The 2025 Emmys are nearly upon us, and while we can only hope that the various attending celebrities remember their steamers, those of us watching from home have a different preoccupation entirely to worry about: determining how this year’s host, comedian Nate Bargatze, fares on the Peacock Theater stage.
While it will sure be hard to top last year’s Emmys emcees, father-and-son duo Eugene and Dan Levy, Bargatze—a Nashville-born stand-up who got his start at Chicago’s Second City and Jim Rauth’s Comedy College—definitely has the chops to at least pull off a successful opening monologue. He’s also a two-time Emmy nominee himself this year, for his work in his 2024 stand-up special Your Friend, Nate Bargatze.
But what, exactly, should those unfamiliar with his work expect from his first go hosting a major awards show? Will the vibe be friendly or roast-y? Is he a song-and-dance man, or will he play it all pretty straight? We can’t know for sure until Sunday night—but a survey of his output so far may offer some hints. Below, five performances of Bargatze’s to watch (or revisit) ahead of the 2025 Emmy Awards.
The Standups (2017)
Bargatze’s episode of this Netflix stand-up series is arguably what launched his career in earnest: His musings on everything from his disinterest in working out, to how celebrities use Twitter, to fighting with his wife about the dog at 3 a.m. are all family-friendly, while also being relatable and often laugh-out-loud funny.
The Tennessee Kid (2019)
I don’t know why Bargatze’s self-negging joke about his physique getting him mistaken for a young woman named Olivia in this one-hour special (which garnered rave reviews from the likes of the L.A. Times and Paste) makes me laugh so much, but it really does.
The Nateland Podcast (2020—)
Bargatze has been hosting this podcast with his friends and fellow comedians Brian Bates, Aaron Weber, and Dusty Slay for the last five years, and listening to it is a lot like tuning in for his stand-up—albeit with less preparation and more off-the-cuff humor.
Hello World (2023)
“My buddy wanted me to watch his son. He watched my daughter one time, which I learned is not a fair trade. I handed over a princess; he just throws a bobcat in my house,” Bargatze jokes in this stand-up special filmed at Phoenix’s Celebrity Theater. Gender-binary comedy, but make it actually funny!
Saturday Night Live (2024)
Bargatze has hosted Saturday Night Live twice—once in 2023 and once the following year—going instantly viral for a skit in which George Washington describes his vision for America (and its various idioms) to Revolutionary War soldiers.
