Big Dumb Eyes: Stories from a Simpler Mind

by Nate Bargatze

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

With laugh-out-loud life stories, comedian Nate Bargatze shows he's just as funny on the page as he is on the stage.

From one of the hottest stand-up comedians, Nate Bargatze brings his everyman comedy to the page in this hilarious collection of personal stories, opinions, and confessions. 

Nate Bargatze used to be a genius. That is, until the summer after seventh grade when he slipped, fell off a cliff, hit his head on a rock, and “my skull got, like, dented or something.” Before this accident, he dreamed of being “an electric engineer, or a doctor that does brain stuff, or a math teacher who teaches the hardest math on earth.” Afterwards, all he could do was stand-up comedy.* But the “brain stuff” industry’s loss is everyone else’s gain because Nate went on to become one of today’s top-grossing comedians, breaking both attendance and streaming records. 

In his highly anticipated first book, Nate talks about life as a non-genius. From stories about his first car (named Old Blue, a clunky Mazda with a tennis ball stick shift) and his travels as a Southerner (Northerners like to ask if he believes in dinosaurs), to tales of his first apartment where he was almost devoured by rats and his many debates with his wife over his chores, his diet, and even his definition of “shopping.” He also reflects on such heady topics as his irrational passion for Vandy football and the mysterious origins of sushi (how can a California roll come from old-time Japan?). 

BIG DUMB EYES is full of heart. It will make readers laugh out loud and nod in recognition, but it probably won’t make them think too much.

*Nate’s family disputes this entire story. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538768464
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	05/06/2025
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Nate Bargatze is a Grammy-nominated comedian, podcaster, actor, director, and producer from Old Hickory, Tennessee. Hailed as “The Nicest Man in Stand-Up” by The Atlantic; Nate is well known for his specials including The Tennessee Kid, The Greatest Average American, and Hello World. Nate is one of the top selling touring acts, breaking venue attendance records with more than 1.2 million tickets sold on his The Be Funny Tour. Nate also runs Nateland Entertainment, a family-friendly content company where he produces standup comedy specials, showcases, sketches, and scripted episodic content for film, television, podcasts, music and more. He lives in Nashville with his wife and daughter.

Editorial Reviews

04/21/2025

Comedian Bargatze debuts with a folksy collection of stories, anecdotes, and pet peeves. He acknowledges up front that, coming from him, a book may seem unexpected: “I am very on the record about not liking to read books,” he writes in the introduction, calling this fact “a big part of my act.” Nevertheless, he proceeds, albeit in a lackadaisical manner, through tales of his upbringing in a “tiny little town in Tennessee,” of his childhood friend “P” (so nicknamed because he got hit by a football in “the you-know-what”), and of the surprising aggression of church-league sports. Some stories can be quite sentimental, as when he recounts bonding with his wife-to-be over the Little Mermaid soundtrack. Other chapters function more like stand-up bits: a riff on his neuroses over tipping, a reflection on that time when McDonald’s changed the number of his favorite combo order, a meditation on the perfect sock (“I don’t just need my socks to match. I need my socks to be the right socks, or I will think about nothing else for the rest of the day”). Unfortunately, as an extension of the comedian’s onstage persona—mild-mannered, clean, observational—this doesn’t quite work; his low-stakes humor feels uneasy on the page. The mild chuckles on offer here are unlikely to win Bargatze many new fans. (May)

Publishers Weekly

PRAISE FOR NATE BARGATZE

“One of the hottest acts in comedy.”—The Atlantic

“One of the top up-and-coming comics.”—Jim Gaffigan to Esquire

“Bargatze has been a comic for 20 years, and created a style uniquely his own by recognizing the humor in small things. But it also nails just about everyone else, too.”—Variety

“[I]n an era where most comedians and late-night talk show hosts serve up incisive, polarizing takes on the issues of the day, Bargatze stands out for sticking to what he does know: chain restaurants, parenting, marriage, weird animal encounters, the South, and the absurdity of human interaction. What’s more, he works clean, and without a trace of mean-spiritedness in his material.”—Vanity Fair

From the Publisher