While there’s a rich tradition of standup comedy at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand, it’s likely been a long time since a comedian outdrew all of the pop and country acts on the schedule. After all, could one person with a microphone standing relatively still onstage and talking really outdraw arena-rock headliners? But that might be the case with Saturday night’s monologue by comedian Nate Bargatze. Over the course of a 20-year career, this funnyman from Tennessee has gradually ascended into the pantheon of currently active standup comedians, and a full-to-the-back fence Grandstand is the latest evidence that he’s among those at the peak of the field.
How is it that one man with one hand almost invariably behind his back speaking into a microphone could attract a sellout crowd of 13,570? Well, it helps that Bargatze’s a clean comedian who has a gift for finding common ground with his audiences through typical American experiences like attending a child’s career day at school or going through a drive-through at a fast food joint. But Bargatze has a particular gift for the short short story, engaging an audience in a tale for just long enough, then moving on to the next anecdote. It’s all very accessible material, and Saturday’s hour-long set was as all-American as it could be.
Like countless comedians before him, Bargatze spent a fair amount of his chat with the audience speaking of life at his house, where he makes clear that his wife is the brains of the.