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- [00:00]
David Marchese
This podcast is supported by On Investing, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Each week, hosts Liz Ann Saunders, Schwab's chief investment strategist, and Cathy Jones, Schwab's chief fixed income strategist, along with their guests, analyze economic developments and bring context to conversations around stocks, fixed income, the economy and more. Download the latest episode and subscribe@schwab.com oninvesting or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [00:32]
Nate Bargettzi
From.
- [00:32]
David Marchese
The New York Times this is the Interview I'm David Marchese. Pretty much whenever I watch a buzzy new stand up comedy special, at some point I end up having to scramble for the remote control to hit the mute button because one of my kids has wandered into the room. The material's just too blue for their precious little ears. When I was watching Nate Bargetzi's latest special, though, my 10 year old walked in. I grabbed the remote and then I realized I didn't have to do anything because the next joke he told with my daughter in the room was about drinking chocolate milk. If standups today often catch fire by being seen as transgressive and dangerous, saying the things others won't say about subjects others won't talk about in language others won't use, then Bargetzi has captured the zeitgeist in a friendlier way. He's low key and clean, and his comedy traffics in highly relatable stories about the foibles of family life, his confusion with money, modern living, and his own lack of smarts. It's an approach that apparently works. His was the highest grossing comedy tour of 2024. He's also found a new audience through a couple of recent and widely praised turns hosting Saturday Night Live. And now he's branching out to a new area with his upcoming book, the self deprecatingly titled Big Dumb Stories from a Simpler Mind. That kind of awe shucks attitude is a trademark of his, but as I learned, it's actually masking some surprisingly bold amb. Here's my interview with Nate Bargetzi. It's interesting reading articles about you over the last couple years since your career has really taken off and you hit a new level. And the writers of those articles always try and explain why you've gotten so big, but what's your hunch about why you have gotten to the place you've gotten to over the last couple years? Like why you?
- [02:30]
Nate Bargettzi
Oh, I always wonder why you. You know, I mean, I think you're talking about relatable things. You're talking about, I think authenticity not that I'm going out for authenticity, but you're in a world now where entertainment is. I think there is no authenticity. You know, it's like you have the Wickeds and you have these Avenger movies and you have all this stuff that's great, but there's not like a regular person like on a screen anymore. And where the movies used to kind of be like that, where you would see Planes, Trains and automobiles and Home Alone and you would have someone be like, all right, that's a guy. That's a regular guy in this movie that you enjoy watching. You know, it's like easier to watch and it's just easier to take in. And you just want to be entertained and you don't always want to be thought provoked. And that's something that I've always tried to stay clear of because I realized like, you know, I need to. I'm trying to sell you something. I'm selling you entertainment. So I need you to be able to come and trust that you're going to get the entertainment that I am showing you that I'm selling you.
- [03:34]
David Marchese
You said I'm selling something, which is an interesting thing to hear because obviously that's true. And obviously that's true for just about everyone in the entertainment business. But usually in my experience people aren't so explicit in saying that. Why do you think there is hesitation on the part of some entertainers to say like, hey, I'm selling something?
- [03:53]
Nate Bargettzi
I don't know, because I think there's got this weird. I mean it's just I think kind of in life in general has got this self importance, you know, I have a platform so I need to say something on this platform and I'm kind of anti platform. I don't need to use this platform to tell you what what to do. You know, if I go want to give you my opinion and like tell you how what I think and all this. I also think that's a lot about me is what I think. And when I go on stage, I try to remind myself this night's not about me. It has nothing to do with me. If it becomes about me, it's too much. I can't handle it. But if I can make it for other people. Now I'm just kind of an employee and I'm working. And so I'm just making stuff for people. And so it's not about my self importance or any of that stuff. It just doesn't matter. You don't need me to do that.
- [04:42]
David Marchese
Help me understand the distinction you're making when you say, you know, I don't want it to be all about me because your material, it is largely about you.
- [04:51]
Nate Bargettzi
Well, it's about me and the fact that, yes, I'm talking about myself and I'm making fun of myself, but the material is written for you. I mean, I just got a message today about a lady that's like, she doesn't like flying. And I get like messages like this all the time. And so she's like, I listened to you and you've helped me fly. Because it's like just, I don't know, it's like takes her mind off of it or whatever. It's the way you watch a show that's comforting. So anytime I think I want to go do something else, it's like I think about the her and go, well, that's not fair to her. I'm not doing it to make myself look good or look better or do this kind of stuff. I'm doing it to make you laugh. I always say you can laugh with me or at me, so it doesn't matter. You relate to it or you think I'm an idiot. Either way, I'm here to entertain you.
- [05:37]
David Marchese
When you were starting out, did you feel any sort of peer pressure from other comedians to perform differently or tell different kinds of jokes? Because, you know, you work clean, you know, your stuff isn't really political in nature at all. There's a lot of family jokes, which I could imagine. If you're, you know, a 28 year old guy working comedy clubs in New York City, there's maybe not a ton of your peers are doing that kind of material.
- [06:02]
Nate Bargettzi
Yeah, I think it was, you know, I would do a lot of shows starting out, it'd be midnight, it'd be a show called Uncensored Comedy. And you know, and I mean, these are. Some of my friends are like very dirty. Yeah. Most comics I'm around were the complete opposite of everything that I did. I had to learn how to do what I was doing in those rooms. But I didn't want you to notice that I was clean. So I think that is something that helped me into the fact that if I can go up and make you laugh and make this crowd laugh, I'm 28 years old in New York City doing a show. It's one in the morning, these people are drunk, and then I'm doing it. How can I do this material that's not doing sexual jokes or whatever everybody else was kind of doing? And so you learn how to try to hide it. Because I think if you walked up and said, I'm clean, it's going to be like, well, this guy's not cool and this guy's not this and that. But I think it's, I look back at now, I think it, you know, it was like I was reliable for late night sets because I was clean, foul, and liked me. And so it was like an easy one to go do and rely on. Cause, you know, I'm not gonna say I'm not having to like change my act for television.
- [07:14]
David Marchese
Your family is the source of a lot of your material.
- [07:17]
Nate Bargettzi
Yes.
- [07:17]
David Marchese
You know, and your wife in particular, and I did wonder, does she have to vet the jokes that you tell about her? Like, if you're coming up with, with a joke based on something she's done that annoys you, say, or that you found strange, do you then go to her and say, like, hey, I'm working on this joke. Are you okay with that?
- [07:33]
Nate Bargettzi
Yeah, I'll tell her yes. I mean, there's a couple times I'll go try it first to make sure I even want to. Because if it's not going to work, then maybe there is no reason for me to bring it up to her.
- [07:44]
David Marchese
But then if it works, you're even in more of a bind.
- [07:46]
Nate Bargettzi
But if it works, then I go and I can figure out how to say it. And I always try to make fun of myself too in it. When I first started, I would do jokes about my wife and I could tell that the audience, if they don't know you and if you don't show love, then they're not going to go with you. So if you show that aspect of it, then you can get away with quite a bit. You know, with my daughter, I'm very sensitive. Try to. I haven't talked about her a ton outside when she was a baby because I didn't want her to. I want her to be her own person. I want her to be able to trust that she can come to me as her father, which is the most important thing, and, and say stuff to me and not think anything she says. I'm going to go tell the whole world. So it's splitting that balance to be like, I want to be very protective of that for my wife, for my family, for any of them to know that I'm not just using all of them to gather material.
- [08:39]
David Marchese
Your dad was a comedian and a clown.
- [08:43]
Nate Bargettzi
Yeah.
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David Marchese
When you were growing up, do you and he have any competitive feelings about comedy?
- [08:51]
Nate Bargettzi
He did. So he was a clown at the beginning, and then he did magic. He's a magician. And I mean, he'll tell me, like, jokes and stuff and say, well, you didn't say this and say that. So I can talk to him about comedy and all this. But, yeah, competitive. I mean, he comes out on the road with me, and he's done 100 and something shows with me in arenas, and it's, I would say, competitive. I mean, it's. It's like different. I mean, when he came up, he would, you know, they had three kids and he had a day job and he did all this stuff. He could have moved to Vegas. And when we were younger, and he did, he chose not to. And so we grew up in Nashville, and I think grew up with a very normal. I mean, as normal as you can with your dad being a magician. But he's very proud and he cries when he brings me on stage.
- [09:36]
David Marchese
You know, I ask just because, you know, it's not. I don't think it's uncommon for when fathers and sons go into the same or related lines of work for that to sometimes be emotionally complicated.
- [09:44]
Nate Bargettzi
Yeah, Yeah, I. I'm sure there is, like, some commitment to us. I mean, there's some. When you go travel, like, I love traveling, my dad. And then there's times where, you know, you're like. I always joke to be like, it's every little boy's dream travel. Your dad, when you're 45 years old, so, you know, got a tour bus with a CPAP machine, really living it up.
- [10:07]
David Marchese
You know, your dad grew up, you know, in pretty different circumstances than you grew up in. You know, sort of had a hard childhood. And then your daughter is then growing up in different circumstances than you grew up in. You know, she's just a lot, I assume, a lot more affluent. Do you think about how your daughter understands, like, how or why her life and her childhood are so different than yours or her grandfather's?
- [10:33]
Nate Bargettzi
I don't know if she gets the extent of that. I think we've done a pretty good job. We moved back to Nashville. We live in a cul de sac. We're not around a big crazy neighborhood where it's, you know, just everybody's famous or wealthy or whatever. But. Yeah, but she. I mean, she has stuff. The amount of stuff I wasn't allowed to have versus what she has is it's not even remotely close. You know, I wanted Jordan shoes, but we got some from Dollar General, and they just kind of look like Jordan shoes. I would get all this stuff. The super bowl team that lost, I'd be wearing all that stuff.
- [11:14]
David Marchese
A lot of Buffalo Bills gear.
- [11:15]
Nate Bargettzi
Yeah. According to my family, the Bills won four in a row.
- [11:20]
David Marchese
You have been doing this a long time, but it's probably in the last six or seven years where you sort of changed, actually how you look.
- [11:30]
Nate Bargettzi
Yes.
- [11:30]
David Marchese
You know, you got a different haircut, you grew the beard and mustache, started dressing a little cooler. You probably. I think maybe you lost some weight.
- [11:38]
Nate Bargettzi
Yeah.
- [11:38]
David Marchese
Did the. The impetus to do that come from you? Or did a manager or agent say, like, hey, if you want to get to the next level, we might want to think about making some changes?
- [11:47]
Nate Bargettzi
Yeah. Kids, show business showed up and goes, hey, fatso, if you want to make it, you better get. You better get your life together. No, I mean, it was. It's both. It's a mix of no one told me to do anything. I mean, as a comic, weirdly enough, you're you and you're talking about yourself, so you are going to be you. But I wanted to do it, too, and I'm going through it right now. I mean, I, you know, I do not have great eating habits, and when I grew up, we just ate because you had to eat. Food was never celebrated or food was just something you had to do. And so I eat a lot of fast food and a lot of chain food, and I get bad and on the road. And I do realize it can get in the way, though, too, that I realized that I stopped drinking in, like, 2018 because I knew if I wanted to get where I wanted to get as a comic, this was going to be in the way. And so I've realized that with food, too, if I want to do this thing, I want to do stand up at this high level, possibly make some movies, all this kind of stuff, even for myself, I realize, all right, well, I have to go put in the effort for me to be able to handle all this kind of touring and the mentality it takes to stay focused.
- [13:01]
David Marchese
Which is interesting to hear you say that, because you don't think of the image that pops into the mind when one thinks of a comedian as not, like a super fit guy.
- [13:09]
Nate Bargettzi
I always say, I'm looking forward to the day you can't see my nipples through my shirt. So that's it. That's all we're working towards. One day we're going to get there.
- [13:20]
David Marchese
I know you're working on a new hour of material. Can you share a joke or a section of it that you're feeling good about?
- [13:29]
Nate Bargettzi
The thing about nothing to do. That's one that I'm working on. You know, that there's nothing to do. So the joke I do is bowling's still around because that's how if you and your wife and your family is like, let's go do something. You go out to eat and go see a movie and you get to bowling a lot quicker than you. You probably should be, you know, it's 20, 25, so we have AI, we should. I feel like bowling is a caveman sport that should have faded out, but that's how little there is to do that it's still hanging around.
- [14:01]
David Marchese
You know, we're talking ahead of the publication of your book Big Dumb Eyes. And you know, you joke in the book about not being much of a reader. You know, the way you've put it is, you know, books, they just have too many words. And to help readers, you know, you threw in some blank pages in your own book.
- [14:19]
Nate Bargettzi
Yes. For people to keep their head above water.
- [14:22]
David Marchese
But now that you've written a book, are you feeling any differently about books?
- [14:27]
Nate Bargettzi
I did think, I thought of it last night as I was watching something like on tv. I'm like, I was like, I think this is when you should be reading, like before bed, you know, I was like, I think that's when people do it. That's why there's reading lights and all that kind of stuff. So I was thinking about getting just a fun book, you know, like, what's an easy one? So it's like, let's start with something super fun and then just get into a habit.
- [14:54]
David Marchese
Do you have a sense of what that book would be?
- [14:57]
Nate Bargettzi
I looked up like the most popular books. It was like Christina Agathy. Is that her name? Second author, Agatha Christie. Agatha Christie. So I was all backwards. I think I'm dyslexic, so that should count as I said it correctly in my head.
- [15:14]
David Marchese
Wait, that wasn't just a bit Christina Agathy?
- [15:17]
Nate Bargettzi
No, I thought that's what it was. I'm sorry, I ride the line. You don't know what's a bit, what's not a bit. You know, that's what. I'm very protected. No one can really tell what's going on. And then I can, you know, depending on who I'm talking to, I can decide if it was dumb or not.
- [15:31]
David Marchese
And you know, even just the title, Big Dumb Eyes or you already made some self deprecating allusions to your own level of intelligence, which, you know, I know that's sort of the Persona, but stand up, you know, Almost by definition, at least from my perspective, really requires intelligence. You know, comedians can act stupid or tell stupid jokes, but comedy involves crafting the material. It involves observational insights and editing the material. You need to have some facility with words. Are there aspects of comedic intelligence that do transfer over to day. To day life?
- [16:08]
Nate Bargettzi
It's being awareness, being aware of just your surroundings and what's going on. Because you're looking for material. You're looking for things that happens to make a joke about or tell a story about. So you're always very alert. I mean, it's exhausting because it just doesn't feel like it turns off. You know, you analyze every interaction you have. You know, like, I like seeing when I see two people talk, and I realize that neither one of them really know what they're saying to each other, and they're kind of on a different page. That's very fun to watch.
- [16:43]
David Marchese
Is there an example recently that comes to mind of just something out in the world that you observed and thought, oh, maybe there's material in here?
- [16:48]
Nate Bargettzi
For me, I mean, I. One of it was my dad and my buddy Nick Novicki. Nick, his eyesight's bad, and he's just kind of won't be paying attention. And then my dad's older, and they won't. So I watched them one time have a conversation in a hot tub. And so Nick asked him how. He's like, how's everything going? And my aunt was not doing well at the time. So my dad's like, well, my. You know, my wife's sister's not doing that well. Then Nick goes, well, that's. You know, it's good to hear, because he doesn't hear him. So they won't just acknowledge that neither one of them know what's going on. So they're just having conversations. And then Nick got out, dried off, and threw his towel away in a trash can because he thought it was a towel bin. So something like that. You can tell no one's really invested in what each other's saying. That's like, what I like to watch.
- [17:37]
David Marchese
You're just on the subject of larger ambitions. Something that I've seen you say in other interviews was. I think you mentioned, I don't know if you were being totally serious, but wanting to build something to replace the old Opryland Amusement park with Nateland.
- [17:54]
Nate Bargettzi
Yes.
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David Marchese
What's missing in the amusement park space that you think you could help fill?
- [18:00]
Nate Bargettzi
Well, like, I mean, just talk about the state of Tennessee and Nashville alone. Nashville is a great city that's booming and there's a lot to do. There's not a lot to do with your family there. So when you have kids and stuff, you can go to Broadway, you can go drink in the bachelor parties and all this and a Titans game and there is great stuff to do, but there's not a lot of stuff that you can do with your family. What I like about when people come to my shows is that it's children to grandparents are at these shows, they're able to go do something as a family. I think a lot of entertainment now is not made for the whole family. Even television or movies can be separating in the fact that I'm watching Narcos and my wife watches Housewives and there's not a show that we're necessarily watching together. And so I do think there's a void in that. So I'm just gonna, you know, I look at stuff to go do with my daughter. I love when we lived in California, we would go to Disneyland all the time. And like, I, you know, you look at Disney, essentially, I would like to be able to build something in that aspect where people can. It's a big one.
- [19:09]
David Marchese
But you're not lacking in ambition.
- [19:12]
Nate Bargettzi
No, no, I don't care. I mean, it's. Yeah, I mean, well, the ambitions, like, I don't know. I've done all this. I'm nobody, dude. Like, and it's like, I just want to make stuff that people have somewhere to go to with their whole family. And, you know, it's easy to watch and it's fun.
- [19:26]
David Marchese
Maybe this is real related, but in the acknowledgments of the book, right at the end of the acknowledgments you're writing to your fans, you write that. It might not always seem like it, but I do have a plan and I hope you keep rolling with me.
- [19:38]
Nate Bargettzi
Yeah.
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David Marchese
What's the plan?
- [19:41]
Nate Bargettzi
The plan is. I mean, I'm kind of doing it. It's like the plan is to be if you found me and you like what I'm doing and this is. I don't want to betray that trust. So the plan is just to trust me, you know, I don't plan on touring forever and doing Stand up forever. I mean, I want to make movies. I think you get a lot of times that people can think, like, if you get too big or you're going to change. I mean, look, in the South, I can tell you right now, you can be like, oh, you're Hollywood now, or you're this, or you're that or you're going to. The audience is very much in my mind with everything that I will make and I will make stuff, hopefully for them and with them in mind. I don't. I'm not doing it again. I try not to do it. For me, it's not to get my point across. My point does not matter. It's for you. And so I want them to be able to keep coming and see that I'm trying to do something. I think that's a little against the grain right now. And weirdly enough, something being broad is, you know, like when I started comedy, some comics would be like, well, I'm not for everybody. And I'd be like, well, why would you not want to be for everybody? I want to be for everybody.
- [20:52]
David Marchese
After the break, Nate and I talk again and he tells me about his desire to serve a sorely neglected comedy audience.
- [20:59]
Nate Bargettzi
I'll have a lot of grandmothers come to my shows and they love me. I do really good with grandmothers and I always love that because I don't think there's much being made that they could go to.
- [21:13]
David Marchese
Certainly not stand up comedy.
- [21:15]
Nate Bargettzi
No, no, no.
- [21:26]
David Marchese
This podcast is supported by On Investing, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Each week, hosts Liz Ann Saunders, Schwab's chief investment strategist, and Kathy Jones, Schwab's chief fixed income strategist, along with their guests, analyze economic developments and bring context to conversations around stocks, fixed income, the economy, and more. Download the latest episode and subscribe@schwab.com oninvesting or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [21:54]
Nate Bargettzi
Over 70 million workers in the United States are stars. That's workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. Stars have gained valuable skills through alternative routes like military service, on the job experience, and more, but are held back by the pace ceiling because they don't have a bachelor's degree. It's time for a skills first hiring approach. Help tare the paper ceiling and create opportunity for millions of skilled workers. Learn more at tear the paper ceiling.org brought to you by OpportunityAtWork and the Ad Council.
- [22:39]
David Marchese
Hi Nate, how are you?
- [22:40]
Nate Bargettzi
David, how are you?
- [22:42]
David Marchese
I'm good, I'm good. Thanks for taking the time to talk with me again.
- [22:44]
Nate Bargettzi
Oh, yeah, yeah.
- [22:45]
David Marchese
You know, I saw a thing Marc Maron wrote earlier this year on his website where he was writing about the importance of, for him of doing political comedy. And the way he put it was that like, challenging people in real time with provocative material is where the real feels happen and I'm just curious to know your response to something like that. Is it just that a guy like him and a guy like you are almost working in two separate fields?
- [23:11]
Nate Bargettzi
Yeah, it's just different types of comedy. I went on the road for Marc Maron. I opened for Marc Maron. A lot that I do on stage is stuff that I learned from him. Marin is very much himself on stage, and so I always tried to mimic that to be, how close can I be to me offstage, to onstage? I think there's a place for that, for Marin doing it. And you need that. You can have that. You can also have this. I always joke that I'm a comics, parents, comic. I stand behind my stand up. I work on it very, very hard. But, yeah, you do feel sometimes a little like, because I'm clean, like, yeah, you can get looked at, like, wow. Of course he sells all these tickets. It's easy. Or it's like he's not doing anything challenging. I mean, I don't know. I kind of disagree with that because it's hard to, you know, mainstream is not something that's easy to attain even with movies. You know what I mean? Sandler did. That's not easy. That's why there's not 40 Sandlers.
- [24:11]
David Marchese
I remember you on the Tonight Show, 2016, and you did a couple jokes about how you like Donald Trump. But then the joke was basically like, because you're so stupid that you. That you believe all the, like, insane promises that he made.
- [24:29]
Nate Bargettzi
Yeah.
- [24:29]
David Marchese
But then in the same routine, you had these jokes about, well, you wouldn't vote for him in that instance. Then the joke wound up being because you were essentially too stupid to figure out how to go vote.
- [24:39]
Nate Bargettzi
Yeah.
- [24:40]
David Marchese
But would you do material even on that level now?
- [24:46]
Nate Bargettzi
I would now if I felt it. So that was the reason I wrote that joke, was because everybody was saying they didn't like Trump. Every comedian. So all the jokes were saying, I didn't like Trump. So then I thought, how can I make a joke that say I do like him and be able to do it on tonight's show where I ride a line.
- [25:02]
David Marchese
Yeah.
- [25:03]
Nate Bargettzi
Where no one's going to get mad. I don't want the people voting for Trump to get mad. I don't want the people that are not voting for Trump to get mad. I wanted to say the opposite, what everybody else was saying. So if I have an idea and I can do that, I will do that. I do like that challenge.
- [25:19]
David Marchese
Are there other topics like that that come to mind where you feel an Instinct to go against the herd in that way.
- [25:27]
Nate Bargettzi
Yeah, I did it with the peanut allergies. I had a joke on about airplanes. Like, you know when they say you can have peanuts, like who are these adults addicted to these peanuts? This bad, these kids are going to die. And so that was one that, you know, there's a lot of people that would make fun of the peanut allergy aspect. And so it's just going the opposite way and just defending the kids that have the peanut allergies. And I like riding that line and just when you make it self centered, it's much easier to ride the line.
- [25:59]
David Marchese
All right, help me understand this aspect of you because I was thinking about it and I can't quite wrap my head around it. So you're this seemingly humble, low key guy who is happy living on a cul de sac and doesn't want to go Hollywood. But then you also alluded to ambitions to build Naetland into. And this is your comparison like a Disney level production, which is not a normal sized goal even for a famous comedian. So is there like another more aggressive side to you when it comes to business? Help me reconcile the two seemingly disparate sides of Nate Bargetzi.
- [26:39]
Nate Bargettzi
You know, it is. I'm very driven and you know, I mean, I don't. Didn't go to college, barely made out of high school. Like, it's like, you know, I don't understand most business stuff. So you kind of just. Maybe it's naive. I'm like, well, why can't we do it that way? You know, when everybody's like, you can't. I'm like, well, why not?
- [26:59]
David Marchese
I'm not buying the whole Yoko stick, buddy.
- [27:01]
Nate Bargettzi
Yeah, yeah, I'm good. I'm the, I'm the thinker, the talker, like the visionary, I guess. And then you, you good at putting people around you that do know all that kind of stuff. Because I, that I don't. I don't. I never had a real job, so I don't know any of that stuff.
- [27:18]
David Marchese
What's the last idea you had where you then said to someone you work with, like, can we make that happen?
- [27:26]
Nate Bargettzi
So on the arena tour, when I first started going our screens, because you're in an arena, I wanted the screens to be bigger. I was like, they should be bigger because I want the experience for the audience to be as great as it can be. And I was told they can't be bigger. I was like, well, that doesn't make sense. And I'm, I'm fine with Being told no, but I just want to know. It went through the whole system. I want to be told exactly, like, the building's not big enough or whatever. And for this next tour, we do have bigger screens because I get. I mean, I get a lot of people when I say I want to do a theme park. And I've had it with friends where I say I want to do this, and they're like, why? Why would you. You basically get told you can't do anything because it doesn't make sense for, I guess, how I've lived to think that I want to go do all this other stuff.
- [28:16]
David Marchese
What would be in the Nateland theme park?
- [28:18]
Nate Bargettzi
Just rides, Rides, you know, Ideally, I would want it to be like a Universal Studios kind of thing where we can be shooting movies on one part and then you have the theme park on the other and kind of just build that. I just want to build a world where people can be discovered. I think that's a big driving point for me is, like, when I came up, I think a lot of people would not get out of the way for the next. Younger people. Like in comedy clubs, when you're coming up and you can't get spots at that club because the guys that have been there for 15 years are not moving or going somewhere else. And so I want to, like, have places for, you know, new artists to be able to, I don't know, come do something.
- [29:01]
David Marchese
I don't want to be another one of those naysayers, but okay, Universal Studios, slash theme park. I think you need, like, a billion dollars to do that.
- [29:09]
Nate Bargettzi
Yeah. Well, then, look, we got some stuff we got to get through. You know, I was going to ask you how much money you have if you could give it to me. Every evidence we're asking for, everyone doing a Venmo, you need a lot of stuff. I do agree. The one thing I've learned, though, is in the business, money's not the problem. People have a lot of money, there's a lot of money, and money gets used in a lot of different ways and stuff like that. So hopefully we can get there. This is not something that is going to be tomorrow, but I feel, like, driven to do it. So we're going to give it a go.
- [29:46]
David Marchese
I want to go back to the book. In it, you mentioned that you were raised Baptist. Your parents are Baptist, and you write very movingly about how your dad at one point found a deeper level of faith. You call it his moment of testimony. Have you had a moment of testimony?
- [30:06]
Nate Bargettzi
Yeah, I mean, I Feel sometimes I'm having it now, you know, I mean, I think that's where the drive and all this stuff is coming from. To make sure that you can bring your child to my standup show, that I want you to come as a family and you go do stuff. And I think about those moments of, you know, I have with my daughter all these little, little dumb moments of you going to the movies with your family because it's fun to get on, watch your kid try to talk you into buying candy and popcorn, and all these little silly kind of moments that you think back on. So I think I'm going through it now. I think it's constantly having to work on it. Constantly just reminding myself to be out of it and make sure that this life is not about me. So, yeah, I mean, it's just a constant going on.
- [30:52]
David Marchese
So I think I follow what you're saying. The idea is that there's almost a deeper motivation or a spiritual impetus for trying to create these moments for families where families can be together. And that in some way is your attempt at doing service for God. Is that right?
- [31:15]
Nate Bargettzi
Yeah, it's attempted service to, you know, it's a big belief to be I am second. Second to God, second to your family, second to, you know, I believe the audience, second to everybody. You kind of live to serve. So it's very much a calling in that aspect that I feel. But again, it's like it's trying to ride that balance. And I don't want anybody that's not this or that or whatever, whatever everybody is, that doesn't matter. I just want to make something that all of them can be in the room together. And I feel it's driven on a bigger purpose for me. But, you know, it's like everybody has their own things.
- [31:53]
David Marchese
I. I sense a little hesitation on your part and wanting to say there's a spiritual motivation behind it, but I.
- [31:59]
Nate Bargettzi
Think, well, you get nerd. You are nervous about it, about being labeled. You don't want to be this kind of thing because stuff gets faith based or stuff gets like that. Like people write stuff off or they take it, especially now, in very different ways.
- [32:12]
David Marchese
Yeah, but you know, it's like the moments when you're with your kids and your wife or your partner and you're all doing something and just having a joyful time. I'm not a particularly religious person, but those are holy moments.
- [32:24]
Nate Bargettzi
I mean, that's where really what it comes from is just. I remember our daughter's first movie was Moana. And so going to sit and watch it. We sat in the very back and you know, it's like the whole experience of that day is like, that's something that I remember. And that's, you know, that's a dumb day in the grand scheme of things. You're not doing. No one's in school, no one's taking a test. No one's. It's not this crazy important days. But those, those are the ones that you tend to go back to and remember. And so, yeah, creating those moments I would see older. I have a lot of grandmothers come to my shows and they love me. I do really good with grandmothers and I always love that because I don't think there's much being made that they could go to.
- [33:11]
David Marchese
Certainly not stand up comedy.
- [33:13]
Nate Bargettzi
No, no, no. That's the goal. I'm trying to be only grandmothers. Shows are at 8.30am that's the late show.
- [33:23]
David Marchese
You know, earlier you had mentioned that you don't plan on touring forever or doing standup forever.
- [33:29]
Nate Bargettzi
Yeah.
- [33:30]
David Marchese
Do you actually know currently when you'll stop?
- [33:33]
Nate Bargettzi
I do. I could see the next specials will be on Netflix. You know, I could see maybe one more special after that. And I don't want to overstay my welcome. I also want to get out of the way if I preach it. And I was frustrated by it. I need to live by that. And so I do think there's a point. I need to get out of the way. I need to step aside and let the next wave of comedians come up. And I don't want to be just hovering in the spotlight. And, you know, I got this tour and then maybe one more tour and then just from there just. I got movies I want to do and then do that and then start running Nateland.
- [34:09]
David Marchese
I have to say that's. I feel like that's big news that Nate Bargettzi knows he's going to stop in a couple years.
- [34:15]
Nate Bargettzi
Yeah, yeah. We're doing this interview in 10 years and I'm like, you know what? I got back into it. All right. I'm only doing stand up. I don't have a theme park. I have a carnival. I have a carnival that travels. That's all I can make it. It couldn't do a theme park. Still something. There's still some rods.
- [34:36]
David Marchese
That's Nate Bargetze. His book Big Dumb Eyes will be published on May 6. This conversation was produced by Seth Kelly. It was edited by Annabelle Bacon. Mixing by Sonia Herrero. Original music by Dan Powell, Diane Wong and Marian Lozano. Photography by Devin Yelken. Our senior booker is Priya Matthew and Wyatt Orme is our producer. Our Executive producer is Alison Benedict. Special thanks to Max Carpenter, Roy Walsh, Renan Borelli, Jeffrey Miranda, Matty Masiello, Jake Silverstein, Paula Schumann, and Sam Dolnick. If you like what you're hearing, follow or subscribe to the Interview. Wherever you get your podcasts. To read or listen to any of our conversations, you can always go to nytimes.com theinterview and you can email us anytime@the interviewytimes.com Next week, guest host Gilbert Cruz, editor of the New York Times Book Review, interviews author Isabel Allende.
- [35:38]
Nate Bargettzi
I think that my way of getting over things, of understanding, of exploring my own soul, my past, and also, most important, of remembering is writing.
- [35:52]
David Marchese
I'm David Marchese and this is the Interview from the New York Times.
- [36:05]
Nate Bargettzi
This podcast is supported by NetSuite.
- [36:08]
David Marchese
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