Nashville's Nate Bargatze gets help from surprise guests on 'Saturday Night Live'
Old Hickory native Nate Bargatze made Nashville proud Saturday night as he hosted the classic late-night sketch comedy show, "Saturday Night Live."
In teasers for the show that aired earlier in the week, the "SNL" team poked fun at Bargatze's reputation for being the nicest guy in comedy where staffers encouraged him to be more temperamental and bust into fits of rage, then applauded him for a job well done when he did.
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The live show, however, didn't take any jabs at his nice-guy reputation. He was part of some funny sketches that included surprise cameos from Christopher Walken, Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl and "Top Chef" host Padma Lakshmi.
Here's are our picks for Bargatze's top "SNL" moments:
1. Bargatze's monologue
Bargatze opened the show with a short sampling of why his "Hello World" stand-up special is Amazon Prime's most streamed original comedy special. He rolled through quick bits about the Wilson County fair, his great aunt Helen, Afrin nose spray and how history movies keep him on the edge of his seat because he doesn't know anything about history. "I watched a movie about Pearl Harbor and I was as surprised as they were," he joked.
2. The George Washington skit
Set in 1777, the skit posed soldiers around a campfire listening to "General Washington" who gave a pep talk to the crew and reminded them what they are fighting for.
Bargatze's Washington told the troops, "We fight for a country of our own. A new nation where we choose our own laws. And choose our own systems of weights and measures."
He then goes on to poke fun at how America uses the metric system sometimes, but not always and how 2,000 pounds will be called a ton, but 1,000 pounds doesn't have a name.
"We will be free to measure liquids in liters and milliliters, but not all liquids. Only soda, wine and alcohol. For milk and paint, we will use gallons, pints and quarts."
3. Down on the Lake Beach music video
In this pre-recorded skit, Bargatze played the singer of a country band called Mudpuddle singing about hanging out "down by the lake beach." Donning knee-length denim shorts, sunglasses and a ball cap, Bargatze poked a little fun at the main staple of his hometown of Music City with a little parody music video chock full of southern stereotypes.
The video cut from scenes with the band standing shin-deep in murky water, to on-stage where Bargatze donned a black cowboy hat.
Grohl made a cameo appearance as the mullet-headed uncle nobody wants to play cornhole with who eventually blows off his hand with fireworks.
4. Shout-out to Old Hickory
Bargatze closed the show by thanking everyone while wearing a 37138 sweatshirt in both a shout-out to his hometown zip code and referencing an inside joke from his comedy special where he jokes he was taught to remember his zip code because "37 plus 1 equals 38."
Melonee Hurt covers music and music business at The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK — Tennessee. Reach Melonee at [email protected] or on X @HurtMelonee.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville's Nate Bargatze adds host of 'Saturday Night Live' to his resume