"Nate Bargatze"

0:28Do you want anything? It's an all-new Smart List. Smart. Lightest.

0:37Smart. Lightest.

0:43Smart. Lightest. We were just talking about Shawshank, and I was going to say to Will, Jay, before he came on, that my philosophy in life is kind of... Oh, this is good. Hang on. No, this is good. This is good. You'll like it. Yeah, everybody pull over. and get out the pen. By the way, this is Shawshank Redemption, I think, is for Tracy. So the end of the movie, so the whole movie, Morgan Freeman is talking about, like, you know, he goes in front of the, what is it called, the panel or whatever, the people who kind of, the board. Parole board. Yeah, and he's the parole board, and he's like, he tells them what they think they want to hear.

1:21He's like, no, I've been, you know, reformed. I'm good. I've learned my lesson. And they always deny his parole. And then at the end of the movie, he finally just is like, you know what, fuck it. This is who I am. You people are crazy. I didn't learn anything, blah, blah, blah. And then that's when he gets released. That's it. That's my philosophy for life. And that's what full release comes from honesty. Well, two ways. Sorry. So everybody go ahead and put your car back in drive and toss that paper either out the window. If you still have an ashtray in the car, use that. Because we really didn't get an end to it.

1:58But it's nice that Sean's philosophy on life is like, you know, don't try to be something you're not. Yeah, exactly. Right. I agree with you. Authenticity is a thematic that I'm on a project that I'm working on right now. That's the theme of the thing. Oh, very good. It's a great evergreen. Authenticity. Hey, Jason. Yeah, hi. Why did the man fall down the well? Oh, boy. Because... He didn't see that well? That's exactly right. wait who wait willie you got um when we had jordan peele on his film uh nope yeah i i always just thought it was just a fun way to say yeah no i'm not comfortable with flying saucers it says the main character and this shit freaks me out but it's actually an acronym for it's an acronym he well he said it's an acronym yeah and i just went and i thought about for two seconds i went not of planet earth.

2:55Planet earth. I remember the look on his face. He was a little mad, I think. Well, no, what you were seeing was the same look that I had, which is a total shock at your level of intelligence. Yes. Just like that was my... Stunning surprise. That's what hurt me the most was the stunning, the stunned look on everybody's face when I do something. Well, we're going to have a stunned look at your guest when he comes on. Well, he's going to have a stunned look at Sean. Sorry, Sean, did you have a lunch? He's going to have a stunned look at your joke when he heard your joke, for sure, because he tells jokes for a living.

3:27Oh, shit. Yeah. Here we go. And he doesn't just tell jokes. Man, this guy tells jokes. This son of a gun. This son of a gun, and that's kind of the language that he would use, too, son of a gun. Dax Shepard's coming back? Dax does love son of a gun. He does. This guy uses, I don't know, there's something about everything that he does, his delivery, his turn of phrase, the things he talks about, the way he does it. A lot of people call him the nicest guy in stand-up. I think of him as just the funniest dude I've seen in such a long time. And I remember the first time I heard about him was through our old friend, Greg Garcia.

4:02Oh, yeah. Yeah, and Greg was like, Greg reached out to me. He's like, you have to have this guy on, blah, blah, blah. And I made some glib remark. He's like, you're going to regret it. I go, I think he's hilarious. Relax, Greg. And then, JB, you and I had the pleasure of meeting him really, really briefly. Make you repeat the glib remark right in front of him. We met him really briefly up at, last year, up at Pebble Beach. And he's as nice as he is funny, and it's all legit. I love this guy. He's so, so funny. I love Ray Romano. I love the Tennessee kid. Ray Romano? I love the Tennessee kid. I love his new special Hello World on Amazon.

4:38He's about to go on tour in a new one. Guys, it's none other than the hilarious Nate Bregazzi. Nate Bregazzi? Hello. Even better. I was ready for Ray. I love Ray. I'll get Ray. Oh, how great. Nate, it's good to see you again. Good to see you, Sean. Hey, just a little fun note. Never seen Shawshank. Well, you're young. You're too young for it. You know, it's before your time. Wait, wait. I'm 44. I should have. It's pretty young. You know what, Nate? I didn't see Shawshank until I was 45. Oh, I'll do it next year. Anyway. Nate Bargazi. Nate. Dude. Nate. This is really nice. Great to see you again because we did meet.

5:19We did meet up at Pebble. Yep. Do you live in a nice house or are you in a nice hotel room? Where are you? In a hotel room. I'm in Syracuse. Okay. Working? I get a show in Syracuse. This is, can't make it here. Can't make it anywhere, you know? That's what they say. That's what they say. Nate, I like that you said I'm in Syracuse and Sean goes, working? Nah. I just... He's just hanging out with the orange man. It's vacation. This is the vacations I can afford. you go it's nice we took a bus though uh but it's you know we spent on the hotel room yeah yeah everything went to this um now what kind of my family of 30 is right off camera they're just right there i said if y 'all talk during this i will kill you when you when you are traveling around you're doing these shows uh what size is your is your is your is your group footprint What's your posse size?

6:12We have probably like 10 guys. Because I bring four openers. Actually, tonight, we've got a surprise opener. He won't be here until later. Jimmy Fallon. Fallon is coming to the show. Oh, that's great. He's going to jump on the bus. Where do I know him? Tell me what we know him from. That movie Pitch Fever. Taxi. Pitch Fever Pitch. Taxi. With Queen Latifah. Yes, I remember Taxi. Jimmy right now, by the way, he's hearing this. He's sharpening his knife hearing us say this. Well, Nate, I have to say this. We developed the show together years ago. What? And you were very successful then. But to see you over the years, this kind of like, and then SNL, and then like, it's so exciting to finally be like, yes, this guy has been brilliant, has always been brilliant, and now more and more people get to see it.

7:03And you sell, Nate, you sell out arenas like 20 ,000 at a clip, which is just unbelievable. And on top of this, and I'm going to say this, and I've said it a bunch since it aired when you were on SNL, your sketch, your George Washington sketch, is to me, just in my opinion, the funniest SNL sketch I've seen in 15 years. I totally agree with that. I'm going to look that up. I totally agree with that. It is remarkable. Now, your TV just went on, which tells me that you're bored. Yeah, I don't know why it turned on. The family's bored. The 30 men are getting itchy. There's no one in here. It's just you and Jim Benheim, right?

7:38Is that his name? Do you want me to turn it off or does it matter? No, no. Let's give me something to watch. But you have, to echo what Sean's saying, you have just like kind of finally, thankfully, the rest of America is just like, understand what an awesome, awesome, hilarious dude you are. So how do you start? You're the Tennessee kid. You're from Old Hickory, Tennessee. Am I right about that? Yes. Old Hickory. Yeah, Old Hickory. Is it next to New Hickory? No, New's a little bit farther. Was it ever New Hickory? No, we stayed old. He's got this great joke in his new special on Amazon Prime Where he says I'm from Old Hickory It's where Andrew Jackson's from And people are like he wasn't a good guy And Nate goes well we didn't know him that well But we didn't know him at all It's an hilarious joke But Nate talk to me about when you were a kid Did you always into comedy Did you watch SNL What were your inspirations That's what I was getting to How did you start My dad's a magician Mine too Mine can disappear on the drop of a hat Sean Hayes, you are talk show quick.

8:39Get 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. Wait, wait, wait. So, Nate, so you grew up, your dad's a magician. He obviously loved you. Sorry, Sean. And he, I mean, to the extent that he wanted to stick around. I'm friends with Sean's dad. Yeah. Oh, so you know where he is. Yeah, yeah, he's a pretty good dude. I don't know the whole back story, but I just know from what our hanging out is.

9:15He's got no tread left on his tires, but he's a good guy. He texts you a pin to his location. So what was that like growing up with your dad being a magician? That's pretty rad. An illusionist. Yeah, yeah, it was the best. 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 dead's a magician. Start saying you don't know when you're asked what your dad does. Right. Yeah.

9:52So 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'm just 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 my card. It's always been my card. Every time I see magic, I freaking love it. And I'll bet everybody listening loves it. I mean, how can you not love when you see a magic trick? I mean, a good one if it's convincing. But I never think about it. I never, and I always make fun of it when I hear about it. It's like you hear about mimes.

10:26But you know what? You can't take your eyes off a mime or a magician. It gets a bad rap. You can't take your eyes off a mime. Yeah, that's the quote of the day. Wait. So, Nate, so your dad, Sean was going to ask this. So your dad made a living as a magician. 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. No way. 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.

11:04So you go, got a little CPAP machine hooked up in a tour bus. It's a good time. You got some ramps on the side of that stage? 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. And the smell of liniment. Wait, so did you ever perform in the magic shows with your dad? I did some, yeah. I would help him with magic. You ever get cut in half? No, no, we didn't ever do that.

11:41He never did that, go that far. He did sleight of hand. A lot of sleight of hand, and he does comedy. Oh, it's my favorite. Yeah. So then when you, what age were you when you were like, actually kind of to what Jason, you kind of alluded to, but did you start just like being a wise ass on the side of your dad's stage while he was doing magic? Like is that how stand-up started for you? 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. Right. But it was like I would make fun of myself a lot, which is what I do now in my comedy.

12:16Yeah, it's the best. You'd be doing stuff like that, making fun of you. 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. 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. Sure. So he was just, he was sitting like this.

12:50And then he got out and I met the Easter Bunny. And then my dad drove the Easter Bunny home. So that started your, the Easter Bunny. That was the, yeah, that was the trajectory. I go, all right. I go, if I can be that guy, then maybe I can make it as a standout. Now, what was your mom's attitude on her husband's career? My parents have been together since seventh grade. and they, my mom's very funny. And, but she, 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 up, my dad would be like, go to the store, I need you to buy 12 lemons.

13:29And he has to buy for like his magic or a bunch of newspapers from that day. 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. And handkerchiefs in six colors. He's got a lot of shows this week. It's just stuff like that. That's cool. Wait, wait. So, Nate, so I want to kind of get, again, we're the worst interviewers on the planet. We were just voted worst ever interviewers. We nailed it. Of all time. Yeah. But I want to go back because we, again, because you play these huge arenas and it's amazing.

14:08And I don't know if I've ever seen a comic so comfortable. You make it so intimate, even though you're playing a huge, there's something about it that makes it so personal and you're so organic. Yeah, you draw us in as opposed to ask for. And we're talking about authenticity. You're very authentic. But that feels like when you started, you must have started in clubs, like in smaller venues, right? Like most comics, I imagine. 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.

14:43I 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. And we're like, well, we don't think it's all right. It really wasn't about him. You're like, I don't want to stand up in front of a guy. Regularly up in front of four people, five, six. Like, I mean, six people was like, got a pretty good show going on. You know, you were excited about six people. No way. 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 pain crowd that's good.

15:18But what does that do for you? What does that do for you like rhythm wise, et cetera, when you're just doing six people? Well, I had to learn to get people into my rhythm very quickly. So since I'm talk slower and I'm from the south and all this, I had to figure out because I would follow like 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. 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.

15:53You know what always blows my mind about stand-ups though? Like how you can just walk around the stage for two hours and always have something to talk about. and like how do you it is it like a monologue you memorize or like how can you just go up and speak god he's gonna love show business do you think hours straight yeah sean where do you get a load of her he's gonna love show business he's gonna love it with two-thirds of the planet is water um there's a couple of poles no you know what i mean that always blows obviously you had material that you work on but do you ever like there's your answer go up and you're like oh my god i don't know what subject to talk about next like the flow of well i don't go up i 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 so it's very not freestyling bro no i don't work it on it for months i know but do you ever switch it nate do you ever switch the order uh based on the audience oh yeah this this this new hour i've switched it a ton but it's worked because now i'm opening on a joke that uh i have closed on so it's like it's great to be opening on a joke that i've actually had to have 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 uh yeah you just fill it out it's like i mean it's kind of like a song like i like i'm in love with stand-up right now like i love it so much and it's uh i the way i've looked at writing kind of is like uh it's a movie so i'm the main character of this movie and i'm not i'm telling the story i'm not there's a there's a you know a reason for be saying all this stuff and everything leads into the other thing 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 to i'm trying to make it where like 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 and now back to the show who was your main inspiration uh as far as developing that style of of telling stories as opposed to jokes was it like a george carlin or because i seem to remember he was he was kind of like that too right yeah well a big cosby was one oh yeah you know obviously but like that if If you go watch his old stuff, it's very storytelling, all that kind of stuff.

18:21I'm a big Seinfeld fan. Seinfeld was, he was, I kind of think, because I always look like I tell stories, but in a joke form. 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. You're like, you know. Because if you go silent too long, I mean, there's a point where you're like, well, this joke better be unreal. Yeah.

18:54Sean tried stand up, and we won't get to his opening joke, but he started so far from the laugh, and then he never got even to the same area code as the laugh. You know what I mean? Like, he never had actual direct sight on the laugh. They never got a clean look at it. He turned into a lecture. And there's no way. You're like, no, he's supposed to go. Well, he'll never get out now. Even with a series of mirrors, he couldn't see the laugh. It was so obscured. That's how I drive around town. I only take right-hand turns. But, Nate, biggest bombing story? Like, did you just, like, oh, my God, this is the worst, like?

19:30Yeah. Yeah, there's a bunch. I mean, you'd blame it on it. 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. I've never done that since. Oh, for real? Yeah. I was, like, it wasn't me. I was just like, this shirt is good. Couldn't have been the material. This fucking shirt is killing me. What is this guy's shirt? What is this guy's deal? I've done a cruise ship. Say no more. Yeah, 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.

20:08So 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, honestly, because sometimes these people would come back and watch multiple shows. 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. so the other guy uh 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 always and he was like come to my shows every show is different and he like made a big announcement how they're all different and then i went up and i said my i go come to one it may be the other one but the other one will be the same i had to 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 right you can go to his shows they will be different mine will be and then i went and did a show and uh it was i started it and like they they didn't laugh and i was like oh these people have been to every show and i'm not a crowd work guy you know and i'm like so what do you do man and i you know some guys like i'm an 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 it's like an insane people are saying crazy stuff like i'm a bank robber 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 and i'm just sitting there and i had a hat on and i just hear some guy just trashing me and i'm my shoulders touching him and i just have to sit there oh my god um do it but they do separate them between clean and dirty on a cruise ship that's exclusive to a cruise ship?

22:04Yeah, 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, you know, 11 p.m. is like an adult-only show. You still can't be that dirty, but the idea of it is a little more, you know. Yeah, you could have just dropped in a couple F-bombs just randomly. I got to curse as I talk about parking. I'm like, you guys have a parallel parking lot. 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, like, political.

22:37Like, there's nothing, like, really, like, that's kind of like this. What about political sex? Will you ever touch political sex? Is that something that you'd be willing to do? That I will. Yeah. If the right joke comes up. Sure. Sure. You know, it is funny. It is remarkable how clean your stand-up is. And a lot of people, it's such a weird thing to have to say to point it out, but I guess it is worthy of pointing out. And it is, to me, such a testament to how profoundly funny you are. Honestly, and I hope it is a badge of honor for you. It should be because it really, you find ways to talk about stuff and you don't need to swear.

23:12I swear like a... Cosby never cursed. Famously never cursed. Well, again, let's not try to look at, so let's not. No, let's go down the avenue of Cosby and clean, you know? Yeah. This guy... So Nate, wait, did you, so at home, what's it like at home? So like, is, is your, do you check out, do you run jokes by your wife? Does she okay them? Is she sick of hearing them? Like, what is that dynamic at home? 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, the reaction would be like, well, why are you married?

23:54and so then you're like well that's not that's not what i want 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're like they can tell that you do love your wife you love your family and you you know and so it's just kind of like just making fun of each other but yeah i'll run by stuff but that comes across and you've got you do that bit about the guy coming to replace the water heater in your other special and you're and then you go finally the guy realizes you don't know what you're talking about anything.

24:22Maybe this is a modern relationship. And he says to Nate, the guy said, is your husband here? And then you go, yeah, I think she's here somewhere.

24:33It's so good. And it is, like you said, you're, you're self-deprecating. You're the, you're the, the, the butt of the joke, which I think is always such a winning combo. Uh, you're not making fun of somebody. You're not having a laugh at somebody else's expense. You're not putting somebody else down to make yourself funny, which is great. Yeah. I just never liked it. Like, I felt bad. I mean, I would, like, make fun of my buddies and comics and stuff. Yeah, yeah. But in the audience, I just always felt, you know, it's like this person is just trying to sit there. They don't need it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

25:04And it'd be, like, big, what's your shirt? Your shirt's stupid. And then I got my shirt on tucked in. I go, right? Don't we all got stupid shirts? Yeah. Do you still live in Tennessee? 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. We have as much of a normal life as it can be. We live in a cul-de-sac, the house at the top, so we're the leaders. Oh, sure. Sure. We set the tone for it. I have a joke. I'll just say it's my new act, Russ, and we do all, in our coldest thing, we do all the right things.

25:49Like 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 and be like, you better get out of our coldest thing. I mean, just furious if they come down there. Brothers and sisters growing up? I have a younger brother and a younger sister. So you're the oldest of the three. I am. And do they, are they finding you funny all the time? or like, yeah? 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, get yelled at by her.

26:26I mean, you got your whole family. You got your sisters working for you and then you're on tour with your mom and dad and your aunt and I mean, That's cool though. That's cool. It's pretty rad. I don't think you've said this, but you have kids. Sorry, do you have kids? Yeah, I have an 11-year-old daughter. I'm so nervous to ask him that, Jason. By the way, he's married. He said he's not available. What are the kids' ages? 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. Oh, that's great. 11-year-old daughter. And what does it seem like she's going to want to do with her life?

27:02Does she want to? She loves horses right now. I don't know why. Oh, that sounds expensive. That's expensive. It is. I don't even know where, no one, we don't come from horse stuff, you know? You're not horse people? 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 got to teach her where the joke, you got to be like, all right, well, you got to be serious. Yeah, isn't that funny? It's like there's the age when they learn sarcasm, they learn humor, but they don't yet know when to stop the joke.