Nashville Tennessean award winner Nate Bargatze reflects
Nate Bargatze talks about what its like being named Tennessean Entertainer of the year and reflects on the success he’s had this past year
In a town full of musicians, recording studios, record labels and live music venues, one of Music City’s biggest entertainment exports isn’t just making records.
He’s breaking them.
In 2025 alone, Bargatze broke 41 venue attendance records on his “Big Dumb Eyes” tour. In Nashville, he sold out Bridgestone Arena in December of 2026 for three consecutive shows. A first for a comedian. He also hosted the Emmy Awards, co-wrote and starred in “Breadwinner,” a film set for release in early 2026, taped and hosted a game show “Greatest Average American” (also set for 2026) at Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium, published a book, “Big Dumb Eyes: Stories From A Simpler Mind,” hosts his Nateland Podcast, announced plans for a Nashville-based theme park and was the guest picker on ESPN’s College Gameday when the show came to the Vanderbilt campus.
”My favorite thing about being in the entertainment business is when the phone rings, I don’t know what it I’m going to be asked to do,” Bargatze said during an interview with The Tennessean from his Nateland offices in downtown Nashville.
He received his second Grammy nomination in 2025 for Best Comedy Album for “Your Friend, Nate Bargatze.” It is his second nomination in the same category.
Transcending mediums while elevating Nashville and amassing millions of loyal followers who crave his family friendly humor is what elevated Bargatze to be named The Tennessean’s inaugural Entertainer of the Year.
Bargatze can add this title to his trophy case of accolades
Each year, The Tennessean names an Athlete of the Year and a Tennessean of the Year to highlight Nashvillians who have risen to the top of their game, whether it be sports or humanitarianism.
But Nashville is an entertainment town. Music City. So for 2025, we decided it was time to crown our very first Entertainer of the Year.
We sat down with Bargatze to chat about his year full of massive accomplishments. Turns out, he’s more focused and driven than his now-iconic, deer-in-the-headlights type of deadpan comedy might lead one to believe.
Comedy tour? Breaking records. Movie? Done. Book? Published.
Before the book, movie and game show, Bargatze hosted “Saturday Night Live” for a second time in 2024 and created two of the show’s most memorable skits that parodied George Washington and poked fun at how Americans butchered the English language. “We shall have a word for the number 12. We will call it a dozen,” his Washington declared. What other numbers will have a word? “None” he deadpans. His Washington skits have amassed some 30 million views on YouTube alone.
In 2024, Bargatze topped the “Billboard” 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 and was named by “Pollstar” the highest-grossing comic in 2024.
In April of 2023, Bargatze drew 19,365 attendees to a performance at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, breaking the venue’s all-time attendance record. Bargatze joked with Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show” that no one else could beat his record because he had stolen a chair from the venue.
When asked if he stole another one in 2025, he said, “ I’ve still got the one. We did three shows, so I figured I’ll leave the chairs for now. But I should get one that matches my other one.”
Creating a family friendly empire
Bargatze has mastered the art of stand-up comedy, but that platform — and the millions of followers it has amassed — is simply a gateway to everything else he wants to conquer.
“We want to give people a break from the stress of life,” he said from the couch of his Nateland office. “I’ve met a dad and his 16-year-old daughter where they normally wouldn’t have much in common, but I meet them after a show and this is what they have in common. Families will tell me they listen to our podcast on road trips because it’s something they can all do together. That is the stuff I want to create with Nateland. Those moments where something will catch you and you start laughing uncontrollably. Those moments that can be shared with your family.”
If you aren’t convinced, just ask his friend, country musician Thomas Rhett, who hung with Bargatze back stage at his recent Nashville show.
“So you don’t really have to be a parent to appreciate Nate Bargatze’s work, but as a parent — I said this to my wife when we were at the show at Bridgestone — I’ve never felt more seen as a dad,” Rhett said via email. “He has this ability to take things about being in his 40s and flip them into things that make your cheeks physically hurt for four days from laughing. It’s so relatable that you literally say to yourself ‘I did that yesterday.’”
Rhett added Bargatze’s ability to do comedy that’s clean and still can make viewers double over with laughter is unparalleled.
“It is so hard to be clean in comedy and I just think it’s amazing that Nate doesn’t have to use one single cuss word to make people laugh. As a friend, it’s awesome because he’s exactly who I imagined him to be: down to earth, a humble human being who doesn’t take any of this fame for granted, which makes him so lovable. He’s one of the most successful comedians on the planet, but he doesn’t act like he’s entitled to any of it, and I think that that humbleness is what draws people to him. Other than that, I can kick his butt in golf and that’s about it!”
Bargatze plans to continue to reach people through comedy, (and will take his “Big Dumb Eyes” tour on the road again in 2026) but looks to expand into movies, his game show and a family friendly theme park experience in his hometown.
“ Your goals should be attainable,” he said. “And then your dreams, you should be embarrassed to say them out loud, so I won’t share all of those, but my goal is to be shooting another movie hopefully next fall.”
His first feature film, “Breadwinner,” which he co-wrote and stars in is set for release in March of 2026.
“The movie fits perfectly in the world that I want to create,” he said. “I want families to be able to have a fun time and be able to enjoy pure entertainment and take a break from the world, which is insane. It’s going to be able to really set forward what we can do as a company if it comes out with this big splash and it does a big thing. That’s going to be able to move us along a lot quicker.”
The secret to Bargatze’s success? Failure.
Bargatze wasn’t wasn’t a particularly gifted athlete. He was cut from both the basketball and golf teams at Donelson Christian Academy. He wasn’t a star student either, failing out of college at Western Kentucky University. He and a coworker friend decided one day to pack up and head to Chicago to pursue comedy.
What’s the secret to his massive success? He says being obsessed with what he does. that’s
He can joke about not knowing the difference between fiction and nonfiction, “I don’t know which one’s the truth. I read every book as the truth is how I handle it. And from what I can tell we have a pretty big wizard problem in this country right now…” But don’t be fooled. He has been hard at work for decades and his success is opening doors he might have only imagined during his early New York City and Chicago comedy club days.
“Having to take this long of a road to get here, I think was a blessing,” he said. Instead of having massive fame in his early 20s, he is able to look back over his adult life and know he is prepared for whatever comes his way.
“When I did ‘SNL’ for the first time, it was such a big moment, but I had already been doing comedy for 20 years,” he said. “I was already doing arenas, so I was prepared for it.”
The success of his stand-up comedy has afforded him just enough power to call some shots. When he developed the idea for a game show, he was able to shoot it in Nashville.
“Because of touring and standup and everything I am able to say I want to do stuff here in Nashville,” he said. “Which is great. Not everybody can have that luxury.”
He’s everywhere and thanks to Bargatze, so is Nashville
Bargatze is unabashed in his love of all things Nashville and his home state of Tennessee.
He has played the big arenas like Madison Square Garden in New York City, but it was his hometown Bridgestone Arena that he dreamed of attaining early on. When he first started his career into comedy, he wanted to be big at home and maybe play his hometown arena.
He just sold it out three shows straight.
“I love Nashville and so everything I want to do is for this city, so to be a part of it is very special. I’m a Tennessean so doing Bridgestone at home — it matters. Everything I’m building I want to do here. I don’t want to do it anywhere else. I want to showcase where we are as a city. I think we are one of the best cities in the country.”
All Nashville is missing is something we once had: a theme park.
Bargatze, who grew up going to Opryland, is planning to take care of that as well.
While details are scarce this early in the process, Bargatze is actively working on developing Nashville’s own Nateland.
“I’m excited,” he said with a grin. “We’re all-in. It’s going to be amazing.”
Melonee Hurt covers music and music business at The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK — Tennessee. Reach Melonee at [email protected] or on Instagram at @MelHurtWrites.
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