After learning about comedian Nate Bargatze’s life, you kind of want to live in his Nashville cul-de-sac.
There, as he told the Orpheum Theatre audience Thursday night, neighbors talk about property taxes and liens and he just zones out.
When they start their discussions, he just responds, “Right dude. It’s crazy.”
Those common man reactions managed to hit everything from college (his parents encouraged him to get benefits since he wasn’t exactly a scholar) to life with a wife who can get the last ounce of toothpaste out of a tube.
His retort to his wife in an argument he’s definitely not winning: “I do my own laundry.
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Early on, Bargatze admitted his favorite restaurant is McDonald’s. His rationale: "I love processed food.”
While his father was a magician who performed at county fairs, the native Tennessean said he was distracted by jumping donkeys nearby. “It was more like falling off the high dive,” he insisted. But it wasn’t easy to find donkeys willing to do it. “It was more like six drunk ones.”
The story played into his claim he was interested in “old-timey” things -- like history. Because he wasn’t exactly a candidate for the dean’s list, “I watch history on the edge of my seat.
I watched Pearl Harbor and I was just as surprised as they were.”
Because he didn’t exactly stay in college (one semester at Western Kentucky), Bargatze got a job as a water meter reader and had his biggest moment when he and others guarded water tanks so terrorists wouldn’t taint the water.
While a trip to Europe didn’t provide a strong story thread, Bargatze used it to emphasize the differences between himself and his wife -- someone who doesn’t fly as much as he does. He’s laissez-faire; she’s on alert.
On his way to pick up pizza for friends, he into students who were soliciting for donations.
True to his old-timey roots, he realized they didn’t take cash and had to give them an email address. Wisely, he offered his wife’s and when she discovered it was a monthly charge, she shut it down immediately.
Three other stand-ups opened for Bargatze. Of the three, Joe Zimmerman exhibited a similar sensibility. Both touched on life in their 40s (Bargatze admitted it's an age when you pee all night long); both admitted to addictions. Zimmerman said he was hooked on Gummys. Bargatze confessed to Afrin Nasal Spray addiction -- something he inherited from his father. “He’s the king of Afrin."
Great at timing, Bargatze embraced pauses and had the kind of wry observations that made George Carlin a legend.
Once a construction worker, Bargatze said the irony about the career is those who do it probably “aren’t going to be allowed in the building they’re building.”
The well-received two-hour show was a lot like his Netflix specials: easy-going and tailored for repeat viewings.
