The Baffling Rise of the Most Inoffensive Comedian Alive

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Posted on 12/21/2024 11:00:50 AM PST by thecodont

It wasn’t long ago when most comedians shared the same game plan as Nate Bargatze. The 45-year-old stand-up veteran—whose latest Netflix special arrives on Christmas Eve, and has a holiday variety show airing tonight on CBS—has dutifully steered clear of every pressure point currently mangling American society. Unlike so many other comedians his age, Bargatze is fundamentally disengaged with the curdled rage over the trans debate, racial justice, or “wokeness” writ large. Nor has he adopted the surly demeanor of the lefties who dominated the scene in the 2000s—guys like Patton Oswalt and David Cross, who managed to shape every punchline into an indictment of George W. Bush.

Instead, Bargatze resembles an archetypical, and mostly outmoded nightclub comedian—the journeymen of the ’70s and ’80s, who orbited from casino lounge to casino lounge with a winning demeanor and a joke book chock-full of airplane food. He touches nothing topical, and he never works blue. The irreproachable cleanliness of his material almost comes off as fanatical—Bargatze is loath to use even the verb sucks on stage, and the closest he’s come to discussing his Christian upbringing is a story where, as a preteen wreathed in piousness and fear, he ratted out his friends for watching Friday the 13th. All of this makes Bargatze a radical in his own right. In 2024, there is little commercial upside to quotidian comedy, especially when even the milquetoast Jerry Seinfeld and Ricky Gervais have enthusiastically enlisted in the culture war. And yet, somehow, Bargatze is more famous than ever. Maybe there is a method to the mildness?

(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...

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1 posted on 12/21/2024 11:00:50 AM PST by thecodont

2 posted on 12/21/2024 11:02:07 AM PST by thecodont

To: All

3 posted on 12/21/2024 11:05:18 AM PST by BipolarBob (As it was in the days of Noah they were feasting, drinking egg nog and celebrating Christmas.)

To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...

4 posted on 12/21/2024 11:07:26 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)

To: thecodont

5 posted on 12/21/2024 11:09:22 AM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")

To: thecodont

6 posted on 12/21/2024 11:11:45 AM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Not my circus. Not my monkeys. But I can pick out the clowns at 100 yards.)

Nate Bargatze talks about going to community college, not knowing what extra virgin olive oil is and abusing the DoorDash app.Nate Bargatze Stand-Up Monologue - SNL | 7:33
Saturday Night Live | 15.1M subscribers | 2,068,805 views | October 6, 2024

7 posted on 12/21/2024 11:13:55 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)

To: thecodont

8 posted on 12/21/2024 11:16:11 AM PST by DesertRhino (2016 Star Wars, 2020 The Empire Strikes Back, 2024... RETURN OF THE JEDI..)

To: thecodont

9 posted on 12/21/2024 11:21:15 AM PST by HamiltonJay

To: BipolarBob

10 posted on 12/21/2024 11:23:30 AM PST by hoagy62 (Don't let evil win again!)

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