Nate Bargatze Says This Comedian Transformed the Comedy Scene

Published: May 6, 2026

By Michaela Gordoni

Two great comedians, Nate Bargatze and Jerry Seinfeld, recently got together to talk about the transformation of comedy and entertainment.

“What changed? Why did it change in the past 20 years from ‘Oh, yeah…comedians’ to now it’s like a destination — ‘We’re going to see this comedian’?” Seinfeld asked Bargatze in a video call.

Bargatze said Seinfeld is actually the reason for the change. He inspired Bargatze and many other comics around his age.

“There was a large group of people around my age that was like kind of like, ‘All right…we want to go do this,’” Bargatze said. “And so I want to be a stand-up comedian. And then you had your Jim Gaffigans…You had these comics that were just like having full careers and starting to do big arenas, big things and they’re just doing stand-up.”

“I’ve done bowling alleys to arenas. Like it’s you,” he explained. “I’ve done it all and you put yourself in just different positions.”

To him, Seinfeld pioneered stand-up comedy into what it is today.

“As art, as this entertainment, it’s the best place,” Bargatze continued. “I think it’s the one art form that’s going to…stand the time because it’s just me talking to you…Like that stuff really matters, and that’s the creativity that you come up with when you write something.”

He also built love and camaraderie between comedians.

Bargatze added, “Why I bring so many comics on the road is because I need all of us to be together for us to be funny.”

Years ago, Seinfeld saw a clip of Bargatze defending the two years of Seinfeld’s show, SEINFELD, where Larry David did not serve as head writer and executive producer.

That “was one of the nicest, most complimentary things I’ve ever received, and I’m sure you didn’t think that I ever saw that, but I did,” Seinfeld told him. “…I can’t tell you…There’s no award that I have that means as much to me as when I saw you do that. That somebody noticed, you know, what we accomplished in those two years.”

Seinfeld went on to compliment Bargatze’s talent in the comic industry and called his jokes rare “diamonds.”

“Well, that is all I ever wanted out of you, is that,” Bargatze quipped.

The comedian’s first full-feature venture, THE BREADWINNER, comes out this month on May 29.

“Me and the writer, Dan Lagana, talked about writing a movie together, [and] this kind of fit with my stand-up, so we figured let’s just dive into this world.” Bargatze said of the movie. “I think a lot of [movies] are getting harder to go to as a family […] This is a movie that’s [like] HOME ALONE or MR. MOM, that you could see as a family, and that’s not being shown to the kids today.”

The movie is about a dad who’s left to take care of his three daughters when his wife lands an opportunity to be on SHARK TANK…What could go wrong?

Bargatze doesn’t know what kind of reaction he will get to the movie but says, “I’m excited to figure it all out — what works, what’s funny, what needs tweaking. It’s going to be a whole new world, and I can’t wait to learn.”

Tickets are on sale now.

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