Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist

Episode: Nate Bargatze on Success in Comedy and Nateland’s Expansion

Date: February 1, 2026

Episode Overview

In this live “Sunday Sitdown” at New York's City Winery, Willie Geist welcomes Nate Bargatze, one of today’s most successful and beloved stand-up comedians. The conversation explores Nate’s rise in comedy, the expansion of his Nateland entertainment brand, his unique path in show business, and his vision for clean, family-friendly comedy. With a live audience and audience Q&A, the episode brims with genuine laughter, warmth, and revealing stories from Nate’s personal and professional journey.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Getting to City Winery: Road Trip & Real Life Comedy

• Nate shares how flight issues forced him and his team to drive from Pottstown, PA, reminiscing about gas station stops and the special camaraderie that comes from stand-up life on the road.
  • [04:53] “Yeah, we're the real heroes... then we drove all the way up in the van. We had a big stop in sheets... I did okay until I realized that they will make milkshakes at midnight, and then it was like, well, that's gonna be kind of a problem...” — Nate

2. Vanderbilt Fandom and Sports Heartbreak

• Both Willie and Nate share deep personal history with Vanderbilt sports: family ties, years of loyal fandom, and recent (rare) victories.
  • [09:25] “So now to be where we’re at—the night Vandy beat Alabama in football… Best night.” — Nate
  • [10:08] “I was at the game... looking down the line at these other fans... are we going to beat number one Alabama?... the goal post came down. They threw 'em in the Cumberland River. Incredible.” — Willie

3. The Feeling of “Making It” in Comedy

• Geist lays out Nate’s achievements—and asks what it feels like for him after two decades of slow grind followed by a meteoric rise.
  • [11:52] “It doesn’t feel like it’s happening to you. So you just kind of like... you started out and you’re doing comedy and you’re doing shows for one person... it all takes very long, but then it happens very quick... It’s like that imposter feeling where you just go, when you’re at an arena, and I’m like, I can’t imagine they’re here to see me.” — Nate

4. Saturday Night Live, The George Washington Sketch, and Mainstream Breakout

• Nate discusses his iconic SNL experience and how “Washington’s Dream” went from a slow table-read to viral moment—with his advocacy making the difference.
  • [14:07] “I could tell, like, when you’re reading it in, like, just a table read, it’s like, it’s not getting a ton of laughs... I knew once I get in front of people, like, it’s going to be fine...” — Nate
  • [17:51] Hosting SNL “took it to this level... We were adding the shows [in arenas]. I mean, you’re still filling this next tour... it just really took off.”

5. International Touring & Audience Building

• Willie notes Nate’s relentless schedule, from Oslo to Nashville, and Nate reflects on rebuilding from scratch overseas, mirroring the early days of his U.S. stand-up grind.

6. Family, Upbringing, and Choosing Clean Comedy

• Raised just outside Nashville, the son of a magician, Nate’s family, faith, and upbringing profoundly shaped his comedic voice and clean style. There's a touching sincerity behind wanting family, especially his parents, to be proud and comfortable at his shows.
  • [30:35] “It was my upbringing... I never wanted to embarrass them. I didn’t want them to come to a show and or them to say go watch my son and be embarrassed. And so I wrote everything I wrote, I write for them.” — Nate

7. Work Ethic, Early Gigs, and Comedy Heroes

• Stories of water meter reading, being the last line of defense post-9/11 (guarding “fields of water tanks”), and being cut four years from his high school basketball team.
• Inspiration from comics like Seinfeld, Brian Regan (“my dad pulled the car over laughing so hard”), and Gaffigan, with whom Nate now shares management and camaraderie.

8. On Stage: Style, Kindness, and Self-Deprecation

• Nate’s act centers on making himself the joke, keeping it light, self-deprecating, and never mean-spirited.
  • [37:14] “You always make yourself the joke. Even when you're talking about your wife or your daughter, the joke is always on you, right?” — Willie
  • [37:21] “Yeah... you need to be the joke. You can laugh with me or laugh at me and it doesn’t matter.” — Nate

9. Nateland: A New Vision for Family Entertainment

• Nate’s ambitious plans for Nateland—an entertainment company producing clean, family-centered content rooted in Nashville, with an eye to become the next Disney or legendary comedy brand:
  • [48:05] “I envision... you could be another Disney. Like, it’s another... I think I can just tell—entertainment, you see with Hollywood, like, they're, they're detached from what people want to see... there’s not much... there’s stuff for people to watch, even as a family.” — Nate
  • He stresses that the gap in family entertainment isn’t just about stand-up, but also movies and TV that all ages can watch together.
  • “The idea with Nateland was to—hopefully going to be making some movies... If you see Nateland, you can know... you can at least trust that I’m not going to try... I want you all to watch it as a family.”

10. Looking Ahead—and Knowing When to Step Aside

• Nate shares an intention not to tour forever, wanting to leave room for the next generation and focus behind the scenes:
  • [51:45] “My plan is to step away... I’m not going to do stand-up the way we’re doing it. I see this tour, maybe one more tour, maybe... you gotta get out of the way... I want to be a part of [movies], make sure everything has what I think should be on it, but we need to have other, younger people...”

Notable Audience Q&A Highlights

When Did You Realize You Were Funny?

• [55:40] “I think... high school, I was like at a party and I told, was just ranting about some story and it was getting a lot of laughs. And so that was like the first kind of stand up set I felt like I did.”—Nate

First Time Bombing on Stage

• [56:11] “You bomb a lot at the beginning. Once we did a show for one guy... another time, I had a shirt on. Everybody was doing good... I bombed so hard... I blamed it all on that [tucked in] shirt. And I never wore that shirt ever to that.”—Nate

Staying Motivated in the Grind

• [57:52] “I never had that moment [thinking of quitting]. I kind of felt I was supposed to be doing this... as long as every year gets a little bit better... I remember making like $30k a year, and you’re like, well, that’s what I’m going to be making at Applebee’s... so I was like, I’m doing this.”—Nate

The Role of His Wife

• [59:23] “She’s been much more important than I probably have given her credit for... the fact she’s just gone on with everything that I want to go do... so to have a partner... that will let you do that is, that’s the only way I would even have the success.”—Nate

Man Crush?

• [61:47] “I have one just because I had a fun interaction with him. Kiefer Sutherland... He told me he loved me before he left. I’ve never talked to him before or after. I don’t know if he knows I’m a comedian or if he thinks I’m someone else, but it was so nice...” — Nate

Making Real Life Into Jokes

• [63:19] “Sometimes you realize. Sometimes you have like a little... funny thing, idea down and then I gotta just find out where it's gonna end up going... I have a joke where I take my shirt off at a golf course and this old man mistakes me for his elderly wife... the best thing that's ever happened to me in my life.” — Nate

Handling Family Stories on Stage

• [65:01] “I always tell them I will never do anything to make... I would never... I've really backed off talking about my daughter a lot... I just want her old enough to understand why... My wife, definitely, been in some fights where I'm like, that's not bad right there.” — Nate

Memorizing Material and Blanking Onstage

• [66:40] “Yeah, it happens a lot... It's like a song... but yeah, I've started jokes and then just like, was like, I don't even know why. I don't even know how this could be funny... there's a guy looking through papers going, like, I think I know where this is going, and you're like, well, we're almost there buddy... and then he goes, I got nothing.”—Nate

Favorite Place in Nashville

• Satco for tacos (San Antonio Taco Company) and the Station Inn for music, both grounded in Nashville’s local and Vandy culture.

Memorable Quotes

• “I never wanted to embarrass them...So I wrote everything I wrote, I write for them.” — Nate ([30:35])
• “You can laugh with me or laugh at me and it doesn’t matter.” — Nate ([37:21])
• “If you see Nateland, you can know... you can at least trust that I’m not going to try...I want you all to watch it as a family.” — Nate ([48:05])
• “You bomb a lot at the beginning... Another time, everyone’s doing great, and I bomb so hard…never wore that shirt again." — Nate ([56:11])
• “You either make it at 20 or 40. No one makes it in the middle.” — Nate ([57:32])

Tone & Atmosphere

Light, conversational, and sincere, echoing Nate’s clean, humble, and self-deprecating style. The live audience backdrop adds energy and warmth—laughter and the occasional back-and-forth heighten the sense of authenticity and connection.

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [04:53] — Road trip story, comedy beginnings
• [08:18] — Vanderbilt roots and fandom
• [11:52] — Willie asks: “What does this moment feel like?”
• [13:39] — SNL experience and “Washington’s Dream” sketch
• [17:51] — SNL leads to bigger arenas, touring expansion
• [20:10] — Family, dad as a magician, traveling together
• [30:35] — The why and how of working clean
• [37:21] — Philosophy on making himself the joke
• [48:05] — The Nateland vision and family entertainment gap
• [57:32] — Making it in comedy: “You either make it at 20 or 40…”
• [63:19] — Turning life moments into material
• [66:40] — Memorizing material and on-stage memory blanks
• [69:33] — Favorite restaurants and landmarks in Nashville

Summary

This episode delivers a full, entertaining portrait of Nate Bargatze at a crossroads: a comedian in his prime, ascendant yet humble, proud of his roots, and committed to bringing “clean” and relatable entertainment to a wider audience. Nate’s ambitions with Nateland reflect a broader call for new, family-friendly stories in American media. Through laughter, self-reflection, and audience participation, this live conversation captures Nate’s unique blend of everyday humor, grounded optimism, and a generous spirit.