Review: Nate Bargatze should become a State Fair tradition

Nate Bargatze tries selling himself as a dumb guy.

“Every history movie I watch, I watch on the edge of my seat,” he said Saturday night during his Minnesota State Fair debut. “I watched ‘Pearl Harbor.’ I was just as surprised as they were.”

Bargatze’s character on stage is one who uses too much ketchup, can barely manage doing laundry and doesn’t know the name of his own bank. His idea of a crisis is going through the McDonald’s drive-thru and discovering that your window won’t open. He went to community college and never got a credit.

But the 45-year-old comic is anything but a blockhead.

His last Prime Video special, “Hello World,” drew 2.9 million viewers in its first 28 days. Last fall, he hosted “Saturday Night Live.” And his performance this weekend drew more than 13,000 fans, an impressive number considering he did six shows in St. Paul just a year ago and the cheapest ticket this time around was over $70.

Bargatze’s genius is delivering comedy that stays away from politics, cuss words or anything that will upset fairgoers not ready to come down from their cookie high.

The Minnesota State Fair has a long tradition of showcasing family-friendly stand-ups like Jim Gaffigan, Jay Leno , Bob Hope and Rich Little (some historian will have to explain to me how Redd Foxx ended up on the grandstand stage in 1974).

Bargatze falls right in line with the wholesome tradition. He opened his one-hour act Saturday with a hilarious story about his Little League days and followed it by confessing his love for dogs and Dairy Queen Blizzards.

He’s also no strangers to fairs. He shared a story about how his dad, a professional magician, used to get upstaged at a Tennessee county fair by donkeys jumping off diving boards. .

“I think fairs are the last things we’ve got that government doesn’t know about,” he said, sporting a denim jacket over a brown shirt. “There are rides that were on the interstate an hour ago.”

Earlier in the day, Bargatze took time to walk around the grounds, spending extra time on the carnival games. Julian McCullough, who hosted the show, shared that Bargatze had won several prizes, including a rainbow dinosaur, all of which he hurled into the first dozen rows.

McCullough was one of four openers, all headliners in their own right. The best of the bunch, Nick Thume, looks like John Lennon and makes smart-aleck comments like Zach Galifianakis.

“Thanks for being here,” Thume said while casually strumming a guitar for no apparent reason. “I know it means a lot to you.”

Bargatze seemed well aware that ticket prices were high, so he stacked the deck with his talented friends, making sure attendees got two solid hours of comedy.

It’s the kind of strategy that strengthens his relatable image and practically guarantees that he’ll be invited back to the State Fair for many years to come.