Nate Bargatze should become a State Fair tradition

Nate Bargatze tries to sell himself as a dumb guy.

“Every historical film I see, I watch on the edge of my seat,” he said Saturday night during his debut at the Minnesota State Fair. “I saw ‘Pearl Harbor.’ I was as shocked as they were.”

Bargatze’s character on stage is someone who consumes too much ketchup, can barely do laundry and doesn’t know the name of his own bank. His idea of ​​a crisis is going through the McDonald’s drive-thru and discovering that the window doesn’t open. He went to community college and never got a loan.

But the 45-year-old comedian is anything but a fool.

His latest Prime Video special, “Hello World,” drew 2.9 million viewers in its first 28 days. Last fall, he hosted “Saturday Night Live.” And his performance this weekend drew more than 13,000 fans — an impressive number considering he did six shows in St. Paul just a year ago and the cheapest ticket this time around cost more than $70.

Bargatze’s genius is to deliver comedy that stays away from politics, profanity or anything that might upset fair-goers who aren’t ready to come down from their cookie high.

The Minnesota State Fair has a long tradition of featuring family-friendly comedians such as Jim Gaffigan, Jay Leno, Bob Hope and Rich Little (some historian will have to explain to me how Redd Foxx ended up on the grandstand stage in 1974).

Bargatze is faithfully following the wholesome tradition. He opened his hourlong act Saturday with a very funny story about his Little League days and then confessed his love for dogs and Dairy Queen Blizzards.