Nate Bargatze, Vandy fan

Nate Bargatze is on a roll. His Comedy Central Presents special debuted in February.. and his performances at Bonnaroo this summer were very well received.

Old Hickory, TN’s favorite comedian will make his first appearance on Conan O’Brien’s TBS show Tuesday, August 9th Wednesday, August 10th. Nate was scheduled to appear on July 21st, but unfortunately, the show ran long and Nate got bumped.

Mr. Bargatze previously appeared on NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien twice.

Perhaps Vanderbilt’s biggest fan, Nate is always wearing some sort of Vanderbilt-branded attire. Watch Conan on TBS Wednesday, August 10th and just know that if you don’t see Vandy gear at first glance, he’s wearing Vanderbilt shorts underneath. Absolutely true.

8/9 UPDATE FROM NATE: “Watch conan Aug 10 tomorrow night. I am taping it today but will air Aug 10. I’m sorry and if u want to like another comic I understand.”

Here’s a funny clip from Nate’s Comedy Central Presents special:

If you’d like to see Nate live, you’re in luck! He’ll be headlining the Corporate Juggernaut show here in Nashville August 29th at Bongo Java:

Here’s where you can find Nate online:
NateBargatze.com
Facebook Fan Page
Twitter.com/NateBargatze

Today, comedian Louis CK took to twitter to defend Tracy Morgan. Over the course of several tweets, he said:

Tracey Morgan said something wrong, evil, cruel, ignorant and hilarious. He was on a comedy stage, not at a pulpit. You have a right to be offended, sound off. As a man who hates violence and discrimination against gays or anyone, I was not offended.

I can have two thoughts simultaneously. 1. Gay people have a right to grow up and live in confidence happiness, honesty and equality. thought 2. Tracey Morgan is ridiculous and I love watching him just go to wrongful and crazy places in his mind and I can laugh.

If every word a person says has to be right and balanced and fair, I will jump off a tall thing onto a hard place. It is clear to anyone with an ability to reason and understand people that he didn’t mean a word of what he said. he was fucking around.

Louis is 100% correct.

I was at the show and although the bit in question did not get laughs from ME, it DID get laughs at The Ryman that night. His “tone” wasn’t any different from when he was talking about butt-fucking “retards” or when he was talking about how women should be at home cooking. Where is the outrage from the retards? Why aren’t we talking about women’s rights right now?

The Tracy Morgan controversy is NOT about Tracy. It’s 100% about TN HB 600 / SB 632 & Stacy Campfield’s ridiculous “Don’t Say Gay” legislation — Both Tennessee state bills are terrible, hate-fueled legislation proposed by Republicans and GLAAD is using Tracy Morgan as a pawn to further their agenda in the state. I do not disagree with them on the real issue at hand, but I do dislike HOW they’re doing this.

LGBT rights / equality is important and Tennessee is a hotbed right now.. but by demonizing Tracy Morgan, the new victim has become free speech. Comedians – and all artists of any medium – must be able to communicate whatever they want, however they see fit. As soon as one subject/word/idea is “off limits” then it’s ALL taboo. Tracy’s words were in the context of a show, NOT a political statement.

Tracy’s act was paraphrased second-hand in text by someone who was offended by a performer who has said similar things many times before. Yes, it was “violent imagery” and it would be “disturbing” IF you thought he would act out literal interpretations of his ACT in REAL LIFE.. but what moron actually believes that?

Sometimes I say the exact opposite of what I mean and exaggerate view points I totally DISAGREE with, but sarcasm doesn’t translate to text. We can’t take the literal meaning of the text of the words comedians say in their ACTS and use that to try to judge their REAL WORLD opinions. Johnny Cash did not kill a guy in Reno. Steven Wright didn’t have a pony. Tracy Morgan wouldn’t stab his kid to death. Use your brain.

If special interest groups who exist ONLY to be offended by things are allowed to dictate what artists can say.. Freedom of Speech is dead.

I have been outspoken in the Nashville media this week. A lot of people I’ve talked to feel the same way. I find it ironic that because of this controversy comedians are now being bullied by the LGBT community.

I’ll be on NewsChannel5′s “Open Line” show tonight from 7-8pm Central (on NC5+) discussing the Tracy Morgan controversy. You can call in: 615-737-7587.

[ UPDATE: Here's a link to video of the first ten minutes of the show. ]

Gay or straight, sane or crazy, I love you – each and every one. Your pal, Chad Riden

Nate Bargatze, Vandy fan

Nate Bargatze & Hari Kondabolu’s specials will both be shot Sunday October 17, 2010, starting at 8:30 PM. Want tickets? They’re free.

Congratulations to Nate!

Keith recently wrote a guest article for Rooftop Comedy about the comedy.tv project:

It was a big surprise to get the call, especially since in my emails to the producers, I kept calling him Brian Allen. I felt like my mom, who calls comics things like Kathy Mandarin (Kathleen Madigan), Jack Jergensen (Jake Johannsen), and Bill Saguine (possibly Conan O’Brien).

The only bad thing about this whole experience was the timing. I got the invite Thursday last week and had to be in LA Sunday. A trip cross country, connecting in Detroit, sitting in the middle seat between two middle-aged women who laugh out loud at the in-flight movie “Bridal Wars”. . . All of these things are tolerable. What’s not is finding a reasonably-priced plane ticket with only two days notice.

The best rate I could find was $410 which I paid for with 10,000 shares of GM stock. But it was well worth it.

Forty-two comics doing six minutes each. Of course not everyone stuck to six minutes, because there’s still a mentality of “hey, I’m killing so that red light in the back of the room can suck it”. But overall it was amazing. Events like this are fun because it’s like a comedy convention. Comics from all over can catch up on what they’re doing, where they’ve been, and which comedy condos have been de-loused lately.

The Great American Comedy Festival takes place June 14-20 at the Johnny Carson Theatre in Norfolk, Nebraska. Created as a tribute to the legacy of native son Johnny Carson, the festival’s competitors were booked by Late Show with David Letterman‘s Eddie Brill. This year’s line-up features Keith along with 24 other fast-rising comics including Nashville’s own Jesse Case and friend of N’Sup Pat Dixon.

“Stand Up 360″ is a series of new big screen productions in theaters now. It’s hosted by Caroline Rhea and spotlights some of the best comics in New York City. Keith’s part of the series will be in theaters June 1-14. Visit www.Stand-Up360.com for more information and to purchase tickets while they last! Check your local listings for select theaters, dates & times of the limited engagement showings.

For more from Keith, visit KeithComedy.com.

Renard Hirsch

We’ve just learned that one of the first comics selected to appear on the new show, is Nashville’s own Renard Hirsch! Mr. Hirsch says, “God is good y’all!!! Every since I started doing comedy everybody has been asking me ‘When are you going to be on Comic View?’ It looks like that time has finally arrived.”

Renard will tape for BET’s ‘A Time to Laugh’ in Atlanta this Saturday the 7th @ Turner Studios. If you are interested in being a part of the live studio audience send an email to timetolaugh09@gmail.com or call 404.885.4206.

Hirsch told NashvilleStandUp that he is excited and humbled by the opportunity. “I was sitting around the house getting text messages from some of the other comedians about who had already made the show. I was thinking to myself that I had a really great set at the auditions, but maybe I should have done some different jokes or something, then they called me the next day and I went through the roof! So I’m getting ready to go to Atlanta to represent for Tennessee and show the world that there are some more funny people in Nashville.”

Congratulations to Renard! Watch for him on BET soon. Until then, keep up with him at MySpace at: www.myspace.com/comedymanrh