How Nate Bargatze Puts His Family First

Published: May 29, 2026

By Mallory Mattingly

Clean comedian Nate Bargatze revealed why he shares every joke with his wife, Laura, and their daughter before he goes on stage.

“They know every single thing. I need to be a husband and a father first, so I don’t want my daughter to be nervous to come to me because she thinks I’m going to go say something,” Bargatze told US Weekly. “Anybody that I’ve ever talked about in my act, [I] make sure they know it first. I don’t want them to be surprised…I want them to almost be proud that they’re in the act instead of feeling bad.”

Giving his daughter, Harper, the best possible life drives the comic to work hard.

“I hope even though it could seem like I’m doing it for me, I’m trying to set her up, right? I had a great upbringing, but we did not come from a lot. I hope she sees the giving, and she is very giving,” he shared.

Bargatze leans on his faith for his clean comedy style and to keep his “values in check” as his fame continues to skyrocket.

“I don’t overly talk about my faith, but a lot of that basically. You’d see comedians that were younger than you, and they would just go past you, and you would be out there struggling,” he said. “And so it was just really trusting the process, [thinking,] All right, I went down this road, so I might as well just keep staying down this road.”

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The comedian continued, “I had such a clear vision of what I wanted to do. Trust the process. I had to believe in it. I do visualizing. Anytime I felt I was getting pulled off track, I would try to visualize it more, see it more, and then that kind of puts you back onto the road you’re on.”

Bargatze’s newest project, a movie titled THE BREADWINNER, hits theaters tonight.

“THE BREADWINNER stars Bargatze as salesman Nate Wilcox and Mandy Moore as his wife, Katie. To Nate and their three children, Katie is the ultimate mom — she manages their comically chaotic household with equal parts efficiency and love, and everything runs perfectly. But when Katie’s household invention leads to a once-in-a-lifetime deal on Shark Tank and takes her on a prolonged business trip, Nate has to figure out how to keep the house from (literally) falling apart. He and his kids soon learn that while he may not do it like mom, he can figure out how to do it his way. Welcome to the dad era,” a synopsis of the film reads.

Movieguide® gave THE BREADWINNER a -1 content score, praising its “strong moral, pro-family worldview.”

“This movie is not about me, it’s about [the] audience that’s watching it,” Bargatze said. “Especially in the entertainment [industry], that can get lost. Our job is to be escapism for people and to make them laugh and bring them together. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Don’t miss seeing Bargatze’s clean comedy and family values hit the big screen in THE BREADWINNER!

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