Background and career
Nathanael Bargatze ( bar-GET-see; born March 25, 1979) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He has been called a clean comedian, and has been noted for his deadpan, monotone delivery. Bargatze was the highest-grossing stand-up comic in 2024, with over a million tickets sold across his shows.
Bargatze was born in Nashville, Tennessee, to Carol and Stephen Bargatze, on March 25, 1979. Stephen was a clown, member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, and motivational speaker, while Carol worked in the ticket office for the Vanderbilt Commodores. After a troubled childhood, Stephen had initially studied to become a preacher, but ultimately graduated from Trevecca Nazarene College with a bachelor's degree in education, 10 years after leaving high school.
Raised in a devoutly religious Christian household, Bargatze is one of three children. His father practiced magic tricks with him while growing up, and Bargatze stated he performed in skits with his church group, beginning when he "was around 11". He attended DuPont Elementary in Old Hickory, Tennessee until fourth grade, when he transferred to Donelson Christian Academy (DCA) in Nashville, where his father had a day job as a history teacher. He competed in track and field at DCA and tried out for the basketball and golf teams, but was cut from both. He graduated in 1997.
Bargatze then attended Volunteer State Community College in nearby Gallatin for a year. During this time, he had various jobs, such as working in construction, manning a cellphone kiosk at Walmart, and delivering furniture. He enrolled in Western Kentucky University, but flunked each of his courses and dropped out. He also had a stint working at Applebee's and later landed a job as a meter-reader for a water company in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. He was a fan of The Bob & Tom Show, a radio program which often hosted comedians, and it inspired him to become a comedian himself. One of his fellow meter-readers, Michael Clay, also had an ambition to become a comedian, and together they decided to quit their jobs and both pursue a comedy career. Bargatze's parents were supportive of his decision and attended his first open mic event.
Bargatze began his comedy career in 2002, and moved to Chicago to attend The Second City, an improvisational comedy troupe. He soon decided against improv and instead enrolled in Jim Rauth's Comedy College, which focused on stand-up comedy. At this time, Bargatze rented a basement apartment with his former co-worker Michael Clay and worked as a waiter at a nearby bar. He performed fill-in spots at Zanies Comedy Club in Chicago, and also performed at Zanies Nashville.
How Nate Bargatze makes money
He topped Billboard's Boxscore ranking of the highest-grossing comedy tours, with $82.2 million gross income from 1.1 million tickets sold across his 148 shows, setting a new record for largest one-year gross by a comedy performer in Boxscore history. Bargatze had the highest-grossing comedy tour of 2025 according to Billboard's Boxscore rankings, with gross income of $56.7 million from 677,000 tickets sold across his 76 shows. The concept was already mildly stale in 1983; in 2026, jokes about Nate learning to use a toaster or a GPS come off as well past their expiration date." The Breadwinner was unprofitable during its box office run, generating $20.2 million against a $25 million production budget.
