Nate Bargatze tries to sell himself as a dumb guy.
“Every history film I see makes me excited,” he said Saturday night at his debut at the Minnesota State Fair. “I saw ‘Pearl Harbor.’ I was just as surprised as they were.”
Bargatze’s stage persona is someone who uses too much ketchup, can barely do laundry, and doesn’t know the name of his own bank. His idea of a crisis is driving through the McDonald’s drive-thru and finding that the window won’t open. He went to community college and never got a loan.
But the 45-year-old comedian is anything but a fool.
His latest Prime Video special, “Hello World,” drew 2.9 million viewers in its first 28 days. Last fall, he hosted “Saturday Night Live.” And his performance this weekend drew more than 13,000 fans, an impressive number considering he performed six shows in St. Paul just a year ago and the cheapest ticket this time cost more than $70.
Bargatze’s genius is delivering comedy that stays away from politics, foul language, or anything that might upset fairgoers who aren’t yet ready to come down from their cookie high.
The Minnesota State Fair has long featured family-friendly stand-up comedians such as Jim Gaffigan, Jay Leno, Bob Hope and Rich Little (some historian will have to explain to me how Redd Foxx ended up on the grandstand stage in 1974).
Bargatze is fully in tune with this wholesome tradition. He opened his hour-long performance Saturday with a hilarious story about his time in Little League and then confessed his love of dogs and Dairy Queen Blizzards.
