NATE BARGATZE GETS THE LAST LAUGH

FOR YEARS, THE HOLLYWOOD ESTABLISHMENT REJECTED HIM. NOW HE'S AMERICA'S MOST SUCCESSFUL COMEDIAN, WITH AUDACIOUS PLANS FOR HIS LIFE AFTER STAND-UP—WHICH IS COMING SOONER THAN YOU THINK.

- MICHAEL SEBASTIAN

LAST YEAR, NATE BARGATZE, THE FORTY-SIX-YEAR-OLD comedian from Tennessee, sold more tickets to his stand-up shows than anyone else in comedy—including Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, and Sebastian Maniscalco combined. That’s more than one million tickets for an $80 million haul. In October, he hosted Saturday Night Live for the second time in twelve months. Two months later, his third hour-long comedy special for Netflix premiered. Every week, you can hear his musing on the Nateland podcast. In May, his first book, Big Dumb Eyes, came out, followed by another tour of arenas.

Bargatze is, quite simply, the most successful stand-up comedian working today.

Which is saying something, considering he’s a clean comic—no swearing, sex, drugs, or rock ’n’ roll. Politics is off-limits. Onstage, he’s an average middle-aged guy navigating the modern world of married with a child. His most famous joke is about ordering iced coffee with milk at a Starbucks and instead getting milk with ice. In sold-out arenas, where his shows consistently smash attendance records, he takes the stage almost as if by accident. Like he’s surprised so many people are there to see him. He heaps gratitude upon his audience. They love it. He goes down easy, like Xanax chased by a cool glass of iced tea.

Now this everyman spends large chunks of his days in meetings with Hollywood executives pitching him movies and TV shows. This month, he'll begin filming his first movie, which he cowrote; he also plays the lead role. In September, he’s hosting the Emmy Awards. After grinding out a living for twenty years, telling family-friendly jokes, most of it outside the glare of the mainstream, Bargatze is in the white-hot center of the zeitgeist.

“I can’t overhype the guy,” says Jimmy Fallon, who’s had Bargatze on The Tonight Show more than a dozen times. “I don’t know how far he'll go, but it’s endless for him.”