It’s the last week of our 2023 Annual Report, and we’re kicking it off with the announcement that Nate Bargatze is our Comedian of the Year. Check out our complete Annual Report highlighting the best music, film, and television of the year here. You can also listen to our full interview with Nate Bargatze on the Consequence UNCUT podcast, available wherever you listen or by using the player below. Note: The player automatically displays the latest episode. To see past episodes, click the “playlist” button (three parallel lines) in the bottom right corner of the player.
He’d likely never label himself one, but Nate Bargatze is a bit of a business mogul. In addition to his standup tours and specials, he hosts The Nateland Podcast under the umbrella of his The Nateland Company, a platform he uses to produce and present specials from other comedians. The core of Nateland is similar to the core of Bargatze’s comedy: humor that everyone, across age demographics or media preferences, can enjoy together.
That “clean” approach to comedy wasn’t necessarily a conscious decision for Bargatze, but it’s a quality that’s evolved into an intentional part of his brand. “With comedy, you gotta deliver with confidence and be in your own voice,” he says to Consequence over Zoom. “My voice just ended up being this. I knew from the beginning.”
For those who only recently entered Bargatze’s very dry, deadpan orbit, perhaps thanks to his buzzy stint hosting Saturday Night Live or his 2023 Prime Video special Hello World, there’s a chance you might not realize how long he’s been working in comedy. Any perceived sudden success of this past year has actually been decades in the making from someone who cut their teeth in comedy clubs across the East Coast and and found breakthrough moments in opportunities like his 2017 appearance on Netflix’s comedy showcase series The Standups. He spun that into a pair of Netflix hour specials, 2019’s The Tennessee Kid, and 2021’s Grammy-nominated The Greatest Average American.
But there’s no doubt that 2023 was a milestone year for Bargatze. Things started off strong when Hello World debuted on January 31st and went on to smash the record for Amazon’s most-streamed original comedy special in its first 28 days with 2.9 million viewers — 400,000 more than the previous record-holder, Jim Gaffigan’s Quality Time. In April, his “Be Funny Tour” came to the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, where Bargatze lives with his wife and daughter, and broke the venue’s attendance record with a 19,365-person crowd. “There’s a dream in the back of your head when you first start comedy to play somewhere like Bridgestone Arena,” he says. “I never pictured what happened with the record or anything like that. I just pictured playing it.”
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Later, as the writer’s strike came to an end but actors were still mum in the media due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, SNL offered Bargatze a hosting slot in late October. To even be part of a taping at Studio 8H is a major ambition for so many comedians; to absolutely kill the way Bargatze did is beyond a dream.
