Nate Bargatze

Nathanael Bargatze was born on March 25, 1979, in Nashville, Tennessee. His father, Stephen Bargatze, was a clown, magician, and motivational speaker, while his mother, Carol, worked for the Vanderbilt Commodores ticket office. Bargatze engaged in skits with his church group starting around age 11. He attended DuPont Elementary and later Donelson Christian Academy (DCA), graduating in 1997. After short stints at Volunteer State Community College and Western Kentucky University, where he dropped out, he held various jobs including construction, a Walmart cellphone kiosk, furniture delivery, and a meter reader for a water company. Inspired by “The Bob & Tom Show,” he decided to pursue a career in comedy with a fellow meter reader.

Bargatze began his comedy career in 2002, moving to Chicago to attend The Second City before focusing on stand-up at Jim Rauth’s Comedy College. He performed at Zanies Comedy Club in Chicago and Nashville. In 2004, he relocated to New York City, working as a barker for the Boston Comedy Club, a dog walker, and a FedEx delivery driver to support himself. His career gained momentum in 2008 with appearances on Comedy Central’s “Live at Gotham,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” and the Just for Laughs festival. He also toured extensively with the USO, performing for American troops across various countries. He co-hosted “It Could Be Better” podcast from 2009 to 2013 and won both the New York’s Comedy Festival and the Boston Comedy Festival in 2010. His first 30-minute special was released in 2011 on “Comedy Central Presents.”

In 2012, Bargatze moved to Los Angeles and released his first comedy album, “Yelled At By A Clown,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Top Ten Comedy Charts. He appeared on “WTF with Marc Maron” and “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” in 2013, participating in Fallon’s Clean Cut Comedy Tour. A sitcom deal with NBC Universal in 2014, with Fallon as producer, was ultimately scrapped. He also auditioned for “The Daily Show,” making it to the final shortlist. After two years in Los Angeles, Bargatze returned to Nashville. His first hour-long special, “Full Time Magic,” released by Comedy Central in 2015, reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top Ten Comedy Charts. His breakthrough came in 2017 with Netflix’s “The Standups,” significantly boosting his attendance. In 2019, he released the Netflix special “The Tennessee Kid,” named the best comedy special of the year by Forbes. He also filmed a multi-cam sitcom pilot for ABC based on his life, which was not picked up. He launched “The Nateland Podcast” in 2020. His 2021 Netflix special, “The Greatest Average American,” earned a 2022 Grammy Award nomination for Best Comedy Album. His 2023 Amazon Prime Video special, “Hello World,” set a record for Amazon’s most-streamed original comedy special with 2.9 million viewers in its first 28 days. On April 15, 2023, he broke the Bridgestone Arena’s all-time attendance record with 19,365 attendees. Bargatze hosted “Saturday Night Live” in October 2023 and October 2024, attracting attention for his George Washington portrayals. In 2024, he was the highest-grossing stand-up comic according to Pollstar and Billboard, with $82.2 million gross income from 1.1 million tickets sold across 148 shows, a new Boxscore record. His next Netflix special, “Your Friend, Nate Bargatze,” premiered on Christmas Eve 2024. In March 2025, he announced his feature acting debut in “The Breadwinner,” a film he co-wrote and produced, set for a March 13, 2026 release. He will also host the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards in September 2025. In 2024, Bargatze contributed $1.15 million to the development of an indoor athletic facility at Donelson Christian Academy, named in his honor. He has expressed a desire to build a theme park, Nateland, in Nashville.