I feel like I "discovered" Nate Bargatze. I first heard him in 2017 when he performed on "A Prairie Home Companion," the public radio show. Listening to him, I thought, "This guy's pretty funny." I made a mental note of his name.
After that, I started to hear, and see, more of Nate Bargatze. First, short video clips here or there. Then a full-length standup comedy special on Netflix. And then another one, and another. The mometum grew and suddenly there was Nate hosting Saturday Night Live. Twice!
I have been rooting for him along this journey. Not only is he funny, he's funny in a unique way. He doesn't curse or swear and doesn't tell dirty jokes. He doesn't do politics.
He just tells stories from his life, sometimes making fun of others, but often making fun of himself. He can turn ordinary life — a visit to Starbucks, helping his daughter with homework —into very funny stories.
And now Nate's written a book and a good one. "Big Dumb Eyes" doesn't contain that many outright laughs, but it has a lot of enjoyable, amusing stories, many of them from very prosaic topics.
He talks about the difficulty he has choosing socks to wear. "Who are these animals out there, just waking up in the morning and throwing on socks with no planning whatsoever? It makes no sense!"
He recalls the time, as a child, when his father accidently left Nate's younger sister behind at a church event. "The first things my dad does is go, "Do not tell your mother.'"
There are stories on his life as a meter reader, how his mom outran the police, how he failed bowling in college, and how his barber became his physical trainer.
My favorite story is about he and his family going to DisneyWorld. I'm not going spoil it for you here.
The book is not an autobiography, but he does tell stories from his childhood, growing up and reaching adulthood. The thing I would have liked to know — but is not in the book — is what it was about standup comedy that interested Nate in the first place and why he stuck with it even when the paychecks were small. Did he know he would be famous? Was he waiting for me to discover him?
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