like they would sign a ball or something. Yeah. We waited in line for him to do that. That's pretty good.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
You know, all I asked was you to read the Carson Daily. And you did. And so I appreciate that. He goes above and beyond. Yeah, I at least do Carson Daily. Plus one service, baby.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
He's the number one fan. He goes, you think you can hook that up now? I'm like, I guess. We can look at it. You want to meet him now?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
There's a Piggly Wiggly we'd go to. They're Kroger, I guess.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
We were not big cooks. Food was, I think, something we just had to get done. It was like you're starving and then you have to eat. It was not celebrated at all and still not celebrated to this day. And I think I have problems with food. And I'm saying because of that, but it's just I don't look at food as... You don't enjoy it. It's more functional.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
It's functional, but I then put the worst in my body to function because I just want to solve the problem.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Your mom, dad, and your brother? No, a lot of TV tray. A lot of TV tray. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what was she making? Like what would be? Chicken. I just remember my whole life was chicken. A lot of chicken.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, chicken breast. On the bone. Yeah, yeah. Chicken breast. Yeah, chicken breast. She would make this cheesy corn that was like in crescent rolls. That doesn't sound too bad.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, my daughter, that's her favorite food. And it's, yeah, so that was the best. Cheese, corn, and a crescent roll? Yeah.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
What about the bedroom? One second, I'm sorry. Would you drink milk with dinner growing up? We did. Yeah, I believe we did.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
We have a big soda family now. We had a water rule because it just was expensive to drink soda out. We only could drink water if we ever went out to eat. How often was that? Not often. I mean, not often, no. Where would you go? You know, it's like you go to McDonald's and stuff, or O'Charlie's was a big one. You got a water at McDonald's? I think so, yeah. That's criminal.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Maybe we got a Happy Meal because the Sprite was something that came with it. Yeah, that makes sense. But we didn't get a ton of that. Yeah, but if we'd go to like O'Charlie's was a big one. Casual dining establishment? Okay. That was a night out. They had great rolls. I'm with you. Yeah, they messed it up.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
They had the most amazing rolls, and then they changed the recipe, and it's just not even remotely the same. My buddy that's here with me, his dad worked at O'Charlie's. No kidding. Yeah, his dad could actually make the rolls. So that's why he's here. I need a roll guy. I need the real deal. Go back to the, you know, come on, what are we doing with what they got now?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Conan, Marin, Marin's TV show. That was a good show. It was a good show. That was a really good show. It was a great show.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I was top. Yeah. And then we shared till, man, probably my freshman year in high school. We moved. Okay. Because then we changed houses and the next house had a basement and my parents- I had a bedroom made in the basement. For them or for one of you guys? Really? You got the basement? Yeah, they kind of finished the basement, and then I got a room. So that was about ninth grade when I got that.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
How was it down there? It was great. They did a very cool thing. They put my bed in a wall, so the wall went in. So the mattress just laid on the wall. Oh, that's pretty cool. Yeah, pretty cool.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
uh no you could have got out from there but i would just go upstairs i never like ran out or anything like that no okay and so uh yeah and then on the wall i don't i mean i've had a lot of vandy stuff i'm a big vanderbilt fan so uh anything vandy yeah i would have had all the indie stuff okay first concert you went to michael w smith Okay. He's a Christian singer. Okay. Yeah.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, yeah, still are. Okay. Yeah. But yeah, so I could grew up, I only listened to, we could only listen to like Christian music. No kidding. Like clean music, you know, stuff like that.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I never really heard, I'm not a good music person either because like I have a hard time, when I listen to music, I don't know if I, I don't ever listen to the words really, so I don't ever get what the song's about something.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
It's just, yeah. I can even sing the words and they just don't mean anything to me. It doesn't get in. It doesn't get in. So I can sing, I could listen to a sad song and be like, this is a pretty fun song. And it could be, because it's not registering to me as like suicide.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Yeah. I just listen to the, yeah. It really, I don't know what they're talking about. I don't... It doesn't... I'm not even trying to figure out what they're talking about.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
No, no. Now it's just anything. Okay. But, I mean, I'd listen to... probably a lot of country now okay more country very nice but again i'm i'm like uh music i i like you know whatever america likes is probably what i'm into like i'm not you're not rocking the boat you're cool with the way yeah yeah yeah what's out right now i'm in what's out This is on the radio.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
That's all I've done. Marin is the only acting. Credit. Yeah. I don't know if you count SNL, but it's like SNL. I mean, yeah. But it would be, yeah, that was it.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
uh i worked at opryland theme park which is closed now i was a sweeper so i just worked at the i was 15 uh i just swept the steps and then worked in dog kennel fun little other one about that uh because it talked about the christmas special but my first job was at opryland and the christmas special was take the grand the grand old opry so i've swept the steps of the grand old opry just growing up and being because
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
They knocked the theme park down, and now there's a mall, which everybody was pretty upset about because the theme park was awesome. And then I think about when I graduated high school, they did that. But I worked there. I worked at a golf course, which is a driving range. Okay. Did you drive the cart to pick up the balls? Yeah, I did that. Did they go after you?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Well, yeah, and so the sides, they'd have three sides. So the front and the two sides were metal. The back was a net that wasn't tied down. So when you would go with your back to it, it was like if a ball gets in. I mean, there's no point to that net. Sure. Because there was nothing. It's coming in. That's how they got the Panzer tanks in World War II. Yeah. In the back. That's great.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, it was like you want to be sideways. You definitely don't want to –
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Big mover. My job, my last serious job, which I talk about on my social, I was a water meter reader.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah. Where at? Where was that, here? Wilson County. No, no, here. I delivered FedEx when I first moved here. No kidding. Driving a truck? That's a good job. Yeah. At the beginning was driving a truck. In Manhattan? I did in Manhattan and then Brooklyn. That's a good gig. You worked for FedEx. Yeah, I was a delivery guy, so I was—this is about getting to read maps.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
In Marin? Yeah. It was actually this. I was doing a podcast interview, so it was not far. Easy money. It was exactly this. You got a lot of range. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess this guy's good. He'll be doing Hamlet this fall. This guy's good.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I was a delivery guy in Nashville, too, and so when I came here, I did that. And it was a really good gig, because their routes—here, it's all about the routes. So, like, guys would have a route that they've had for 20 years. And then if you wanted to—you could sell the route if you were like, I'm done. It's like, I mean, someone might pay $200,000 to get that.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, you could sell, because you're a contractor, so you could sell that route. So if you had, you know, like Upper West Side kind of route, it's like that guy would just, I mean, he could hire people to do it when he was ready to be done. He just gets to go out and there's a bidding war to see who gets that. Because I've heard of that with like Boar's Head routes.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
yeah yeah they were back then and then uh and then so i delivered a lot here some brooklyn and then when i was i was already started comedy but it's like i had nights it would you it would you go out till 9 p.m it was like it was hard to do shows at night of course so then i started just loading trucks so i would load trucks from like 5 a.m to 10 a.m so i would just stay up i'd go like bar
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
and hand out flyers, and the Boston Comedy Club was here. You were in the village. Yeah, and then just stay up and then go to FedEx and then sleep, you know, and then go back out.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I was in Chicago at first. Okay. For about a year, and I lived in Chicago for two years, did comedy about a year in Chicago. Okay. Like Hannibal and Kumail.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
My buddy that worked at the water meter company, he wanted to go there. You got a lot of buddies. I got a lot of buddies. He wanted to go to Second City.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah. I have a joke in my act. Every job I had is just the title. The title is just the description. Driver, water meter. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But so my buddy wanted to go to Second City.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
okay and then uh so i was like all right i think i just needed i was think i was scared to start at home all right you know you just didn't know what to do this is right after the college episode yeah yeah yeah i was like 23 okay and so it was uh and so i wanted to go uh he's like i want to go to second city and i was like all right i'll just go up there i didn't really know what second city was but it's obviously where snl people came out and all that so i took like eight weeks
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
class there but I didn't really love improv and I wanted to do stand up so then I took another stand up class in Chicago and it just kind of started and then Comedian came out I started yeah if you watch Pete Holmes HBO show I started with Pete so that show was what I was doing with Pete
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've been very similar for five years. Comedy Village? No. Village Lantern. Village Lantern. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I barked at the Village Lantern. I barked at the Grizzly Pear, too. Yeah. Village Lantern was before I met Eric Andre. First day Eric Andre came to New York. No kidding.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I was barking at the Village Lantern, and I remember he rode up on a bicycle, and he was just like, they do shows here. And I was like, yeah, they got shows here. You just got to hand out flyers, and then you get... And then he was like on a commercial two hours later. He was like the caveman.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Nashville, yeah. Born and raised Old Hickory. Like, grew up there.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Mazda 626. No kidding. You know who lost first car that was?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
This is the 90s. This is the 90s. Okay. So, yeah, I got it like 96 or something like that. I think he got it in 1985. Oh, yeah. He was real cool back then. Oh, yeah, he got a real one. It was his outsider's money. I maybe bought his. Yeah. Ours was, someone was selling it in the neighborhood of my school, and so it was like $1,200. Okay. Stick shift. Wow.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I had to put a tennis ball over the stick shift because it was very sticky. That's pretty sweet. I haven't thought about that. That is pretty good. It's trashy, but cool. Yeah, it was nicknamed it Old Blue. Cool. And so it worked out because I think it helped me with my... You know, because I went to, so for high school, I went to a private school. Okay.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, yeah. Old Hickory. Old Hickory. So, grew up there. Like, I don't know how far back. Like, you know, winters. Hit me. School. Went to school. I did the school thing. Everybody was doing that. And, you know, tried to go to college. I joke about it, but no, community college for a year. Were you a good student or no? No. Even as a younger kid?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Went to a, that's why it's a smaller Christian school. Because our public schools were getting, they were a little on the dicier side. Gotcha, I understand. And so my dad was a teacher also being a magician, but his regular job was a teacher. So he got a job. Oh, okay. He got a job there. That's what it is. He worked there as a teacher. That's why I got to go there.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
But everybody there had Camaros. My senior year is when Mustang switched the body style. To the 5.0 or whatever? Yeah, yeah. To the new. From the 5.0 to the new. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. and so i mean everybody had new cars so mine was nicknamed old blue uh so it's pretty popular car even though it was the worst car banged up yeah yeah a tennis ball i like that yeah any pets growing up
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
We've had a lot of pets. I have a theory that when you don't have any money, you end up having a lot of pets. That's pretty good. Because you don't have the most toys. In our research, that checks out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just need stuff around. You just need more stuff. What'd you have? Anything weird? Snakes? Oh, I've had a snake. What? One year. That was when I was 12. We had it.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Well, I probably had it a couple years. We had a red-tailed boa, and then we fed it up to mice, and then it was like rats and rabbits. Yeah, jumps. That's when I think my parents were like, all right. What do you do with that? I just put it in an aquarium-type thing. No, when you get rid of it. Oh, I don't know. You know, I still don't know.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah. They put that in the woods somewhere. I've got a few animals. So we had that. We had a tarantula when I was growing up. What? You've had this? I had a tarantula when I was a kid. It froze to death because their heat broke and we were out somewhere. And so it froze. We had a bird, a few birds that got out. One, my mom had the door open. You remember Andy Griffith?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
There's an Andy Griffith episode where Aunt Bea loses a bird. And my mom lost a bird.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
No, no, in a cage. But she was cleaning it and it flew out. Another one flew into a frying pan.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
What are you talking about? Was the frying pan hanging? No, no. It was going. It just went. It just went into the frying pan. Kamikaze into a frying pan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then he'd get it out. And it lived. Looking for heat. Losing like half its fur. Oh, my God. But it lived. Still alive today. Still doing good today?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
It ran off to Louisville. Start a new family. Start a new family. Then, you know, dogs, a bunch of dogs. The big one I had... I've told this. So this story is on my last special, Hello World. But we cut it. But I owned an alligator when I was me and my buddy. This whole thing is falling apart very quickly.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
You made the team. Let me put it to you that way. This guy's got 17 written all over him.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Uh, I was a kid. My dad got it. So I was like five. He's connected to the underworld, this guy. Yeah, yeah. I remember he would do, I woke up, he would, you'd go to sleep and I'd wake up and he'd set it on my chest. So you'd just wake up and be like, I have a transient chest.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
You know what I mean? Yeah, Home Alone they were. But they're scary if you didn't know. Sure. I mean, they're scary even if you know they're still scary. Yeah, yeah.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I think I was a good student up until, I'm trying to figure it out. So I fell down a cliff when I was 12. Okay. And into Old Hickory Lake. Yeah. And I was like really good up to then. Like seventh grade, I won all the awards, like education awards. Okay. You know, the big time, science award, like real deal stuff. I thought you were going to say you got smart after that accident. No.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Or her name. That was Gary. Yeah. I want to say we named it Steve after Steve Irwin.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I'll give you that. Yeah. We love Steve Irwin. Who doesn't? Shout out to him. We wish.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I went to the zoo in Australia. No kidding. It's awesome. His kids run it or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're like the best family ever. They seem awesome. So me and my, I worked at this, I was reading water meters. And so I lived with my buddy and I was like, we should get an alligator. We go, they sold caiman alligators at this pet store.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
So we went and got it, and then we had it for a little bit. It got out of control when one time Buddy brought a snake over with the alligator. Were you guys in the circus?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Well, we were going to see, you know, I think it was going to be like they were going to see what happens, but then we didn't let it happen because it was like, well, that's crazy. This is a Friday night? And then it got too much, yeah. How about catching a movie or something like that or going to the game? Because, well, we had real stakes, you know. Yeah.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
uh so what happened who won the duel no they did not go we we put a stop to it that was about when it was like all right all right yeah what are we doing yeah what are we you know where are we going okay this is this is the fine we're at a fork in the road yeah we're like the white michael vick yeah we go all right all right that's enough join a bike gang yeah yeah next thing you know you're wrestling a groundhog yeah yeah good and then how'd you get rid of the alligator
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
That's the fun. So I don't know for sure. You got real selective memory when it comes to getting rid of these pets. Yeah, I don't remember how we got rid of the alligator. So I joke, saying the story, we let it go on Old Hickory Lake. We just kind of sent it off and just let it. But I don't remember. I don't know if we gave it a store. My buddy knows. I don't remember. That was probably his job.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
It was probably his. Yeah. It's just, yeah, we don't. I'm going to bed. Get him out of here. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, it did, but the other way. It was, and then after that, it was just like I only got perfect attendance. How hurt did you get when you fell on the cliff? Unconscious? Yeah, yeah, I don't remember the whole day. No kidding.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Or in the fridge? I think in the fridge. Ketchup in the fridge? Ketchup in the fridge, I keep it out now, though. Really? Because you go to a restaurant, you don't ever eat cold ketchup except at home.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
No, no, no. No, it's good. Hey, we get to it. It's not going to sit there. Don't worry, Tubby.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I like Miracle Whip, but I think we have both, Hellmann's and Miracle Whip. Really? I don't know if we have both, but it will flip back and forth. Growing up? Like the squeeze kind. Were you a Miracle Whip kid growing up? Please say no. I don't know. What would have else been? Hellmans? Hellmans. Yeah, yeah. Some gentlemen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or Dukes. Yeah, yeah. Probably something like that.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I'm not completely sure. Miracle Whip sounds a little fancy. That's crazy, dude. That's the bad one. No, that's the bad one. Oh, is it?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Oh, I swear I think that's what we had. I thought that was like money one. Hellman's is some money? Hellman's got a little cash.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Hmm. I don't know if I know. Okay. We did buy one of the Hertz rental cars. Nuh-uh. Yeah, you know, you can buy... What kind of car was it? It was a Mazda one. Brand loyal. That was when I moved to L.A.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
yeah all right that's like many parents that's all right no no my parents my parents bought a would they their first car they bought they they were not great with money and so they would bought a car off the lot new stick shift mazda no air conditioning what because it was because it was like two thousand dollars cheaper to get no air conditioning and so they go oh you know they're like what do we need air conditioning tennessee tennessee human it gets brutal without air conditioning man
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
We would always climb down this. It was not like a straight drop. It was kind of like an angle. And so we would always go down it. You know, just go to the... You're being kids. And so one day I just slipped. It was like 60 feet. And then, dude, I've talked about it. I've told a story about it on stage. But it's like then I landed in the water. A guy found me. The ambulance, the whole thing.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
leather seats uh no you're probably sticking back there oh yeah thanks that's the worst yeah okay all right are you a cologne guy not anymore i did a little bit in high school okay i don't you know but i think it was people did it in high school sure i don't think i don't do it y'all still do cologne Nah. I do a spritz, a little polo. Yeah, yeah.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Well, now, it's much different now. Of course. Because I have to go to a lot of things. It's events, yeah. Yes. So now, I have a few suits.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Great to see you. It's awesome to see. Thank you. It really is. Yeah. No suits growing up before that, though. No, of course. I want that on a record. I want that on a record. No suits until way later in life.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
You had to, okay. So, because we had church, you had chapel on Wednesday. Or Wednesday you had to wear it. No, did we have to every day? We had to wear a tie maybe every day or if it was Wednesday, but I had to wear a lot of ties. Okay. So when I was in high school, I just had a ton of ties. No jacket, but you guys wear butt down and ties. Gotcha. Yeah. All right.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Now? Yeah. I don't know if it's 20, but it could be. I mean, yeah.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Oh, yeah. Armani, a Gucci? Yeah, like Paul Smith. I don't even know what that is. That's pretty good. It's the guy's name, so you know it's good. Oh, is that Paul Smith? Yeah. He's a Christian Taylor? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, like I think I might have some Hugo balls. Very nice. You got to look sharp. You got to do a lot of red carpet stuff. Of course.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, I got a tuxedo and the Christmas special. There you go.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
You keep that? Yeah. Did you have that before? No. No, I got it for that. Nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you get, like, I have a stylist, and so there's just so much, because you get photographed in everything. So you do all these red carpets, so you have to kind of, like, wear these, like, CMAs.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
So you've got to wear a suit for the CMAs. I wore a suit for, I presented at the NHL Awards, and then this and that. Of course. It ends up being a lot. You could see why... People stop going. I could see why at one point you go, that's enough. I've done this enough. Yeah, yeah. You're like buying it. Doing 20 things a year. It's a lot of prep work. I mean, it's the most.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Like three minutes of, hey, I'm here, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, award shows. I mean, yeah, when people go to those award shows, they're having to buy – You know, you got to think there's probably even worse case you might go to four a year. It's like, so you got four suits. Major events. Yeah, yeah.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
You were by yourself? I was with two other people. They went and got help. Oh, okay. And then so, yeah. But when they left... There happened to be two people fishing right over there. And they went over there. And the story, one of those guys that carried me up, my dad's a magician, did a show in a prison. And one of the guys that carried me up was like. He was in the can? He was in the can. What?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I mean, a lot of suits to buy. Yeah. I think they, yeah. I guess if you're at the Grammys, they figure... You got the cash for the suit? But I could see. You can tie your own tie. They go, he's all right. He takes care of it. And maybe you shouldn't wear a suit. Maybe, you know, you can also just be a weird celebrity that doesn't wear.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
You've earned that. Well, as talent, you know, that's what they – You can be kooky and zany. You can be whatever you want. You go, this is what he does.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I always think about wearing it. Sandler has shorts everywhere. Yeah. Yeah, Sandler's exactly. I always think about wearing a suit, like on stage, just to not have any thought in it would be nice. Just go, this is it. It's a black suit. It's a black suit. It's a blue suit. Everywhere, same tie. Everywhere a tie. And you go, every show's this. I'm done. I'm done.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Would you be comfortable? No, I wouldn't. I would have to, not now. Not now. I'd be very uncomfortable right now. I'd have to get a big suit. Yeah, y'all would look great in suits.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
We look like we belong in a casket. After like 10 minutes... And everybody knows why you're there.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Everything's done. I got cake on my face. It's bad. What's his... Tommy Boy? Yes. That guy in a little coat. I'll say it for you. I don't look good. I was thinking more his dad.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I like it. I'm not the biggest chicken fan. Chicken was all we ate. Sure.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Really? I'm in a really bad spot right now. Hit us. Let's talk. Oh, yeah. You've come to the right place. Yeah. What's your poison? Well, I mean, I had McDonald's last night. Last night, I was hungry. And then I was like, I went to this ice cream place. Because in New York, ice cream is like... What spot? I forget the name of it. But it was like 1115. And there's an ice cream place open.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
live anywhere else yeah yeah exactly so then i go there have uh ice cream hot fudge whole thing and then but i then i haven't really eaten so then i'm starving and i'm walking back and there's a mcdonald's it sounds like well i might as well get mcdonald's and then so i got number two no onions number two no onions well i don't think it's yeah but it's number seven now gotcha now i think the number two now is a quarter pounder i'm more but i like a big mac number one no onions
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, yeah. But McDonald's would be my... Yeah. But I get... I get fast food every day.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
McDonald's is number one. Taco Bell. We have a Sonic near us. I'll do a Sonic. Okay. I like a Sonic. And Great Ice. Obviously. They... Yeah, those are probably the – So this is when you're home. You'll be out in the car. You'll hit a sign. Oh, I do it at home. I order it at home. I mean, I'm a mess. You're ordering fast food to the house? Oh, yeah. I have a DoorDash. I mean, DoorDash.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
No, usually it's embarrassing. I'm embarrassed by it. I do it later. Wait, you can pull that off?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah. And he said, yeah, because he was like, once my dad said his name, he's like, he goes, my dad would talk about me. I saved your boy. He goes, I carried him up. No way. Get me out of here. He's been following me since then. There's a great chance he listens to this podcast. That's awesome. I'll leave this podcast.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I go, what did you say? No. What about the kids? Aren't the kids like, yeah, I want something too. Oh, yeah, yeah. My daughter wants some. But, you know, sometimes I'll order. I'll get a Sonic Blast, a Blizzard, some kind of ice cream, and I'll order that. But I'll do it late enough so it's like she'll be at the bed, and then I get it sent. In the notes, do not ring the doorbell.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I'll meet you down the block. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I set it right on the steps. I mean, that's top level garbage. Quietly, and yeah. I've thrown my trash away in another trash. I'll do that. If I eat something out during the day that I don't want my wife to know about, I've paid cash, and then I've thrown it away. I'll go to a gas station. And get rid of it. Yeah, go to a gas station.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Act like you're about to get gas, but you don't. You just hop out with all your food. That's real fat guy tendencies. You know that, right? No, no. It's bad. Oh, yeah, yeah. It's bad. I'm a mess right now. I'm truly like I'm talking to someone about it. Because it's like that big of a... So am I. Yeah. Talking to you about it. Yeah, right here. It's not good. No kidding. Oh, yeah.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Because I think it's the... We did not... Like I said, we didn't cook. I don't know how to cook. So cooking was never even to now not been like a big thing. So it's like I just go to the go. I can only think of if I'm starving, I can't think, well, I'll just make this. I only think. Well, I'll just go. What's the quickest way to go get it?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
And then my brain, like, you know, when I lived, even when I lived in New York, we'd go to the Applebee's right about right here in Times Square. Caroline's was right there. And then so, yes. And but it was in eating good in the neighborhood. Yeah, I could only like I would think in chain restaurants. So if I'm hungry, I kind of think of a chain restaurant first. I don't think.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
of a restaurant that's like a cool restaurant do you have a favorite chain of those casual dining establishments where you're like cool and outback yeah we've been going yeah we'll go to outback you know once you start doing better once we start doing better outback pretty much i thought he was like you guys will have outback money one day yeah that's what i thought you were like once you guys start doing better oh yeah outback you go that's when you that's when you made it wait so like say you're blooming on you you don't even worry about how much it costs
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah. I'm with you. That's real dirt because it's fried. It's not an onion. It's not a vegetable. It's fried. Yeah, yeah. So say you're home.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
He saves your life. Yeah. I wonder what he was doing. The joke was that someone in the can would only listen to your guys. Yeah. He only knows you guys exist. He doesn't know there's anybody above it. Wait, there's more podcasts? He goes, what a second. We're big in the penitentiary circles.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, we go to Outback. I mean, we try to sometimes go out. If we go out to eat, go to a newer restaurant in Nashville. So we do try to try other stuff. My wife does like different foods. She likes nice stuff. She likes nice stuff. But, yeah, overall, it's like me and her, we met at Applebee's. Here? No, in Nashville. No kidding. Yeah, and we worked there together. You worked at an Applebee's?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, Applebee's. Wow. So that's where we met before I started comedy. I've been wanting to come on this podcast for a while. I know.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
You know what? I will try stuff. Okay. Yeah. I am somewhat a picky eater, but I will try anything. What's your move at Applebee's, generally? We always get chicken broccoli Alfredo mixed to broccoli.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I'd say either put the broccoli on the side so they think I'm going to eat it. Throw it out later. Yeah, then I would just be all out. Go to a gas station and throw it out? I was never here. I'd walk around the restaurant with the plate and try to find someone not looking and dump it in the trash.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Alfredo at Applebee's. You do a starter there, too? Chinese chicken salad. He said he didn't like chicken.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I know. Well, I don't actually like chicken in my salad. But Chinese chicken salad, the last thing it is is a salad. I know, but it's so good. It's got the wonton crispy stuff in it and the sweet dressing. Woo-wee! What did you say?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
John Q America. No onions, ketchup on them. Warm ketchup. Yeah, warm ketchup. I'm a gentleman, okay. Yeah, yeah. I put, and this is another, I'm not trying to do my act, but I just have, I talk about this stuff a lot. Of course. But I had, because I use a lot of ketchup. Okay. And I used so much that a guy walked over and said, that's a lot of ketchup. He had to say it to me. Hey, buddy.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
He goes, hey, man, that's a bunch of ketchup. A lot of nitrates in there. Yeah, I was very uncomfortable because I was like, I just want to eat my ketchup. That's why if I can get alone with some ketchup, it's bad. It's bad. I can go. Ketchup on a baked potato, you don't see that a lot. I'm a big fan of it. Yeah. Well, just not on a regular baked potato, but potato skins. Gotcha. Yeah. Okay.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
My dad would put ketchup on eggs, on everything. Yeah, eggs is big. How do you like your eggies, by the way? Over medium. Over medium.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Could have been. Wow. Yeah. You know what? I did not ask that. Yeah. Yeah. I don't I don't know what that. Yeah. They threw one body in and then they go home. Might as well even it out. Get the kid.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, I do. I mean, I think I've always skipped breakfast. I got into a real big bad donut phase for a good bit. Crispy cream. I had crispy cream two days ago. You're still in the face. Still in the face. I get Starbucks and old-fashioned donut to start. It kind of starts today. Okay. And then, yeah, I tell you, it's tough. Woo!
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, probably Italian pizza. McDonald's would be still up there. Right out the plate, please.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
But, yeah, Italian would be – Okay. Yeah, I could do some fun pizza, Chicago-style pizza I like.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Well, they used to – I did like – they had salads, the shaken salads. That was great.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, yeah. Put it down? I would imagine. You like a deviled egg? I love it. My mom makes my mom's deviled eggs. She makes deviled eggs. She makes deviled eggs. That's the best.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
That kind of thing. But yeah, so she would cook. She can cook. Gotcha. But it's again, no one's like, this is what we do.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I don't think we have a sub Z. No, we have something comparable to Kenmore. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's like fine.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
You know, but it's yeah, we're not. I look, I there's more stuff I would do. My wife is is on the cheaper side. Mm hmm. So she doesn't really want, you know, it's like when she gets something, she doesn't change much. I would change all the time. Cause we would, I'd constantly have new stuff. Cause I mean, we grew up like that.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Like where, you know, in our, the two bedroom home, my parents' bedroom was, cause it was my sister's room, me and my brother and their bedroom was the den. So they just turned that into their bedroom. Gotcha. But then. I'd come home all the time and furniture would be moved. Doing a magic trick.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, well, you'd come home, my mom just would be like, all right, the couch is over there now, just so it looks different. Gotcha. My parents, the dining room, my parents' bedroom went to the dining room at one point, and then the den came back into play. Wow. Okay. So there was a lot of change. Yeah, a lot of change like that. So I like change.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
And clown. And clown. He was a clown until I was about – he would do a clown at 12. Always did magic, though. But he would dress as – he would do a clown until about 12. Then he stopped being a clown and just did magic.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
White lights on the house, colored lights on the house? I think they're colored lights, but we had someone put them up. Okay. I did that this year. Real tree, fake tree? Fake tree. Fake tree? Fake tree. We've never had a real tree. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I mean, we don't, you know, it was, again, a lot of just getting the job done. Just do it. Doesn't matter. There's one up. Yeah, keep it up. Man, I love them. Efficiency. Not a lot of tradition. Just mostly we're doing it because you have to have a tree. We're like immigrants that live here. Trying to fit in. Trying to fit in, but we've lived here forever. Any turquoise jewelry. I don't think so.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I'm not even sure what turquoise is. It's a color. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Do you ever own your own bowling ball or pool cue? My own bowling ball. I still have it. My wife got it for me when we were first dating, and it's a scream ball. So the scream face from the movie Scream. That's my favorite movie, Scream. Yeah.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah. Never my favorite movie. Yeah. I got to tell you, I honestly was very, I know I've had to reschedule on you guys a lot, but I've always wanted to come on this podcast. King Size Bed? Now, yeah. You sleep with the TV on? I do not, no. You don't. You sleep on your side, sleep on your back? I sleep on my side. How many pillows?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Not in the shower. You pee in there? You pee in the shower? Yeah, I get everything else done. Goddamn. Yeah, but it's, yeah.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
You didn't make the team. I apologize. Come on. I threw a no-hitter when I was 12. There you go. That's great. I have that ball. Nice. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. But, yeah, trophies. No. We have a lot now. A lot of posters and stuff like that that you would have in comedy. Of course.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah. Regional. He'd go on the road a little bit. There's a lot of magic conventions that they do.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah. I believe so. I want to go to that. That's awesome. You guys can come cover it.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
That'd be pretty sweet. That's when you know you made it. Do you have any keys to any cities? I only get to ask that like once a year. You got to ask him. That's great. A Tennessee kid. I might have got a key to the city. Old Hickory's got to give you at least an access card or something. I do not from them. We're Angie Jackson's from Old Hickory. Yeah. So he's got a top dog.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
He's a fun guy. He has like big parties at the White House. Will you dance at a wedding? I'm not a big fan. But, I mean, I'll get out there for a second to do the shimmy a little bit. Slow dance. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Our wedding, I'm trying to think, our wedding got married on Friday the 13th because it was cheaper. Scream? Yeah. It was cheaper to do it that day. And I did it because I didn't want to go up against college football because it was in college football season. So I felt, I was like, well, I don't want to make everybody miss college football. So I did it on Friday. We did it on Friday.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
uh old hickory country club okay that was yeah i was not a member there but we did yeah uh yeah very i remember our dj uh just was like this old man my mom hired and he had one leg
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah. Okay. And then he would play, I mean, he just, like, he only had songs up to the 90s. Yeah, up to a certain year. Yeah, and then he was like, he didn't have anything. Rob Bass three times in a row?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Oh, yeah. I just did a joke about it on SNL. Oh, really? Because the first time I had a raspberry, I was 40 years old. So I never had a raspberry.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, yeah. Heroly similar. Yeah, never had a raspberry. What did you think of it? I liked them at the time, but now I've been far enough removed, I'm kind of back off. Really? I don't think I want... But that day, when I had them, I was like... I ate them so much. I was at a nice... I was at someone's house, very nice house in California.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
So, like, they're not – they had someone bring the raspberries. Fresh fruit. Fresh fruit. And then so I was like, well, what's this? And then I asked them what that was. I mean, I know what they are. Yeah. Well, in the joke, they were like, the bowl? Because that made more sense. That's a good tip. Then in the joke, I said, like, well, I don't come from money, so I didn't have raspberries.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Like, I still swim with my eyes open. I feel like some of the people don't get it, but it's like swimming with your eyes open, you couldn't afford goggles. Yeah, that makes sense. I still swim with my eyes open. When I did a little tour 10 plus years ago with Fallon, and it was like me, Nick Thune, Julian McCullough, Seth Herzog.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah. All right. Well, I should get a point. It's not a good point. Oh, it's not a good point? It's not a good point. Okay. What did your mom do?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
And so we were on tour and I remember when we were doing a show in Atlanta. So me and Thune were swimming that day and then we would like race back and forth. And then my eyes got bloodshot red for the show. And then I could swim real far underwater. How far? Pretty far. I could probably do an Olympic-sized pool. Really? Yeah, I think so.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Also, bragging about how far you can swim underwater, garbage.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I can crush it under there. But then he was like, he goes, do you open your eyes underwater? And I was like, yeah. I mean, I thought everybody did that.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Exactly. How are you going to see the end of the pool?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, yeah. I just did it. I just want to know what's going on. I just want to know what's going on.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
uh she worked at a bank and then uh you know would be at home she cleaned houses for at one point okay uh just stuff like that so your dad was supporting everybody doing this uh yeah but he was he would always oh yeah okay uh what was the house like my house yeah was it like an apartment we had an apartment and then we had a duplex you had an apartment in old hickory
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
He doesn't listen to music. It goes. I wrote a book. It comes out in May. There you go. There you go.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, I have to read it for the audio book. Sure. That'll be the next book I read.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Uh, yeah, I don't know if I, I guess I did, but yes. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. That, that was big when I was, yeah, that was, yeah. Are you a frozen pizza guy? Oh yeah. It's my favorite. What? Tostinos. Nate. Tostinos. I ate it, uh, two nights ago. Uh, it's like a square box. They make it a square box. Yeah.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
They have other branches of the organization. I used to eat Love That and Piggly Wiggly Pizza. Piggly Wiggly had a great one for a while, so I could eat two of those. When I was going to Vol State, because we drove there and lived at home, so I'd drive back. We'd eat either Piggly Wiggly or Tostitos pizzas. And we'd put the one in, I'd get pepperoni. I had it. I mean, honestly, I had it.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
The whole specks of pepperoni are great. I had it Monday, maybe a couple nights ago or last week. Really? I had it toasting his pizza. Still rocking. I mean, I love those. Who's doing the grocery shopping at the house? Will you go? No, I've never done it. No. No, it's, yeah, my wife does it.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Bagel bite. Yeah. I like a nice bagel bite. I don't like it too crispy. I get it. I can eat stuff a little sogier. Yeah, me too. Ever been to a monster truck show?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
i think once yeah i've been to and uh uh one time i went to a demolition derby yeah wow and it's like they did this one thing where you the cars would crash and it'd be whoever had the headlights last the longest so they keep hitting each other and then it gets eventually so it'd be dark the lights are off it's just headlights and then whoever's headlights is
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I mean, I've had silly purchases, but I never really did any where I wasn't able to do them. Gotcha.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Fortunately, growing up without money, money never really meant anything, too, because you don't have it. So then when you do get it, it's like, I never took anything for money. I never did gigs specifically. I mean, you want to make money. You just hope it's going to, you just figure, if I'm not trying to go get the money, then I've got to just hope that the money's going to work out. Right.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
And so you just kind of do that. But, yeah, I think, like, the first crazy money would have been, like, Economy Central Presents, maybe. It might have been, like, 15 grand you got or something. What'd you get? Did you buy something? I bought a watch, a tag watch. So every special I buy, every special I'll buy a watch.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah. To wear on it? To wear on, and it kind of, like this one I wore on the special that comes out on Christmas Eve today. So it's like, so yeah, just to kind of like have a marker. It's like one little thing to be like, so I can always be like, well, this was this special. This was, I had one for SNL. I had one for, you know. I like that. Kind of big things.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Well, I don't know if we were exactly in Old Hickory, but yeah, there was an apartment complex in Old Hickory. Okay. And then we lived in a duplex. That was in Old Hickory. And then we finally, when they first bought the house, I was probably 10 or 11, and it was just a two-bedroom house. I have a brother and a little sister. Okay.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
It's crazy. It's awesome. It's like Lorne Michaels produced it. Streeter Siddell and Mikey Day created it with me. And it's old school variety kind of feel. So it's all, yeah. Were you a Hee Haw guy back in the day? Uh, not, I mean, I don't know. I'd bet. I mean, I remember he, but I don't, we were a big Andy Griffith. Andy Griffith was what we allowed.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Sorry I had, you know, I know it took a little bit. No, no. It was worth it. Well worth the wait.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
I just found this out because I asked my mom because I was doing another interview, and they were talking about how I grew up or whatever. So they were like, are you middle class? And then I called my mom, and we were lower middle class. So we weren't food stamps. We were just whatever's right above it. We weren't middle class. You're talking to two of them right now.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Maybe my parents got to middle class, but it would have been when I was gone and my sister.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
My brother's three years younger. My sister's about 10. 10 years younger. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So she grew up kind of like, you know, I was gone. Yeah. Gotcha. Well, then I was, me and my brother were out. So then it's just one child. Right. And then, yeah, you know, as gradually as your parents get their ground. Yeah, they just start doing a little better. They start doing a little better.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, New Hickory. There was not really many vacations. Nothing in the summer? No, we wouldn't take regular vacations. But if we did do some, we didn't do them a lot. We'd go to Kings Island. It's a theme park in Ohio. Kings Island, once we drove to St. Louis, saw the arch.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Basically, turned around, went home. And that was kind of it. We'd go either there, that I can remember. We never really went to Florida, never really went to – I mean, we could have never really afford – I mean –
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
you just we couldn't like we weren't a big you know people talk about going on vacation like growing up i was like i just didn't they're like oh we go to florida every summer you're like i mean there was never any of that anything steady what was the first time you were on a plane because i assume none of those vacations you were flying anywhere right no no no we drove everywhere
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
uh hours uh do we go chattanooga too about two hours yeah all right that's a big one you should open with that yeah yeah that's lead with the money yeah yeah he got yeah rolling dude and is there family in the general old hickory area like your dad's brother or anybody A lot of them live in Louisville, Kentucky. Okay. But then I've had a lot in Nashville.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
So my grandmother, my dad's mom, lived in Nashville, ran away to Louisville, Kentucky. Ran away? Ran away.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, yeah, from her family. When she was young, not when you were— When she was young. Okay. Yeah, yeah. No, when she was young. Yeah, 75. 75. At 75, she goes. That's it.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, that's it. He goes, I can't take it anymore. This one's falling down cliffs. Yeah, it was a silver alert, and we just couldn't find her. We were like, I don't know where she's at. That's a deep shot. She's good. Yeah. Okay. She goes to Louisville. Then she gets married, raises kids there. My dad had a very rough upbringing.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
And then they get married, or my mom, then my dad runs away from Louisville to Nashville. Okay. And then so that's how we ended up back in Nashville.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
They met seventh grade. What? Yeah. Wow. That's crazy. Yeah, yeah. Wow.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah. Yeah, my dad would be great on this, too. Like, he would be. Yeah, he ran away. He ran away. He's a clown. Yeah, he's a clown. Yeah. He's a perfect guest.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, I played sports growing up. Baseball was probably the most consistent. I played until I was 13. And then after about that, I played basketball, but I got cut every year from my high school basketball team. He's got tenacity, though. He keeps going back. I keep going back. I played for my church.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, church had a basketball team. Yeah, church basketball was kind of a thing.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Oh, yeah, yeah. Ours was Nashville Baptist Association. There you go. The NBA. That's pretty good. I played church. I was graded in church basketball. You were good on that team? Yeah. Okay. I should have made the team at some point in my high school, I think, at least one year. I should have got thrown a bone. First year, my dad was the assistant coach. Still did not make it. Jesus.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, he cut me. That's a cutthroat clown right there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't mess around.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
So then after that, the coaches kept the tradition and then cut me the rest of the.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, yeah. Here's what, you know, a fun little thing, though, I'll tell you. I gave my high school, because my high school is my only alumni. Sure. So I gave my high school money, and my name is on the court now. Are you kidding me? That's a baller move. Whoa. So we're in there.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Did they redo it? No, they're building a whole thing. So they're doing a whole big building. And it was announced. I'm not trying to act like I'm anything. No, no, no. I mean, I only gave my high school. I don't have anything else. Didn't go to college. I went to Volunteer State Community College for about a year, zero credits, all remedial classes. I got a 17 on my ACT.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Oh, yeah, I didn't even do that. I got that 17. You know what, that's it for me. 17 they go. They didn't even bother. That's crazy. So I had to take all remedial classes for the first year to get credits.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
No, because I didn't have enough to even start. So I had to do a full year of that, and then I went to Western Kentucky University for a semester and then failed bowling. Failed bowling? Yeah. Because you had a tennis ball? Yeah, and you know what? Not a bad bowler. I bowled 266, too. Really?
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
You got to keep score without the computers. So the math part. What? The math part gets dicey. That's crazy.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Yeah, that even jowls. Yeah, you go, yeah, you're just wrecking these kids. And then they're like, but what's the score? It's all up here. You go, I don't know that. And they go, yeah. Wow.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
so how did western kentucky was all uphill so our dorm rooms are falling yeah yeah you're bowling uphill no yeah that was i wonder why you were i go i can't get it there uh no the dome was the dorm was at the bottom and then to go to class you'd have to go straight up a hill and that was enough to be like i'm with you i'm sorry i'm missing a lot of yeah i'm with you
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
When you got to get up and walk a mile up a hill, I mean, you know, you're like, am I going to college? I would have been done too. Yeah.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
So technically you shouldn't have graduated high school or you probably should have. I barely graduated. I think I graduated because my dad, I think I failed a class to not graduate. And then my dad went and like talked to the teacher and was just kind of like, come on. Six clowns show up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you going to do what the kid wants? Yeah, move it to a D. Let's just get him out.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
More than half, statistically. Yeah, but they were good. They were good. That makes it sound worse. Skyhooks all day. I never thought about how bad it was. Yeah, that's tough, man.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Kick and shoot. Yeah. I started playing golf probably like kind of when I lived here towards. Oh, really? That late? Yeah, pretty late. And then we would go play. I lived in Queens, so we'd go. The chip and putt? Yeah, yeah. Some stuff like that. Where were you at in Queens? Uh, well, we lived in Middle Village mostly. Okay. And then I lived in Astoria, too, for a little bit. Try to live now.
Are You Garbage? Comedy Podcast
Nate Bargatze!
Your parents don't live... We had a basketball league in Astoria when I was here. Yeah, I mean, that's a famed basketball league. Yeah, yeah. You made that. Yeah, I made that. That's pretty good. Pretty good.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Oh, yeah. This new hour, I've switched it a ton. It's worked because now I'm opening on a joke that I've closed on. So it's great to be opening on a joke that I've actually had the energy and the rhythm of a closer, and then you just move it up, and now it's the front. And you're doing those decisions on the fly. Yeah, you just fill it out. It's kind of like a song.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
I'm in love with stand-up right now. I love it so much. The way I've looked at writing, it's a movie. So I'm the main character of this movie. And I'm telling the story. There's a...
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
you know of reason for be saying all this stuff and everything leads into the other thing yeah so you want to make it where people don't realize you're into another joke but in my head i could be on like joke five right but you're trying i'm trying to make it where like you know and then that's how you remember it because the only way you know if you're talking about like riding a car and then you're like my wife bought a car well now that's the only thing i could go into right right and we will be right back
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah, well, Cosby was one. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But if you go watch his old stuff, it's very storytelling, all that kind of stuff. I'm a big Seinfeld fan. Seinfeld was... He was... I kind of think... Because I always looked at it like I tell stories, but in a joke form.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Like, so it's, I mean, I try to never be too far from the laugh because the farther you are from the laugh, the bigger the laugh has to be. And I don't want to put that much pressure on a laugh. So if I can just kind of keep it going and let it build, it's like, you know, it doesn't, you're just not putting the weight of the world on this.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
You're like, because if you go silent too long, I mean, there's a point where you're like, well, this joke better be unreal.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
And there's no, you're like, no, he's supposed to go, well, he'll never get there now.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah, yeah, there's a bunch. I mean, you'd blame it on, I had one one time, I thought it was the shirt I wore, and so I threw that shirt away. I had a button-down shirt, and I tucked it in, and I've never done that since. For real? Yeah, I was like, it wasn't me, I was just like, this shirt, this guy.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
What is this guy's shirt? What is this guy's deal? I've done a cruise ship.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
I won a contest and your prize was to set your career back five years and do cruises. And so I go out and I'm doing it. And you got to do like... you got to do a bunch of shows. So you do 30 clean, 30 dirty. I never had dirty. So it's like, I couldn't even, and then you would do one, another show. So you needed honest, because sometimes these people would come back and watch multiple shows.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
So you needed to have, you know, two hours of material or do crowd or be able to mess with the crowd or something. And I remember we go up and you would do one show at the beginning of it. You do like five minutes each. And it's kind of just like it's in the big theater. And you're kind of just letting the crowd know we're comedians. We got a show back here, blah, blah.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
So the other guy just was great and knew how to like he shined a fly shot on the crowd, like just knew how to like really play with the crowd.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
And he was like, come to my shows. Every show is different. And he made a big announcement how they're all different. And then I went up and I said, I go, come to one. It may be the other one, but the other one will be the same. I was like, do not come to all my shows. Most will be the same. I don't have enough material to have them all be different. So you can go to his shows.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
They will be different. Mine will be... And then I went and did a show and... I started it, and they didn't laugh, and I was like, oh, these people have been to every show. And I'm not a crowd work guy, and I'm like, so what do you do, man? And some guy's like, he's an oil rigger in the ocean. It's actually a pretty crazy job, and I was like, that's cool, and I just moved on.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
It's like an insane... People are saying crazy stuff like I'm a bank robber. I'm like, that's neat, man. What about you, ma'am? I had nothing. No riffing. And then I had to ride in an elevator with these people. I'm in the elevator in the ocean. You think it sounds like I made it.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
And I'm just sitting there and I had a hat on and I just hear some guy just trashing me and my shoulder's touching him and I just have to sit there and get off.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah, you would just have a show that's like the kids can come to this show, your family can come to this show, and then you'd have like a night at 11 p.m. It's like an adult-only show. You still can't be that dirty, but the idea of it is a little more...
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
I got a curse as I talk about parking. I'm like, you guys ever parallel park? And they're like, this guy's filthy. Yeah, I didn't even have any. I didn't even have... I had no dirty jokes. Like, there's no... I don't really... I don't talk about sex or... uh, like political or like, there's nothing like really like, that's kind of like this.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
I'll tell her. Yeah. I like, she knows about every joke that comes up. Cause that's something I had to learn to when you make fun of your wife at the beginning is you have to show love. Like you have to show, cause people, cause I remember at the beginning of the reaction would be like, well, why are you married? And so then you're like, well, that's not, that's not what I want.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
You don't need to have that reaction. So you have to then make fun of yourself, but with her and you got to do it in a way that where they can tell that you do love your wife. You love your family. And so it's just kind of like just making fun of each other. But yeah, I'll run by stuff.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah. I just never liked it. Like, I felt bad. I mean, I would, like, make fun of my buddies in comics and stuff.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
But in the audience, I just always felt, you know, it's like, this person's just trying to sit there. They don't need it.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
And it'd be, like, big, what's your shirt? Your shirt's stupid. And then I got my shirt on tucked in.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah. I moved back. So I was gone, like, 13 years. And then we've been back for about... nine yeah i hear it's beautiful down there yeah it's so good right yeah i'm born and raised there it's great uh we have as much of a normal life as it can be we're gonna live in a cul-de-sac uh the house at the top so we're the leaders and uh we set the tone for it uh I have a joke. I'll just say it.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
It's my new act, Russ. And we do all in our cul-de-sac, we do all the right things. Like if someone pulls down there, we're like, what are you doing down our street? Any car we don't know, we just run out. You better get out of our cul-de-sac. I mean, just furious if they come down there.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah, yeah. My brother's like three years younger than me. My sister's about 10. I've talked about her in a special. And she works for me now, too. So that's fun. I mean, you get yelled at by her. I mean, you got your whole family.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
I did say before, don't ask about if I have kids. Oh, all right. I guess we're—okay. Yeah, and I have one 11-year-old daughter.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
It is. But I don't even know where... No one... We don't come from horse stuff. You know?
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
No, there's never horse people, but she loves horses, so right now she's kind of doing that stuff, but she's very creative, very funny, and she, you know, will get me and my wife laughing a lot, you know? I think I gotta teach her where to wear the joke. You gotta be like, all right, well, you gotta be serious.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
until you learn it she can make fun of her friends recent and like i think but then they all got like it was like they did not like it and i was like and it was funny i forget what it was but it was like it was something funny but you're like all right you gotta understand You're like, you got to... Some people will be able to handle it.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Like, you know, she just is all about the joke because it's obviously just our... You know, her grandfather's a magician, a comedian. Like, so it's a lot of joking.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah, this is the route. I know we started last night. We were in Philly at the Fargo. It was where the Sixers play.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
It was this big thing. And then it goes Syracuse, and then it'll go Albany. These are the two that Fallon wanted to come to, was Syracuse and Albany. Yeah, of course. Those are big venues. I think he's from up here. Yeah.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Is that used to be? Yeah, no, I've been to a game there. That's like a huge... I've been to a basketball game there. Even the basketball court's set up. People buy tickets that are like, I don't think they can see the court. They're sitting like behind the court.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah, I mean, it's all about how you feel. We have, like, you know, the arenas, we have these big screens. I've put more speakers up so everybody can hear it everywhere. You really do try to make it intimate. I mean, you can tell everybody gets real quiet. I mean, that's the cool, it's one of the coolest things is when you're telling a joke and you're, this many people are quiet. Yeah.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
You know, and they're just, I mean, you could, I could yell with no microphone and the top person could hear me. It gets that quiet. That's so cool. So, yeah, I mean, I'd imagine if you did a stadium, you know, I could see it getting a little loose.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
You know, and we're in the middle, too, of an arena, so I'm a lot closer to everybody. Do 100,000.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Uh, yeah. I mean, you've done it so long now that you're... I mean, keep your knees bent.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
I mean, I've done it now. It's like, yeah, I mean, you think about it. I had an SNL like a little bit when I did the monologue. I was more nervous with the monologue because it's like stand up and you're like, I'm supposed to be good at this. And then you got to kind of deliver the jokes into the camera, but there's the crowd.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
And so like, it was very weird to deliver jokes to kind of a spot where no one's at.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah, you're like, I could say anything right now, and they're going to hear it right now because it's live, you know? Yeah.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah, I didn't use it in my act. You say you do? No, I didn't hang on to your like, I kept it. I still read a joke book when I was five and I'm closing on it. I remember the joke. I said there was a joke book or something, and there was a guy goes, waiter, there's a spider, or there's a fly in my soup. And then the waiter goes, well, don't worry, the spider on your bread will get it.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
And it was a picture of a spider web. And so my dad always brings it. I remember that joke. And then my dad brought it up because I was explaining why the joke was funny to him and kind of going through it. Like, here's why this is funny. So that one was the first one. But I let it go.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah, I don't know. We've done it at shows, and it's not like a concert. Like I was saying, stand-up's still kind of... It's kind of a newer thing. Cosby's one of the first. He's still alive. He knew Lenny Bruce.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
But you could do it without it. But you get like a deal. So you have promoters and then the... Yeah, you are... I think it's like the promoter is the one that's putting the money for like the... the renting of the venue. And then I'm paying, then it comes out of mine, the show budget of the speakers and all that stuff. And so you can have it go as low or as big as you want it to go.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
I think we say it wrong as a family, too. I think it's supposed to be Bargazzi, and we say Bargazzi. It's just we've southerned it up. Oh, I say Bargazzi. Yeah, I think a lot of people would. When I lived in New York, they would always be like, Bargazzi, because it's like Italian. And I was like, you know. Bargazzi. I was like, I don't like tomatoes.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
I think we've all agreed to kind of go. We had a family reunion once, and we had family come over from Italy, and we got Kentucky Fried Chicken for them. And I think it was like from that moment was just kind of like, all right, y'all have a good life. We did it. We're going to do our thing. We're going to do y'all's thing. And we've just kind of gone our separate ways.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah, I'm a big sports guy, so I watch a lot of golf, like any sports, golf, UFC, watch a lot of UFC. Oh, you do? Yeah, I'm a big fan of UFC.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
It's just the most, the honesty of it, with Dana White and the fighters, they can say whatever they want. And so there's no, you know, like when Tom Brady, is he going to retire or not retire? It's like, it's all kind of a game and a show. And UFC kind of really is like, we just got a dude that just says, I want to fight this guy.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
And then it just gets to it. And you're, I don't know, I kind of like, I love it.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
There's the build-up to it, and then they don't like each other, and then you go in there and watch them fight. It's not just watching a street fight. You're watching two professionals that have to fill each other out.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Some. It gets hard because of the shows and stuff. But yeah, I'll play some on the road. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's kind of it. I mean, I don't know. It's like you're just running around, got a lot of stuff. Got a lot of hanging out. Like the road is the most fun because it's just like... A bunch of dudes. And, you know, this morning we went in Syracuse.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
We're in Syracuse, and this place has a hot and cold plunge thing. Sure. Will loves it. So I've never done it. But they let us come in. So, like, we woke up and did that.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Oh, yeah. is that so i this is another i told it on snl i tell it in my act too uh but it boo weekly uh because i have a joke about fighting orangutan at a county fair okay and where i read the story was there's a golfer named boo weekly and when he read uh he said when he was 15 he got in he goes this county fair he's from like georgia like southern southern georgia
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
This is like the 80s, you know, and you could pay $5 to fight an orangutan. An orangutan would be in a boxing ring with boxing gloves. And so dudes would pay $5 to fight them. That's hysterical. Yeah, and then guys would get in there, and this orangutan would just knock people out.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Because when I say this, I tell the whole story in my act, but I say because we didn't have the internet to look up how strong is an orangutan. It was all word of mouth back then. So, you know, you had to meet a guy that just fought an orangutan. And he's like, he's stronger than you think. But the arms are so skinny. I know. That's what I thought as well.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
It's the feet. Look at his feet. His feet's bigger than you. Yeah, that strength comes from somewhere.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Well, that's what Buwiki said. He goes, that's not written everywhere back in 1982 when you're fighting orangutans. The guy that does this doesn't go, you sign a waiver.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah. You don't realize until afterwards, like, that's why he has gloves on. If it gets the gloves off, there's a chance it will rip your head off. So, but you know, what are you gonna do? Ride the scrambler again? That's really funny.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
And that one, they were like, you can't do that. We're like, all right. We thought they liked it. I'm glad you just had to tell us. And we got rid of it. Fair enough.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
I don't have any, like, I gotta re- I'm messing up some, the order a little bit, so I'll do that a little, and then we'll just hang out and be at the venue if there's, we do try to shoot basketball, like, some of these arenas, if they have a basketball goal somewhere, we'll try to, like, mess around, shoot basketball, just kind of, you know, do whatever until showtime.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
I did my last special there. And this one's going to be in the Footprint Center where the Suns play. Wow. Yeah. I mean, it just kind of works out touring-wise. You just hit these towns every two years or so. And so it's just kind of like,
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
They do some. Yeah, yeah. We went to Europe. Like they came to Europe. They come to the, you know, they're not here in Syracuse or Albany, but they, if they're, I'm doing the Boston Garden, they're going to come to Boston.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah, on the boat? Yeah. I went, yeah, we went, I got to remember it, but we went to, it happened. We're on the lake, Old Hickory Lake. Is that true? Yeah. And we're in, we're like in the water. And then it's, my wife's ex-boyfriend was on another boat. Right. And I didn't see him. And she pointed out, like, there's no reason to point it out. But she pointed it out.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
So then, yeah, like all I can think of now, like I'm thinking about him. And then I look at her and she's looking at him. And I feel like she's looking at him to see what her life would be like if she didn't marry me. And I was looking at him to see what my life would be like if I didn't marry her. So we're both putting a lot of pressure on this guy.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
And then my buddy told me, he's like, you should go fight him. And I was like, what? Like he's on a boat. Like I got to swim over to that fight. Have you ever tried climbing a boat from water? It's not graceful. It's not easy. You don't come in with power. I would need his help to start the fight.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Hang on a second. I know, but that's what made it frustrating. I had no one to go show my wife, well, here's mine. Yeah.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
No, we started dating like 2021. We met at Applebee's. We both waited tables at Applebee's. I was a host at the time. Oh, that's great.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah, we're all in the neighborhood. We're all in the neighborhood or something. But we're big fans. We took our daughter.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
And then I'd say put it on the side just so the guy thinks I'm going to eat it. Then he would just take a full plate of broccoli back after. I'd go, ah, I got full on the other stuff. Yeah.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah, we're big chain. I mean, I grew up like we're, you know, I had an old joke about like I was a big, I don't like mom and pop shops because they can close. Just they're like, we don't feel good today. And they close like Walmart. Walmart, you know, they were a mom-and-pop shop at some point, and then they got it together and became unreal. Yeah.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
They have the great chocolate... Lava cake. If you want one, go to Chili's.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Dr. Pepper's doing some pretty amazing things right now. So if y'all are into Dr. Pepper, die Dr. Pepper. Is that right? They got some real good stuff going on. And some cherry, right? They got some cream soda, strawberry stuff. I mean, it's something, dude. They're showing off over there.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
So I've tried to make a bunch of shows that have never gone. We've had one show that we shot a pilot. And so Greg came in. I did not know him, but he came in. Danielle Sanchez Witzel. She was showrunning it, and she's friends with Greg. And so Greg came in to help us do it. And I knew Greg Garcia's work, but I didn't know him when he first came in.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
So when he first came in, he's like, he's going to help us. And I was like... I don't know who this dude is.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Uh, I gotta listen to this guy. And then, uh, we wrote our whole, rewrote the whole script on his, off just his ideas. Cause they were so good. And, uh, obviously he's unreal.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
And, uh, so we just become really close and become friends. I, uh, I was just with him this week, uh, actually, uh, uh, uh, dinner with him. Cause I had to go to LA for a second. And, uh, so, uh, he's, yeah, we became friends like that. And he's, he comes out on the road too. I'm telling you, y'all should, y'all come out on the road.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
If you, if you want to get away and have a little fun trip, come on out, dude.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
If you mean it, it's a fun, if you mean it, I swear Fallon's coming tonight. We have a fun time. It's you just, uh, play cards or you play, uh, You know, like we went to a casino last night in Philadelphia.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Good to see you, Sean. Hey, just a little fun note, never seen Shawshank, so... Well, you're young.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
I got a show in Syracuse. This is... Can't make it here. Can't make it anywhere, you know?
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
This is the vacations I can afford in Syracuse. He goes, it's nice. We took a bus, though. But it's... You know...
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah, everything went to this. My family of 30 is right off camera. They're just right there. I said, if y'all talk during this, I will kill y'all.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Hmm. Uh, we have, uh, probably like 10 guys. Uh, cause I bring, uh, four openers. Actually tonight, we got a surprise opener. He won't be here till later. Uh, Jimmy Fallon. Fallon is coming to the show. Oh, that's great. He's going to jump on the bus.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Get out of here. Sorry, Nate. Thanks, you guys. Keep going. No, I mean, I grew up around that. I mean, so that was like, you know, I was funny, but then also growing up around, you know, my dad being a magician. You learned patter. Yeah. It just kind of leads you to it, I guess.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah, he's a pretty good dude. I don't know the whole backstory, but I just know from what R hanging out is.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah, yeah, it was the best. It is, you know, I don't know if I even understood it. Like, I'm sure, I think of it like my daughter and I'm sure your kids, like, it doesn't seem not normal. Like, it just felt like, it's like, that's all I ever knew. And it wasn't until you got older that you're like, yeah, dude, nobody's dad's a magician. Yeah, yeah.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah. So he would make a living doing it? I mean, I have people do magic, like magicians would show me magic tricks. I've just seen them all too. And I just, I'm just not a good, I'm not a good person to perform for because I'm just like, all right. You know, it's like, is this your card? You're like, it's always mine. It's always my card. It's always been my card.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
He did. He was a teacher, too. Like, so he had a day job, and then he would do that, and then we were always in Nashville, and so he's just always done it. And I mean, he's very successful. He's very known in the magic world. He comes with me and opens for me a lot on the road.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
And he will do these shows, and... You know, it's every little boy's dream to travel to your dad when you're 44 years old. So you go, got a little CPAP machine hooked up in a tour bus. It's a good time.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah. I mean, we had our bus parked out one time, and it was my dad, my mom, and my aunt. And I was like, people probably go by this tour bus, and they're like, it's pretty rocking in there. And I mean, we got, it's lights off, quiet, just the roar of machines keeping everybody alive.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
No, no, we didn't ever do that. He never did that, go that far. He did Sleight of Hand. A lot of Sleight of Hand, and he does comedy with it. Oh, it's my favorite. Yeah.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Uh... I think it was just being funny. We would, like, I remember seeing stand-up. It was just trying to make people laugh. I don't think I ever really made fun of anybody.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
But it was like I would make fun of myself a lot, which is what I do now in my comedy show. Yeah, it's the best. You'd be doing stuff like that, making fun of me. He had, I mean, one time, I've talked about this in a special on one of them, but it was like he brought the Easter Bunny home when I was... Like six. He was at a mall doing a show, and the Easter Bunny needed a ride home.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
And my dad goes, I'll give you a ride home if you swing by my house. And so I remember the Easter Bunny, we had like, my parents had this old red Mazda stick shift, you know, and the Easter Bunny's head was bent to the side because his head couldn't fit in the car.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
So he was just, he was sitting like this. And then he got out, and I met the Easter Bunny, and then my dad... Drove the Easter Bunny home.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
That was the trajectory. I go, if I can beat that guy, then maybe I can make it.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
My parents have been together since seventh grade. And they, my mom's very funny. But she worked at a bank. I mean, she's just been, I mean, it's just stuff. There's like, growing up, it's buying, you know, she has to go, my dad would be like, go to the store, I need you to buy 12 lemons. And he has to buy for like his magic. are a bunch of newspapers from that day.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
It's like a bunch of random, and it's just normal conversation. You're just like, it's a Tuesday. You're just trying to grab some bread, milk, and 30 oranges, and then you get on out of there.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
He's got a lot of shows this week. It's just stuff like that. That's cool.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Oh, yeah. So I moved to Chicago first for a couple years. And then I moved to New York. And I was in New York for the most, for like eight and a half years. And so I did all the clubs and all the, like, going up every single night. I performed for one guy once. Oh, my God. No way. Like, he wouldn't leave. We tried to get him to leave, and he's like, nah, it's all right.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
And we're like, well, we don't think it's all right. He really wasn't about him. You're like, I don't want to stand up in front of a guy. Right. regularly up in front of four people, five, six, like, I mean, six people was like, got pretty good show going on. You know, you were excited about six people.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah. So you just get used to just being in these kind of like, you know, it takes a long time before you're in front of like an actual paying crowd that's
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Well, I had to learn to get people into my rhythm very quickly. So since I talk slower and I'm from the South and all this, I had to figure out... Because I would follow high-energy acts, and then I'd come up and I'm like, well, I got to... come up with a joke or I got to say something.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
I just need you to hear my voice for a second so you can go like, all right, readjust and be like, now we're in this rhythm and then get into the first kind of, you know, come up with a good like opening little thing or whatever and just get rolling.
SmartLess
"Nate Bargatze"
Yeah, I go up prepared. I mean, I can't do the other. I can't really do like crowd work and go up and stuff.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
You can tell no one's really invested in what each other's saying. That's like what I like to watch.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Well, like, I mean, just talk about the state of Tennessee and Nashville alone. Nashville is a great city that's booming and there's a lot to do. There's not a lot to do with your family there. So when you have kids and stuff, you can go to Broadway, you can go drink and the bachelor parties and all this and a Titans game and
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
There is great stuff to do, but there's not a lot of stuff that you can do with your family. What I like about when people come to my shows is that it's children to grandparents are at these shows. They're able to go do something as a family. I think a lot of entertainment now is not made for the whole family.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Even television or movies can be separating in the fact that I'm watching Narcos and my wife watches Housewives and there's not a show that we're necessarily watching together. And so I do think there is a void in that. So I'm just going to, you know, I look at stuff to go do with my daughter. I love when we lived in California, we would go to Disneyland all the time.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
And like, you know, you look at Disney and, Essentially, I would like to be able to build something in that aspect where people can. It's a big one, but you're not lacking in ambition. No, no, I don't care. I mean, it's yeah. I mean, the ambition is like, I don't know. I've done all this. I'm nobody, dude.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Like and it's like I want to make stuff that people have somewhere to go to with their whole family. And, you know, it's easy to watch and it's fun.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
The plan is, I mean, I'm kind of doing it. It's like the plan is to be, if you found me... And you like what I'm doing in this is I don't want to betray that trust. So the plan is just to trust me. You know, I don't plan on touring forever and doing stand-up forever. I mean, I want to make movies.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I think you get a lot of times that people can think, like, if you get too big, are you going to change? I mean, look in the South, I can tell you right now, you can be like, oh, you're Hollywood now, or you're this, or you're that, or you're going to... The audience is very much in my mind with everything that I will make, and I will make stuff... hopefully for them and with them in mind.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I'm not doing it, again, I try not to do it for me. It's not to get my point across. My point does not matter. It's for you. And so I want them to be able to keep coming and see that I'm... trying to do something I think that's a little against the grain right now.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
And weirdly enough, something being broad is, you know, like when I started comedy, some comics were like, well, I'm not for everybody. And I was like, well, why would you not want to be for everybody? I want to be for everybody.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Like, why you? Oh, I always wonder why you. You know, I mean, I think you're just talking about relatable things. You're talking about, I think, authenticity. Not that I'm going out for authenticity, but you're in a world now where entertainment is, I think, there is no authenticity. You know, it's like you have the...
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I'll have a lot of grandmothers come to my shows, and they love me. I do really good with grandmothers. And I always love that because I don't think there's much being made that they could go to.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Yeah, it's just different types of comedy. I went on the road for Marc Maron. I opened for Marc Maron. A lot that I do on stage is stuff I learned from him. Marc Maron is very much himself on stage. And so I always try to mimic that to be how close can I be to me offstage to onstage? I think there's a place for that, for Marc Maron doing it. And you need that. You can have that.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
You can also have this. I always joke that I'm a comics parents comic. I stand behind my standup. I work on it very, very hard. But yeah, you do feel sometimes a little like, because I'm clean, like, yeah, you can get looked at like, wow, of course he sells all these tickets. It's easy. Or it's like, he's not doing anything challenging. I mean, I don't know.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I kind of disagree with that because it's hard to, you know, mainstream is not something that's easy to attain, even with movies. You know what? I mean, Sandler did. That's not easy. That's why there's not 40 Sandlers.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Wicked's and you have these Avenger movies and you have all this stuff that's great, but there's not like a regular person like on a screen anymore. And where their movies used to kind of be like that, where you would see planes, trains and automobiles and home alone. And you would have someone be like, all right, that's a guy. That's a regular guy in this movie that you enjoy watching.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I would now if I felt it. So that was the reason I wrote that joke was because everybody was saying they didn't like Trump, every comedian. So all the jokes were saying I didn't like Trump. So then I thought, how can I make a joke that say I do like him and be able to do it on tonight's show where I ride a line? Yeah. where no one's going to get mad.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I don't want the people voting for Trump to get mad. I don't want the people that are not voting for Trump to get mad. I wanted to say the opposite of what everybody else was saying. So if I have an idea and I can do that, I will do that. I do like that challenge.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Yeah, I did it with the peanut allergies. I had a joke about airplanes when they say you can have peanuts. Like, who are these adults addicted to these peanuts this bad? These kids are going to die. And so that was one that there's a lot of people that would make fun of the peanut allergy aspect. And so it's just going the opposite way and just defending the kids that have the peanut allergies.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
And I like riding that line and just, when you make it self-centered, it's much easier to ride the line.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Uh, you know, it is, I've, I'm very driven and, uh, you know, I mean, I don't, when didn't go to college, barely made it out of high school. Like, it's like, you know, I don't understand most business stuff. So you kind of just, uh, maybe it's naive. I'm like, well, why can't we do it that way? You know, when everybody's like, you can't, I'm like, well, why not?
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Yeah. Yeah. I'm good. I'm the, uh, I'm the thinker, the talker, like the visionary, I guess. And then you're good at putting people around you that do know all that kind of stuff. Because that I don't. I never had a real job, so I don't know any of that stuff.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Um... So on the arena tour, when I first started going, our screens, because you're in an arena, I wanted the screens to be bigger. I was like, they should be bigger because I want the experience for the audience to be as great as it can be. And I was told they can't be bigger. I was like, well, that doesn't make sense.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
And I'm fine with being told no, but I just want to know it went through the whole system. I want to be told exactly like the building's not big enough or whatever. And for this next tour, we do have bigger screens. Because I get a lot of people when I say I want to do a theme park and I've had it with friends where I say I want to do this and they're like, why? Why would you?
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
You know, it's like easier to watch and it's just easier to take in. And you just want to be entertained and you don't always want to be thought provoked. And that's something that I've always tried to stay clear of because I realized like, you know, I need to, I'm trying to sell you something. I'm selling you entertainment.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
You basically get told you can't do anything because it doesn't make sense for, I guess, how I've lived to think that I want to go do all this other stuff. What would be in the Nate Land theme park? Just rides. Rides.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Ideally, I would want it to be like a Universal Studios kind of thing where we can be shooting movies on one part and then you have the theme park on the other and kind of just build that. I just want to build a world where people can be discovered. I think that's a big driving point for me. When I came up, I think a lot of people would not get out of the way for the next younger people.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Like in comedy clubs, when you're coming up and you can't get spots at that club because the guys that have been there for 15 years are not moving or going somewhere else. And so I want to have places for new artists to be able to, I don't know, come do something.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Yeah, well, look, we got some stuff we got to get through, you know. I was going to ask you how much money you have, if you could give it to me. We're asking for everyone doing a Venmo. You need a lot of stuff. I do agree. The one thing I've learned, though, is in a business, money's not the problem. People have a lot of money.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
There's a lot of money, and money gets used in a lot of different ways and stuff like that. So hopefully we can get there. This is not something that is going to be tomorrow, but... But I feel, like, driven to do it. So, you know, we're going to give it a go.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Uh, yeah, I mean, I feel sometimes I'm having it now, you know, I mean, I think that's where the drive and all this stuff is coming from to make sure that you can bring your child to my standup show that I want you to come as a family and you go do stuff. And I think about those moments of.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
You know, I have with my daughter all these little little dumb moments of you going to the movies with your family because it's fun to get on. Watch your kid try to talk you into buying candy and popcorn and all these little silly kind of moments that you think back on. So. I think I'm going through it now.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I think it's constantly having to work on it, constantly just reminding myself to be out of it and make sure that this life is not about me. So yeah, I mean, it's just a constant going on. So I think I follow what you're saying.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Yeah. It's a big belief to be, I am second, second to God, second to your family, second to, I believe the audience, second to everybody. You kind of live to serve. So it's very much a calling in that aspect that I feel. But again, it's like, it's trying to ride that balance and And I don't want anybody that's not this or that or whatever, whatever everybody is. That doesn't matter.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
So I need you to be able to come and trust that you're going to get the entertainment that I am showing you that I'm selling you.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I just want to make something that all of them can be in the room together. And I feel it's driven on a bigger purpose for me. But, you know, it's like everybody has their own things.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
You are nervous about it, about being labeled. You don't want to be this kind of thing because stuff gets faith-based or stuff gets like that. Like, people write stuff off. Or they take it, especially now, in very different ways.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I mean, that's really what it comes from, is just... I remember our daughter's first movie was Moana. And so going to sit and watch it, we sat in the very back and, you know, it's like I can't, the whole experience of that day is like, that's something that I remember. And that's, you know, that's a dumb day.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
in the grand scheme of things you're not doing no one's in school no one's taking a test no one's it's not this crazy important days but those those are the ones that you tend to go back to and remember and so yeah creating those moments i always see older uh i'll have a lot of grandmothers come to my shows and they love me i do really good with grandmothers
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
And I always loved that because I don't think there's much being made that they could go to.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
No, no, no. That's the goal. I'm trying to be only grandmothers. Shows are at 8.30 a.m. That's the late show.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Do you actually know currently when you'll stop? I do. I could see the next specials will be on Netflix. I could see maybe one more special after that. I don't want to overstay my welcome. I also want to get out of the way. If I preach it and I was frustrated by it, I need to live by that. And so I do think there's a point I need to get out of the way.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I need to step aside and let the next wave of comedians come up. And I don't want to be just hovering in the spotlight. And, you know, I got this tour and then maybe one more tour. And then just from there, just I got movies I want to do and then do that and then start running Nate Land.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
We're doing this interview in 10 years and I'm like, you know what? I got back into it. All right. I'm only doing stand-up. I don't have a theme park. I have a carnival. I have a carnival that travels. That's all I can make it. It couldn't do a theme park. Still something. There's still some rods.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I don't know, because I think there's got this weird, I mean, it's just I think kind of in life in general has got this self-importance. You know, I have a platform, so I need to say something on this platform. And I'm kind of anti-platform. I don't need to use this platform to tell you what to do.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
You know, if I go want to give you my opinion and like tell you what I think and all this, I also think that's a lot about me is what I think. And when I go on stage, I try to remind myself this night's not about me. It has nothing to do with me. If it becomes about me, it's too much. I can't handle it. But if I can make it for other people, now I'm just kind of an employee and I'm working.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
And so I'm just making stuff for people. And so it's not about my self-importance or any of that stuff. It just doesn't matter. You don't need me to do that.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Well, it's about me and the fact that, yes, I'm talking about myself and I'm making fun of myself. But the material is written for you. I mean, I just got a message today about a lady that's like she doesn't like flying. And I get like messages like this all the time. And so she's like, I listen to you and you've helped me fly because it's like this. I don't know.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
It's like takes her mind off of it or whatever. It's the way you watch a show that's comforting. So anytime I think I want to go do something else, it's like I think about the hurt. And go, well, that's not fair to her. I'm not doing it to make myself look good or look better or do this kind of stuff. I'm doing it to make you laugh. I would say you can laugh with me or at me. So it doesn't matter.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
You relate to it or you think I'm an idiot. Either way, I'm here to entertain you.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Yeah, I think it was, you know, I would do a lot of shows starting out. It'd be midnight. It'd be a show called Uncensored Comedy. And, you know, and I mean, these are some of my friends are like very dirty. Yeah. Most comics I'm around were the complete opposite of everything that I did. I had to learn how to do what I was doing in those rooms, but I didn't want you to notice that I was clean.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
So I think that is something that helped me into the fact that if I can go up and make you laugh and make this crowd laugh, I'm 28 years old in New York City doing a show. It's one in the morning. These people are drunk and then I'm doing it. How can I do this material that's not doing sexual jokes or whatever everybody else was kind of doing? And so you learn how to try to hide it.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Cause I think if you walked up and said, I'm clean, it's going to be like, well, this guy's not cool. And this guy's not this and that. And, but I think it, I look back at now, I think it, you know, it was like, I was reliable for late night sets because I was clean, uh, Fallon liked me. And so it was like an easy one to go do and rely on.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Cause you know, I'm not going to say I'm not, I'm not having to like change my act for television.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Yeah, I'll tell her. Yes. I mean, there's a couple of times I'll go try it first to make sure I even want to. Because if it's not going to work, then maybe there is no reason for me to bring it up to her. But then if it works, you're even in more of a bind. But if it works, then I go and I can figure out how to say it. And I always try to make fun of myself, too, in it.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
When I first started, I would do jokes about my wife and I could tell that the audience didn't. If they don't know you and if you don't show love, then they're not going to go with you. So if you show that aspect of it, then you can get away with quite a bit.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
With my daughter, I'm very sensitive to try to... I haven't talked about her a ton outside when she was a baby because I didn't want her to... I want her to be her own person. I want her to be able to trust that she can come to me as her father, which is the most important thing, and say stuff to me and not think anything she says I'm going to go tell the whole world.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
So it's splitting that balance to be like, I want to be very protective of that for my wife, for my family, for any of them to know that, you know, I'm not just using all of them to gather material.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
He did. So he was a clown at the beginning and then he did magic. He's a magician. And, I mean, he'll tell me, like, jokes and stuff and say, well, you didn't say this and say that. So I can talk to him about comedy and all this. But... Yeah, competitive. I mean, he comes out on the road with me, and he's done a hundred and something shows with me in arenas, and it's, I would say competitive.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I mean, it's like different. I mean, when he came up, you know, they had three kids, and He had a day job and he did all this stuff. He could have moved to Vegas when we were younger and he chose not to. And so we grew up in Nashville and I think grew up with a very normal, I mean, as normal as you can with your dad being a magician. But he's very proud and he cries when he brings me on stage.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Yeah, yeah. I'm sure there is like some commitment to us. I mean, there's some when you go travel, like I love traveling with my dad. And then there's times where, you know, you're like, I always joke to be like, it's every little boy's dream to travel with your dad when you're 45 years old. So, you know, got a tour bus with a CPAP machine. Really living it up.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I don't know if she gets the extent of that. I think we've done a pretty good job. We moved back to Nashville. We live in a cul-de-sac. We're not around a big crazy neighborhood where it's, you know, just everybody's famous or wealthy or whatever. But yeah, but she, I mean, she has stuff. The amount of stuff I wasn't allowed to have versus what she has is it's not even remotely close.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
You know, I want Jordan shoes. But we got some from Dollar General, and they just kind of look like Jordan's shoes. I would get all this stuff, the Super Bowl team that lost. I'd be wearing all that stuff.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Yeah. According to my family, the Bills won four in a row.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Yeah. Kids show business showed up and goes, hey, fat. So if you want to make it, you better get you better get your life together. No, I mean, it was it's both. It's a mix. No one told me to do anything. I mean, as a comic, weirdly enough, you're you and you're talking about yourself. So you are going to be you. But I wanted to do it, too. And I'm going through it right now.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I mean, I you know, I do not have great eating habits. And when I grew up, we just ate because you had to eat. Food was never celebrated. Food was just something you had to do. And so I eat a lot of fast food and a lot of chain food, and I get in on the road. And I do realize it can get in the way, though. I realized that.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I stopped drinking in, like, 2018 because I knew if I wanted to get where I wanted to get as a comic, this was going to be in the way. And so I've realized that with food, too. If I want to do this thing, I want to do stand up at this high level, possibly make some movies, all this kind of stuff.
The Daily
'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Even for myself, I realize, all right, well, I have to go put in the effort for me to be able to handle all this kind of touring and in the mentality it takes to stay focused.
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'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I always say, I'm looking forward to the day you can't see my nipples through my shirt. So that's it. That's all we're working towards. One day we're going to get there.
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'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
The thing about nothing to do, that's one that I'm working on. you know that there's nothing to do. So the joke I do is bowling's still around because that's how, if you and your wife and your family is like, let's go do something, you go out to eat and go see a movie and you get to bowling a lot quicker than you probably should be. You know, it's 2025, so we have AI.
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'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I feel like bowling is a caveman sport that should have faded out, but that's how little there is to do that it's still hanging around.
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'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Yes, for people to keep their head above water.
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'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I did think, I thought of it last night as I was watching something like on TV. I'm like, I was like, I think this is when you should be reading like before bed. You know, I was like, I think that's when people do it. That's why there's reading lights and all that kind of stuff. So I was thinking about getting just a fun book, you know, like what's an easy one.
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'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
So it's like, let's start with something super fun and then just get into a habit.
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'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
uh there was i looked up like the most popular books it was like christina agathy is that her name it's like an author uh agatha christie agatha christie so i was all backwards uh i think i'm dyslexic so that should count as i said it correctly in my head wait that wasn't just a bit christina agathy No, I thought that's what it was. I'm sorry. I ride the line.
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'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
You don't know what's a bit, what's not a bit. You know, I'm very protected. No one can really tell what's going on. And then I can, you know, depending on who I'm talking to, I can decide if it was dumb or not.
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'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
Yeah. It's awareness, being aware of just your surroundings and what's going on. Because you're looking for material. You're looking for things that happens to make a joke about or tell a story about. So you're always very alert. I mean, it's exhausting because it just doesn't feel like it turns off. You analyze every interaction you have.
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'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I like seeing when I see two people talk and I realize that neither one of them really know what they're saying to each other and they're kind of on a different page. That's very fun to watch.
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'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
I mean, one of them was my dad and my buddy, Nick Novicki. Nick, his eyesight's bad, and he just kind of won't be paying attention. And then my dad's older, and they won't. So I watched them one time have a conversation in a hot tub. And so Nick asked him how. He's like, how's everything going? And my aunt was not doing well at the time.
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'The Interview': Nate Bargatze Doesn’t Mind if You Think He’s an Idiot
So my dad's like, well, my wife's sister's not doing that well. Then Nick goes, well, that's good to hear. Because he doesn't hear him. So they won't just acknowledge that neither one of them know what's going on. So they're just having conversations. And then Nick got out, dried off, and threw his towel away in a trash can because he thought it was a towel bin. So something like that.