Nate Bargatze is one of my favorite comedians. His southern boy demeanor, common sense logic, and unhurried delivery are the trifecta of funny. The guy just looks like the underdog, so you root for him, even in the stories you don’t.
He isn’t afraid of some self-depreciating humor, obviously his book is titled Big Dumb Eyes, but what I love about his act is how gosh dang reasonable it all is. He can tell a story about walking the dog and it’s hilarious. He talks about his first car. I laughed out loud. He talks about a man who worked at a furniture story he may or may not have even met, and I was rolling. Whatever the X factor is, this guy has it.
Now, Nate has famously claimed he is not a reader. He’d ‘like to be’ he says, but books are just ‘so many words’. As such, in his own book, there are breaks. I listened to the audio version, and he plays a little bit of elevator music to cleanse the palette a little bit before jumping into the next story, as to not overwhelm you with all the words. I believe in the hard copy there are several blank pages. Hilarious, and on brand.
I was actually surprised how much I laughed at the stories in this book. Nate’s humor is one of a kind and hearing these stories of his life and childhood was so nostalgic. I’d kill to be a fly on the wall at one of his family’s board-game nights. They sound like a hoot.
I also love how comedy memoirs like this one (and Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are examples of this too), the comedian will tweak the narration to actually acknowledge you are listening to the book instead of reading it on paper instead of strictly reading every single word as it appears in print. If you’re not a big reader, like Nate, absolutely you should still read this…just listen to it instead!
Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Details
Title:: Big Dumb Eyes
Author:: Nate Bargatze
Genre:: Comedy Memoir
Publisher:: Grand Central Publishing
Length:: 240 pages
Audio Length:: 6h 56m
Audiobook Narrator:: The Author
Published:: May 6th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars