This year is shaping up to be a very busy one for Nate Bargatze, but he’s okay with that.
The Tennessee native has a few irons in the fire, with a new special on the horizon, a fall tour in the planning stages, and a pilot in the works for ABC. But as a full-time nationally touring stand-up, Bargatze knows he has to be locked in to the task at hand while on the road, and be quick to the punchline with northern audiences. His next task is performing at The Wilbur Theatre this Friday night (February 22), when he returns to scene of his 2010 Boston Comedy Festival victory with his “Good Problem to Have” tour for two shows, with the early show already sold out.
“In New York and Boston, they want to hear jokes, and they want you to be funny right away,” Bargatze tells Vanyaland. “You just have to be quicker with your jokes, but in the south, people tend to be nicer about it, and can sit down and wait a bit longer. They also laugh at different things. Having a southern accent, people up north will laugh at something because I have an accent, or they’re laughing at both the accent and the joke, but crowds down south just see it as more relatable. You can become someone who can really only perform in front of one of those crowds, and that’s why I’m glad I started in New York, because I was so out of my element.”
Wasting time on stage has never been a possibility for Bargatze, who has always sought after the ability to keep the laughs rolling. Having begun his career in the New York comedy scene, he became well acquainted with Boston comics, and was inspired early on by one of the best to come out of the city.
“I come from the school of watching guys like Robert Kelly get up and just absolutely murder on stage. He can get up and just do joke after joke, with non-stop laughs. I always have it in the back of my head that that is how I need to be doing it,” says Bargatze. “It is starting to change a little bit now that people know who I am, but I want to make sure I can be funny to people who know me, but also funny to people who aren’t familiar with me and my material.”
Anyone who is unfamiliar with Nate Bargatze will know his name by the end of 2019, one way or another. He’s still waiting to hear back from ABC about his show that he’s creating with Jerrod Carmichael, but he’s keeping himself occupied until that time comes, and knows that if it doesn’t work out, he just has to keep moving on to the next thing.
“We’re still just waiting to hear back,” he admits. “If it doesn’t happen, then we just have to figure out the next thing to do, and keep plugging along.”
NATE BARGATZE :: Friday, February 22 at The Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont St. in Boston, MA :: 7:30 p.m. (sold out) and 10 p.m., $29 :: Advance tickets :: Wilbur event page :: Featured image via the artist