Despite being a rock star stand-up comic who sells out giant auditoriums and has hit specials on Amazon Prime, Nate Bargatze was a little nervous about hosting SNL, which he did alongside The Foo Fighters. It was his first time, sure, but he also joked before the show aired that he wasn’t “famous enough.” If he was nervous, it didn’t seem like it. During his lengthy opening monologue, he was his laid-back, mildly self-deprecating self. Still he couldn’t help but be taken aback.
“It’s crazy,” Bargatze said as he started his opener. “I mean, look, if you’re at home, I’m as shocked as you are that I’m here. I’ve come to this building for a long time. And so it’s unreal to be here.”
Bargatze then reflected on being old. (He’s 44.) He told the crowd that he’s “from the 1900s,” and that the world, to someone born in the 1970s, is “so future now. And I feel in the way of it.” He pointed out that his daughter’s 11, and that “when she’s my age, it will be 2057. I don’t even believe that’s a real year. My movie’s didn’t go that high in fake years.
“How am I going to be able to talk to someone from 2057,” he continued. “I have more in common with a pilgrim. I saw too much old-timey stuff. I’m pre-internet.”
Later in his monologue, Bargatze admitted that he’s “already not smart,” which doesn’t bode well for his future.
“I’m in my prime right now. I don’t read read any books. I don’t do it. And I think and I think that matters. I do think that matters. Reading I believe is the key to smart. That’s what I’ve always said,” Bargatze said. “And I don’t do it because every book is just the most words. It doesn’t let up. I mean, every page is more work. It’s like what are you talking about? Put some blank pages in there. Let me get my head above water for two seconds.”
Bargatze also confessed that he “doesn’t know anything” about history. “And I can tell I don’t know anything about history because every history movie I watch I watch on the edge of my seat — just like, ‘What is going to happen?’ I don’t know. I watched the movie Pearl Harbor and I was as surprised as they were.”
You can watch Bargatze’s opening monologue in the video above.
