Nate Bargatze

May 27, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Summary: Nate Bargatze on This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von

Nate Bargatze is building a $350 million theme park in Nashville, funded entirely with his own money, and he's not entirely sure why he's doing it either. "It's crazy to build a theme park. I think it's crazy every time I think about it," he tells Theo Von. "I think about it, like, where I'm like, what am I doing?" But the impulse, he explains, came from a specific moment: after headlining Nashville's Bridgestone Arena and selling 19,365 tickets — a number that happened to match the 20 years it took him to get there — he realized he needed something beyond himself. "This life cannot be about me. Or I'm gonna go crazy."

That realization became Nate Land, a planned $350 million theme park in Nashville. Bargatze is working with Storyland, a design firm staffed by former Disney Imagineers who built the Disney parks in Dubai. The park will have three sections, a retro mall open year-round, and a mix of big coasters and family rides. He's been "roller coaster shopping" at parks like Hershey, riding coasters to understand what a $30 million ride feels like versus an $850,000 one. The project is still in the investment phase, with land narrowed down to one spot and renderings being finalized. He's paying for the feasibility studies and economic impact reports himself.

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What you'll learn

1 (01:07) **Introduction of Nate Bargatze** - Theo introduces Nate as a stand-up comedian, host, and leader in clean comedy, mentioning his new film "The Breadwinner" and his plan to build an amusement park in Nashville.
2 (01:55) **Morning People vs. Night People** - Nate and Theo discuss the difference between morning and night people, relating it to the comedian lifestyle and the desire for structure.
3 (04:32) **The Structure of Movie Making vs. Comedy** - Nate talks about the structured environment of shooting a film compared to the unstructured life of a touring comedian.
4 (10:31) **The Difficulty of Quitting Comedy** - Nate shares a joke about how there's no one to quit to in comedy, and the pressure of having a large audience.
5 (14:06) **Nate's New Movie "The Breadwinner"** - Discussion about the film opening in theaters on May 29th, the distribution strategy, and the parallels to touring.
6 (24:13) **The Value of Live Experiences** - Nate and Theo discuss the growing trend of live experiences (Netflix Houses) and why stand-up comedy is uniquely positioned as an authentic, un-AI-able art form.
7 (28:02) **Tickling as a Truth-Telling Device** - A humorous tangent on how tickling forces people to tell the truth, with a comparison to interrogation techniques.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Nate Bargatze Theo Von

Show Notes

Nate Bargatze is a stand-up comedian, host and actor. His new movie “The Breadwinner” is in theaters this Friday, May 29th.

Nate Bargatze returns to talk about writing and starring in his first movie, whether Davy Crockett or Daniel Boone had more aura, and how his idea for an amusement park turned into a reality.

Nate Bargatze: https://www.instagram.com/natebargatze/

“The Breadwinner” in theaters 5/29: https://breadwinnermovie.com

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Tour Dates! https://theovon.com/tour

New Merch: https://www.theovonstore.com

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