Nate Bargatze Built a Game Show

Nate Bargatze tells Rich about the game show he built from the road, and the concept is exactly what you would expect from a comedian who pays attention to the audience.

The Greatest Average American is now streaming on Hulu. Bargatze came up with the idea touring, pitched his agents, and landed at ABC and Disney, who he says know what they are doing with the format.

The structure is three parts. Part one polls the average American audience and the street contestants, and the players on stage have to guess what the audience said. Part two is contestants betting on Bargatze himself. How many countries can Nate name in 60 seconds. How many sports teams. How many free throws can he make. Pressure with a clock. He admits he embarrasses himself on one of the challenges.

Part three swings back to the audience for a final poll.

The whole point, Bargatze tells Rich, is to make it about the audience. He wanted people to actually want to show up to a taping. He liked the idea of contestants looking out at the crowd, sizing them up, trying to figure out what kind of people he was working with and what they would say.

The grand prize is the average American salary. $67,942. Plus a $920 kicker to hit the exact number. Plus $10,000 on top. Plus a little extra to help cover taxes, because Bargatze wants contestants to walk out with what he tells them they are going home with.

The tax line sets up the best bit of the segment. TJ Jefferson admits he won a ping pong table on The Price Is Right in 2022.

Rich goes straight at it. Where is the ping pong table now. TJ's house. In a box. Never opened. Doesn't actually know if it says Price Is Right on it.

Bargatze jumps in with the alternate theory. What if Price Is Right is running a scheme and the box is just two pieces of wood. That is why TJ is afraid to open it. You want to believe in the game. You want to believe in it.

The bit lands because Bargatze plays it completely straight. The ping pong table is Schrodinger's prize. Sealed, it is a ping pong table. Opened, it might be wood.

Back on the show, Bargatze explains the tax piece. He did not want contestants surprised by what the IRS takes. So he pays extra. He tells Rich he is not a tax guy, which is the punctuation on the whole segment.

The Greatest Average American is on Hulu. The ping pong table is in a box in TJ's house.