"RE-RELEASE: Nate Bargatze"

Episode of SmartLess · May 21, 2026 · 54 min

Comedian Nate Bargatze tells the SmartLess hosts about his magician father, early bombs, his clean storytelling style, arena touring, and life in Tennessee.

Summary

In this re-release of a 2024 episode, Will Arnett introduced Nate Bargatze, who joined from a hotel room in Syracuse during an arena tour. Bargatze described growing up in Old Hickory, Tennessee, with a father who worked as a teacher and magician and who now opens for him on the road, and recounted his father bringing the Easter Bunny home from a mall show.

Bargatze discussed his early years in Chicago and New York clubs, performing for audiences as small as one person, and explained how he learned to pull crowds into his slower Southern rhythm. He described his writing approach as a movie in which he is the main character, said he tries never to be too far from the laugh, and cited Bill Cosby and Jerry Seinfeld as influences. He recalled bombing on a cruise ship after winning a contest, explained why his act avoids crowd work, profanity and insulting audience members, and said jokes about his wife must show love.

The conversation also covered his family, the economics of arena stand-up, nerves during his Saturday Night Live monologue, a KFC-catered reunion with Italian relatives, his love of UFC and golf, a joke based on golfer Boo Weekly fighting an orangutan at a county fair, chain restaurants, and his friendship with Greg Garcia. After Bargatze left, the hosts discussed what angers them, with Bateman citing people who punch down and Hayes citing confident ignorance.

Chapters

0:06
Cold open and Shawshank philosophy
The hosts banter about Sean Hayes's life philosophy drawn from The Shawshank Redemption and the meaning of Jordan Peele's Nope.
3:40
Introducing Nate Bargatze
Will Arnett praises Bargatze and introduces him as he joins from Syracuse on tour.
7:42
Growing up with a magician father
Bargatze describes Old Hickory, his father's magic career, and the Easter Bunny story.
13:52
Early career in clubs
Bargatze recalls Chicago and New York clubs with tiny audiences and how he learned to set his rhythm.
15:53
Writing process and influences
Bargatze explains preparing material, reordering his hour, treating a set like a movie, and his influences.
19:21
Bombing on a cruise ship
Bargatze recounts a disastrous cruise ship gig and explains his clean, non-crowd-work style.
23:25
Family and home life
Bargatze discusses joking about his wife, life in Tennessee, his siblings, and his daughter.
28:44
Arena touring and SNL nerves
Bargatze talks about his tour route, making arenas intimate, and nerves during his SNL monologue.
34:00
Economics of stand-up
Bargatze explains promoters, show budgets, and why merchandise matters less in comedy.
35:55
Family name and Italian reunion
Bargatze discusses his Italian surname and a family reunion catered with KFC.
37:12
UFC, golf and the orangutan story
Bargatze talks about his love of UFC and golf and tells the Boo Weekly orangutan-fighting story.
42:27
The ex-boyfriend on the boat and chain restaurants
Bargatze retells a bit about his wife's ex-boyfriend on a boat and the group discusses Applebee's and other chains.
47:55
Greg Garcia and farewell
Bargatze explains how he met Greg Garcia and invites the hosts on the road.
50:48
Post-interview: what makes us angry
The hosts praise Bargatze and discuss punching down and confident ignorance.

Key points

What was said, by whom, with the exact words. Timestamps jump to the moment.

Will Arnett
Arnett calls Bargatze's George Washington sketch the funniest SNL sketch he has seen in 15 years.
“your George Washington sketch, is to me, just in my opinion, hysterical. the funniest SNL sketch I've seen in 15 years”
Listen from 7:09 · Saturday Night Live
Nate Bargatze
Bargatze says his father is a well-known magician who frequently opens for him on tour.
“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”
Listen from 10:51 · Stage magic
Nate Bargatze
Bargatze says that because he talks slowly and is Southern, he had to learn to pull audiences into his rhythm quickly, especially after high-energy acts.
“I had to learn to get people into my rhythm very quickly. So since I talk slower and I was from the South”
Listen from 15:24 · Stand-up comedy craft
Nate Bargatze
Bargatze says he always goes on stage with prepared material and cannot really do crowd work.
“I go up prepared. I mean, I can't do the other. I can't really do like crowd work”
Listen from 16:33 · Stand-up comedy craft
Nate Bargatze
Bargatze describes writing a stand-up hour as a movie in which he is the main character, with each joke leading into the next.
“The way I've looked at writing, it's a movie. So I'm the main character of this movie”
Listen from 17:17 · Stand-up comedy craft
Nate Bargatze
Bargatze argues that staying close to the laugh reduces pressure, since a long setup demands a bigger payoff.
“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”
Listen from 18:30 · Stand-up comedy craft
Nate Bargatze
Bargatze jokes that winning a comedy contest whose prize was cruise ship gigs set his career back.
“I won a contest, and your prize was to set your career back five years and do cruises”
Listen from 19:55 · Cruise ship entertainment
Nate Bargatze
Bargatze says that when joking about his wife he learned he must also show love so audiences do not question the marriage.
“when you make fun of your wife at the beginning is you have to show love”
Listen from 23:41 · Clean comedy
Nate Bargatze
Bargatze explains he avoids mocking audience members because they are simply trying to enjoy the show.
“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”
Listen from 24:59 · Punching down in comedy
Nate Bargatze
Bargatze says arenas grow so quiet during his jokes that he could be heard without a microphone.
“I could yell with no microphone and the top person could hear me. It gets that quiet”
Listen from 30:12 · Arena comedy touring
Linked moment · 31:31Skip to 31:31 using a listen link in the info box.
Nate Bargatze
Bargatze says his SNL monologue made him more nervous because he had to deliver jokes to the camera rather than the crowd.
“it was very weird to deliver jokes to kind of a spot where no one's at”
Listen from 31:31 · Saturday Night Live
Nate Bargatze
Bargatze says merchandise is not a major revenue source in stand-up, unlike concerts.
“merch is not the biggest thing in stand-up”
Listen from 34:26 · Arena comedy touring
Nate Bargatze
Bargatze says he loves UFC for its honesty, because fighters and Dana White say what they want without the gamesmanship of other sports.
“the most, the honesty of it. With Dana White and the fighters, they can say whatever they want”
Listen from 37:42 · Ultimate Fighting Championship
Nate Bargatze
Bargatze recounts that Greg Garcia's input on his pilot was so strong the team rewrote the entire script around his ideas.
“we rewrote the whole script off just his ideas because they were so good”
Listen from 48:44
Jason Bateman
Bateman says what angers him most is people who punch down and are mean because they can be.
“I hate when people, like, punch down, you know?”
Listen from 52:08 · Punching down in comedy
Jason Bateman
Bateman finds overconfident people grating because one must spend effort pretending to buy their act.
“a person who is much smarter or much more confident than they have a right to be is just grating”
Listen from 52:47

People

In the conversation

Will ArnettCanadian-American actor and comedian, co-host of SmartLess
Sean HayesAmerican actor and comedian, co-host of SmartLess
Jason BatemanAmerican actor and director, co-host of SmartLess
Nate BargatzeComedian who stars in The Breadwinner

Discussed

Greg GarciaAmerican television writer and producer, friend of Bargatze and the hosts
Jimmy FallonAmerican comedian and host of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Bill CosbyAmerican comedian cited by Bargatze as a storytelling influence
Jerry SeinfeldComedian and co-creator of Seinfeld
Boo WeeklyAmerican professional golfer whose orangutan-fighting story inspired a Bargatze joke
Dana WhitePresident and CEO of the UFC
Morgan FreemanAmerican actor whose Shawshank Redemption role inspired Hayes's philosophy
Danielle Sanchez-WitzelTelevision showrunner of a Bargatze pilot

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From the publisher

Untuck your button-down; it’s Nate Bargatze. We discover the wonders of Magic, the Easter Bunny, a KFC-catered family reunion, and an elevator in the ocean. You can’t take your eyes off a mime… it’s an all-new SmartLess. This episode was originally released on 7/15/2024.

Summary, chapters and key points were generated from the episode transcript on September 28, 2026. Quotes are checked word for word against the transcript.

Categories: Comedy Interviews·Stand-Up