Nate Bargatze's Case for AAA

Nate Bargatze has a tire change story. Two of them, actually, and neither one ends with him under the car.

Rich asks if he can nail the gas pump down to the penny. Bargatze says yes, he is pretty good at that kind of stuff. Put air in a tire. Change a tire. He can do it, in theory. But then he tells the Indianapolis rental car story.

He was in Indianapolis for a gig. Got a flat. Went to the trunk. No spare. These new cars, he says, do not want you to change a tire anymore. So he called for help, pulled off the interstate, found a spot near the guardrail where he could not get hit from behind, and took what he describes as an unbelievable nap. The hum of the eighteen wheelers rolling past was like white noise. Sunny day. Sitting in the car. Called the service company back and told them to take their time.

The second story is the one with his daughter. Flat tire outside Nashville. She is five years old. Not twelve. Five. Bargatze decides this is a teaching moment. Come on. I am going to show you how to change a tire. It becomes a nightmare. The way he parked, he could not get the jack high enough. The vehicle was an SUV. The tire was too big. He is trying to coach a five year old through the process, then pivots to just get back in the car, let me handle this. Eventually he tells Rich he thinks some guy came by and did not even help him because the tire was too big.

Two hours in, Bargatze says, you start looking for help. They were outside Nashville, which he describes as places where some dudes are. If a strong country dude had shown up wanting to help change a tire, he was not going to fight it. He could change it himself. He would not denigrate his own ability. But if the country dude was there, the country dude was there.

The punchline is the teaching moment never landed. The daughter does not remember any of it. Bargatze says if he brought it up now she would tell him she does not remember that day. The whole lesson, the whole struggle, wiped clean from a five year old's memory.

Short segment, dry delivery, vintage Bargatze. The nap on the side of the interstate is the keeper.