Nate Bargatze: Hello World
The Jamie Moyer of Comedy Throws a Gem
Review—Nate Bargatze: Hello World on Prime Video
Nate Bargatze is one of the “hottest” and most productive comics of the moment. He has had two specials in the last 2 years, one for Netflix, “The Greatest Average American”, for which he received a Grammy nomination for best comedy album, and this new one from Amazon Prime Video entitled “Hello World”. While he may not quite be a household name yet, he is likely recognizable to most by his style—quasi-Southern, aw-shucks, everyman charm.
There is nothing ground-breaking in this special. But that is not to say that Bargatze isn’t funny, on the contrary he is VERY funny. In terms of laughs, this is much funnier than TGAA, although I still give him credit/extra points for trying to do an hour-long set, outside at Universal Studios Hollywood, in the middle of a pandemic, with helicopters flying overhead. And I also think this special gave me more laughs than Sebastian Maniscalco’s latest (which I reviewed earlier), precisely for its normalness. Is that even a word?
Bargatze is like the Jamie Moyer of comedians. For those that don’t cache that reference, Moyer was a longtime MLB pitcher, whose claim to fame was that he was left handed, threw the ball extremely slowly (always sub-90 mph), and holds the record for being the oldest pitcher ever to record a win an MLB game (49 years old)! The magic of Moyer, if one can call it that, was that he got big league hitters out throwing the ball slower than most high schoolers. He was able to use his repetoire (or craftiness) to keep hitters off balance eventhough they knew what was coming. Nate Bargatze is very similar in his approach. He sticks with his bread and butter (which could also be another metaphor for his comedy). Almost all of his material falls into theme best summed up by his own quote from this special, “this is all stuff I overheard at Target or Lowes.” There are no big intellectual strides one needs to make while watching him, and no wincing at the racial, gender, or political commentaries made by many of his peers. He doesn’t even swear during this special. In fact, he does an entire bit about the word “sucks”.
So how is what I’m describing interesting or funny? Because he’s really good at what he does. Everyone can watch and not feel excluded. His southern references aren’t overt like Jeff Foxworthy, (he’s from Tennesee) and any jokes that could tilt towards a “hot take”, he balances with the equivalent of a punchline shrug, e.g. his “Andrew Jackson” bit in this special. He seems like a people pleaser of the best kind; he wants everyone to laugh without having to think too hard, and that is reflected in his joke writing.
One of my only complaints about this special is that he performs “in the round”, like, on an actual circular stage. This causes him to rotate around to face additional parts of the audience, while getting tangled up in the mic cord. I assume he didn’t, nor do many comics, use a wireless mic because it is a risky proposition should the connection drop out, but in this special it is just a distraction. On my first viewing on TV (a modest 43”) it drove me crazy, but it wasn’t as noticeable during my second viewing on my Iphone. Still, if you were playing a drinking game and had to take a shot for every time he messsed with the mic cord, you’d be hammered at the end. This is admittedly a small nit to pick, but I can’t figure out what the advantages of performing comedy in a circle are? At best it makes it feel more intimate, but at worst it seems like a gag, and also kinda of awkward. It’s like, “how can we make standing in front of an audience even MORE uncomfortable???”
In an era of hot takes, it is nice to see someone just stick to the craft of telling good jokes. There is an audience for humor made just for the sake of laughing. When you see the joke list below, you can see that he’s moving from beat to beat every minute or so, and you will also notice the topics are evergreen: growing up, family, wife, etc. In this special, Bargatze demonstrates the kind of repetoire that will keep him in the big leagues for as long as he chooses….”that’s what I’m saying!!!”(backwards door joke)
(Jokes, rough estimate of time performed in the special, and a few notable lines.)
2: Omaha, sporting goods, guns
3: Hickory, TN zipcode
4: Andrew Jackson, bad guy
5: Gulf War, streets of DC
6:18: “Not trying to be better than anyone.”
8:10: Left brain and right brain
9:12: Conjoined twin
10;07 Lights off
11:33 Firstborn
12:45 Backwards home
13:45 Screen door
14:30 Hospital/happy meal
15:55 Kids eat free
16:45 Waitress quits
18:30 Woman on a flight
19:55 Christian parents, Simpsons
20:55 Naive kid (could also be the title of the special)
21:15 Friday the 13th
22:22 Sucks, “I don’t say the words sucks”
23:34 Afraid of my parents, tatoos
25:15 Middle brother
26:10 Home with zero steps
26:45 Digging a hole, shallow grave/“I wouldn’t a killed him if I had known this hole would be so hard.”
28:10 Miss being young
29:10 Abagail’s boat
30:32 Bring Ice
32:14 Being 43 (middle-age understanding)
33:08 Lose weight
34:30 The most candy, fat fruit friends
35:12 Doctor’s visits
36:42 Same form, don’t know the answers “Have I had surgery before?”, Family medical history
37:50 Daughter
39:10 Man of the house
41:10 Mowing the lawn
41:50 Eagle/Dumb Internet
46:10 Contractors
46:55 Choke collars
47:35 Sleeping late/staying up late solo
49:10 Marriage/“I’ve almost had some pretty awesome stuff.”
50:36 Amazing Race
51:08 Golf
53:47 Stories about my wife, choke down on a driver
54:37 “You don’t listen”
55:39 Facebook marketplace
56:52 Front door replacement/Pretend to be productive human (suit, fax, voting)
59:18 Thank you, sincerely (and we know he means it!—GKB)