Nate Bargatze: Full Time Magic (TV Special 2015)

Nate Bargatze: Full Time Magic: Directed by Ryan Polito. With Nate Bargatze. Filmed at the Gramercy Theatre in New York City, the hilarious and charming “Full Time Magic” is Nate Bargatze’s first one-hour stand-up special. Despite being a married man with a young daughter, Nate is not immune to embarrassing situations. It’s hard to imagine the laid-back Tennessee native has been met with the prospect of fighting his wife’s ex-boyfriend on a boat, been at risk of snake bites in Honduras, and was almost caught in a brawl at a McDonald’s.

“First of all: I made an IMDb account just to write this review. Thatu0026#39;s how much I enjoyed this special. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI discovered Nate Bargatze on The Standups, and Iu0026#39;ve since watched everything heu0026#39;s done that I could find, including Full Time Magic. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI watch a lot of standup, and it isnu0026#39;t often I see something that makes me go u0026quot;hold on a second… THIS is a whole thing….u0026quot; u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFull Time Magic is a whole thing. The disarming delivery and details of the material make it stand out as unquestionably unique, but underneath the specifics, the silly, petty thought processes heu0026#39;s describing are relatable on a deep level—the kind of level that makes you realize exactly how ridiculous you are as an animal. And it takes you sort of by surprise. Nobody really expects to be confronted by their very nature out of nowhere like this. And the resulting laughter feels like that moment when somebody catches you making superhero poses in the frozen vegetable aisle. Normally that would be embarrassing, but the guyu0026#39;s dressed up like batman, so whatu0026#39;s he gonna do? Judge you? And what are you gonna do? Judge HIM? How are you gonna get away with that, Blade Arms McFlashPose? The second you make eye contact, you both melt down laughing because yeah, this was undeniably a silly thing to be doing, but guess who wanted to do it anyway? And the reason you wanted to is something deeply revealing of the silly animal you are in your real heart. Thatu0026#39;s what this special feels like. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnyway, this is one of the best things I have ever seen. I just wanted to say that.”