Nate Bargatze Talks About Honoring God, Saying It's His 'Calling' to Be a Clean Comedian

Comedian Nate Bargatze has made a name for himself in the world of entertainment by doing something a little bit different – creating comedy that is "clean" and for the whole family to enjoy. 

This simple approach has not only made him stand out from the crowd but has also helped to skyrocket his career to new heights. 

Bargatze had the "highest-grossing comedy tour of 2024" and recently hosted Saturday Night Live, but his secret sauce is creating hilarious moments for the whole family, which he says is a way of honoring God through comedy. 

"It's a big belief to be 'I am second,'" he shared during a recent podcast interview. "Being second to God, second to your family, second to—I believe—the audience, second to everybody."

"You live to serve," Bargatze told David Marchese, co-host of "The Interview," a podcast by The New York Times. "It's very much a calling in that aspect."

Bargatze has several comedy specials on Amazon Prime and Netflix, including "Your Friend, Nate Bargatze."

He describes his comedy acts as being based on his life as a regular kid who grew up in a Christian home in Nashville, Tennessee. 

His relatable content, he says, is not driven by ego, but rather by remaining authentic and connecting with the audience.

"It can't be about me," Bargatze told stand-up comedian Anjelah Johnson-Reyes on her podcast, "Funjelah." "Because if it was about me, I wouldn't be able to handle it. That's why I can handle it, because it's not about me…what I believe, it's on God."

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The 46-year-old explains that he writes content for everybody. 

"I have a lot of grandmothers come to my shows, and they love me," Bargatze said. "I don't think there's much being made that they could go to—certainly not stand-up comedy."

"I just want to make something that all of them can be in the room together," he added.

Bargatze's rise to the top has taken nearly two decades, but from the very beginning, he knew he had to quietly set himself apart from the pack. 

"I had to learn how to do what I was doing in those rooms, but I didn't want you to notice that I was clean. I think that is something that helped me," he explained. "I think if you walked up and said I'm clean it's going to be like, 'well this guy's not cool and this guy's not this and that,' but I look back at it now and...it was like I was reliable for late night sets because I was clean."

Bargatze told Johnson-Reyes last December that God has really blessed his career. "God has a path, and I'm just here to follow the path, so I just kind of wait and see where the doors open," he explained. 

The Grammy-nominated stand-up comedian said he trusts that God will "open the doors that need to be open, and you just point me where you want to go."

"I'm grateful to get to be the one that was chosen to be this vessel," he added.