Picture yourself cracking jokes in the comfort of your home for a small circle of family members. That was likely the first gig opportunity for many of today’s consummate headliners of successful stand-up. With that in mind, imagine the path these comedic powerhouses had to walk, the countless attempts and refinement of their craft, the constant rejection of tangible achieve their dreams of following their passion and making a life of what they love, having a talent for standing in front of spectators and render their routine using themselves as the essence of that deliver while sparkling all kinds of tricks to be embraced by the audience and become famous, be able to book steady flow of venues and build strong crowd following. Most of the twenty-first-century jesters had to draw upon the likeability of their material blended with a constructed on-stage persona that, more often than not, unleashed a tsunami of outrageous quirks, loud-in-your-face lines, risky choice of satirized cultural expressions rooted in admiration yet filled with “tongue-in-cheek elements that could potentially fall short with the public. The stakes are high, as are the rewards, winning hearts or being canceled overnight. Among the perks of the upsides are streaming service contracts, Vegas residencies, and touring prestigious arenas. Therefore, to blow up their careers, some entertainers turn to their abilities for physical comedy, flamboyant and quasi, if not entirely crass, choice of words, and everything an artist will include in their audition acting CV.
In contrast, only a selected few satirists get to perform their comedy just as if they were in the warmth of their living room, rattling jokes in a monotone, relatable, family-friendly style wrapped around simplicity and relatability that ignites laughter and entices the whole family producing a rare phenomenon. That is the case of Tennessean Nate Bargatze, the son of a local town clown/magician and a homemaker mother who made a name for himself in the demanding and, at times, dream crusher comedy scene by presenting himself and his life experiences as a son, father, student, friend, etc. in the form of blended wholesome humor and life triviality connections. His clean storytelling gathered audiences across the country, and during pandemic times when YouTube videos of small engagements, his observational anecdotes rapidly caught the attention of millions of Americans at home, craving a reason to laugh about the absurdities and challenges of ordinary life. Fast forward three years, and he has writing, performing, and producing credits on two SNL performances in less than one year; three Netflix specials: “The Tennessee Kid,” Greatest Average American, an Amazon Prime Video stand-up special, Late Night Shows appearances, the Best Selling Book “Big Dumb Eyes, Stories From a Simpler Mind” by Nate Bargatze a just landing tour “To Be Funny” all routed on his captivating gift of making ordinary experiences into a hilarious event with a monotone unassuming delivered that. He resonates with all ages by using education curriculum, hospital visits, parenting challenges, family vacations, the metric system, and more to pivot a plethora of laughs to the delight of those who witness his sketches.