There’s nobody hotter in comedy than Nate Bargatze, and during his May 5 visit to TODAY, anchor Savannah Guthrie sat down with the star to chat about his latest career choices during a must-watch interview.
After talking about his new book, Guthrie asked about his recently announced news: In April, Bargatze announced his intention to move on from the world of stand-up comedy.
Bargatze — the consummate family man whose suitable-for-all-ages stand-up act made him the most must-see comedian in years — revealed that he wants to bring that same kind of wholesome sensibility to the film industry.
“I love stand-up so much, but I do want to — we’re shooting a movie right now — I want to get into the movie world. [My] stand-up, your whole family is able to come to that, and I want to do that with movies as well,” he said.
Guthrie pressed the star about whether he’s really done with stand-up comedy and suggested he consider something a little less permanent.
“Maybe we can just pause for a moment,” she offered.
The comedian agreed in the moment to Guthrie’s terms as comedy fans breathed a sigh of relief.
Nate Bargatze performs on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on July 21, 2017. Photo: Andrew Lipovsky/NBC
“We can agree to pause for a moment, yeah,” he responded. “I’ll come here and do stand-up in the morning. Early in the morning.”
“Are you a morning person?” Guthrie asked, prompting a deadpan “no” from Bargatze.
From his instant-classic Saturday Night Live appearances (which immediately spawned hilarious and iconic sketches like “Washington’s Dream”) to side-splitting late-night appearances, the world officially can’t get enough of the small-town guy from Tennessee.
Nate Bargatze’s “Washington’s Dream” sequel on SNL was also co-written by Mikey Day
SNL Host Nate Bargatze, Bowen Yang, Mikey Day, and Kenan Thompson during the “Washington’s Dream 2” sketch on Saturday Night Live Season 50 Episode 2 on Saturday, October 5, 2024 Photo: Will Heath/NBC
Bargatze hosted Saturday Night Live on back-to-back seasons in 2023 and 2024. His Washington Dreams sketch performed in Season 49 was so popular, that it made a return with “Washington’s Dream 2” a year later. It was co-written by Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell, with Mike DiCenzo contributing.
During Day’s May 6, 2024, appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, the host praised the first sketch, deeming it “kind of perfect” — a sentiment many SNL fans would agree with.
“I don’t often do this, but I walked up to your office, I wanted to let you guys know I was so insanely jealous when I saw it,” Seth Meyers told Day.
“It was fun to do — Streeter is obsessed with history, so this was his ode to America’s weird customs and such,” Day replied.
