The Greatest Average American

The title of Nate Bargatze's second Netflix special is its own thesis: he is the greatest average American. Not a genius. Not a disaster. Just a guy—perhaps the best guy at being a guy.

"I'm not interesting. Nothing interesting has ever happened to me. I've never been in a fight. I've never been arrested. I've never done drugs. I'm from Tennessee and I've never even fired a gun. I'm the most boring person from the most exciting state."

The special leans fully into the everyman persona that defines Bargatze's comedy. He talks about going to Cracker Barrel with genuine enthusiasm. He discusses his relationship with his wife with the mild bewilderment of a man who knows he's lucky but isn't entirely sure why.

"My wife is smarter than me. Way smarter. She knows it. I know it. Our daughter knows it. The only reason she married me is because I made her laugh once in 2006 and she's been waiting for it to happen again."

What makes "average" funny in Bargatze's hands is the commitment. Other comedians use ordinariness as a launching pad for extraordinary stories. Bargatze stays ordinary. The stories are about going to the grocery store, taking his daughter to school, trying to understand his phone bill. The comedy comes from the precision of his observations about truly mundane experiences.

"I went to a drive-through and the guy said 'pull around.' I've been pulling around my whole life. I don't know what we're pulling around to. I just trust the system."

The special is proof that there's comedy in normalcy—that the daily experience of being alive, confused, and moderately competent is inherently funny if you describe it precisely enough. Bargatze doesn't need controversy or edge. He has something better: recognition. Every audience member sees themselves in his material, and seeing yourself is always funny.