Book Review: Nate Bargatze tries to bring his comedy from screen to page with ‘Big Dumb Eyes'
It's a rite of passage for all comedians: Work like crazy on the stand-up circuit, hit it big, record live specials for a streaming platform, and then write a book that can never quite measure up to your live act.
Consider 'Big Dumb Eyes: Stories from a Simpler Mind' by Nate Bargatze. I laughed so hard I cried during parts of his Netflix special 'Your Friend, Nate Bargatze.' But I can count on two hands the laugh-out-loud moments I experienced as I read 'Big Dumb Eyes.' That's not because Mr. Bargatze isn't funny. Books just aren't the funniest mediums for stand-up comics. Bargatze's live act flows from his droll, self-deprecating delivery. And while he tries right there in the book's subtitle — 'Stories from a Simpler Mind' — the humor just doesn't have the same impact on the page as it does the screen.
Bargatze seems to realize this, writing in his introduction that he is 'very on the record about not liking to read books.' Alas, the publisher, and good ol' fashioned capitalism, apparently convinced him that he should write one.
All that said, for super fans or anyone who would rather read funny stories than watch Bargatze tell them on TV, 'Big Dumb Eyes' is a quick read. There are even grainy, black and white photos of Bargatze through the years with his family. If you haven't already watched his specials, you'll learn a lot about his upbringing — from the sense of humor and theatrical nature he inherited from his father, the greatest clown and magician to ever work in Old Hickory, Tennessee, to the role his decade-younger sister, Abigail, played in keeping him from being completely self-centered growing up.
My favorite chapter, the one with the most LOL moments, is called 'My Sister the Alien' and recounts the time when Nate, his brother Derrick and their dad forgot to bring Abigail home from church one Wednesday night. They all realize when they get home that Abigail isn't with them and dad's first words are 'Do not tell your mother.' When they drive back to the church, Abigail is with a couple, who found her in the church cemetery 'passing from tombstone to tombstone communing with the dead like the devil's phantasm.'
Bargatze tells quite a few stories about his wife, Laura, as well, and near the end Laura even chimes in via footnotes, as if she's reading the book along with you. 'Obviously I knew about this, too. Now that I think about it, go ahead and tell Nate. I can't wait to see the look on his face,' reads one after Nate shares how he had to ask his parents to pay for her engagement ring.
At the end, in a two-page 'Conclusion,' Nate offers his congrats to readers who make it that far, scolding anyone who got through all 222 pages in one sitting. 'You should probably move around some more. Or sprinkle in some other healthier activities, like watching TV,' he writes. It's good advice. I suggest 'Your Friend, Nate Bargatze.'
Weekly
A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene.
___
AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
31 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Good news, bad news and five shows to watch
There's good news and bad news before getting to the usual business of viewing suggestions over the next two weeks. Good: The scorchingly superb drama The Bear (still called a 'comedy,' sheesh) returns to Disney+ on June 25. More on that in the next edition, but this is your heads-up to either get caught up on, or resavour, all or parts of seasons 1-3 before then. The bad news: The documentary Tell Me Everything, about the scorchingly (often) superb TV legend Barbara Walters, will première exclusively on June 23 on U.S.-only Hulu, and not in Canada until 'later this year' on the usual simultaneous-release partner Disney+ Canada. Boo, hiss. But no time to dwell. Onward! Series premières at 10 p.m. on Thursday, June 12, on CTV's Sci-Fi channel If a murder victim returns from the dead, is it still a murder? Const. Dana Cypress (Wynonna Earp's Melanie Scrofano) doesn't know the answer either. Based on the graphic novels of the same name, Revival is set in a small Wisconsin town where the dead start disinterring themselves and appear to be happy to just carry on. Some of the living find this upsetting and square off against the Revived. Registration becomes mandatory. Symbolism abounds, but this is, the press kit explains, more 'lively murder mystery' than the kind of existential mind-bender that was The Leftovers (2014-17, streaming now on Crave and highly recommended if you also appreciate a brain-cramping series from time to time). Movie premières on Friday, June 13, on Apple TV+ Apple TV+ Julianne Moore (left) and Sydney Sweeney play mother and daughter in Echo Valley. Apple TV+ Julianne Moore (left) and Sydney Sweeney play mother and daughter in Echo Valley. While Julianne Moore plays the billionaire owner of a New England bird sanctuary on Sirens (new on Netflix), she also stars in what the press kit for Echo Valley promises to be an 'edge-of-your-seat thriller.' Here, she plays Kate, the mother of trouble magnet Claire (Sydney Sweeney) who turns up on mom's doorstep covered in blood. How far will Kate go to protect her daughter from her own actions? Also showing up on the doorstep is some guy (Domhnall Gleeson, Alice and Jack) threatening to tell all. This raises the important question of whether he knows more or less than mother Kate does. And is daughter Claire being honest with anyone? Series premières Sunday, June 15, at 7 p.m. on PBS and then streaming on PBS Passport Joining the league of crime solvers plumbing the 'gift' of their medical conditions (including Professor T's OCD, Astrid's autism spectrum disorder) is this new series in which the title character with ASD is recognized for her analytical brilliance and raised out of the Criminal Records Office in the U.K. city of York and promoted to assist DI Bea Metcalf. Here's hoping the series is less cringey than the press kit's calling ASD a 'special gift.' Series premières with all eight episodes on Thursday, June 19, on Netflix The poster boasts 'from the creator of Scream and Dawson's Creek.' Kevin Williamson, so successful in blending intense danger/violence with tenderness and slapstick relief, also appears to be taking a page from Ozark (2017-22, Netflix) in this story about a family turning to crime to save their business. In the wake of a couple of heart attacks, Harlan (Mindhunter's Holt McCallany), wife Bella (Maria Bello, NCIS) and son Cane (Jake Weary, Animal Kingdom) turn to the drug trade (hello, Topher Grace) to prop up their position as cornerstone family of the harbour town Havenport, N.C. What could go wrong? Better question is what kind of jangly fun can be had taking this story, 'inspired by true events,' into comic territory? Judging by the trailer, quite a bit. Movie premières on Thursday, June 12, on Prime Video If you are used to serious, scary Sean Bean characters, as on Game of Thrones and Snowpiercer, prepare to have that expectation toyed with. Here, he plays Det.-Sgt Billings, who hires three aspiring standup comics to use their improv 'skills' to go undercover to infiltrate a criminal gang. The comics are played by Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World), Orlando Bloom (Lord of the Rings) and Ted Lasso's Nick Mohammed. Will comedy's imperative to really 'kill' become literal for this trio? Stay tuned. Additional fun comes by way of Paddy Considine (currently in MobLand on Paramount+) as a mob guy named Fly and Ian McShane (Deadwood, American Gods) as menacing Metcalfe. Broadcast dates subject to change. Questions, comments to
Winnipeg Free Press
40 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Springsteen's Berlin concert echoes with history and a stark warning
BERLIN (AP) — Veteran rock star Bruce Springsteen, a high-profile critic of President Donald Trump, slammed the U.S. administration as 'corrupt, incompetent and treasonous' during a concert Wednesday in Berlin. He was addressing tens of thousands of fans at a stadium built for the 1936 Olympic Games that still bears the scars of World War II and contains relics from the country's dark Nazi past. 'Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experiment to rise with us, raise your voices, stand with us against authoritarianism, and let freedom reign,' he said. Springsteen, long a political opponent of the president, has made increasingly pointed and contentious public statements in recent concerts. He denounced Trump's politics during a concert last month in Manchester, calling him an 'unfit president' leading a 'rogue government' of people who have 'no concern or idea for what it means to be deeply American.' Springsteen is no stranger to Berlin. In July 1988, he became one of the first Western musicians to perform in East Germany, performing to a ravenous crowd of 160,000 East Germans yearning for American rock 'n' roll and the freedom it represented to the youth living under the crumbling communist regime. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. An Associated Press news story from that period says 'fireworks steaked through the sky' and hundreds of people in the audience waved handmade American flags as they sang along to 'Born in the USA.' Almost four decades later, Springsteen issued a stark warning: 'The America that I love, the America that I've sung to you about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration.'
Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
How the ‘F1' soundtrack came together, with a little help from Lewis Hamilton
NEW YORK (AP) — The pinnacle of motorsport, Formula One, has its own music. The swift rhythms of a six-cylinder engine reaching 15,000 rpm; the ear-to-ear glissando of a spirited overtake in a DRS zone; the A-list concerts that follow most race weekends. So, when it came to making the summer tentpole 'F1,' starring Brad Pitt and Damson Idris, the team behind the film knew its sound had to be massive, too. That comes courtesy a score by the many-time Oscar winner Hans Zimmer and a huge soundtrack releasing as 'F1 The Album' via Atlantic Records — the team behind the award-winning 'Barbie' album — the same day as the movie, June 27. The soundtrack features original music from Chris Stapleton, Myke Towers, Blackpink's Rosé, Tate McRae and many more. The creative forces behind it all — film producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Joseph Kosinski and Atlantic Records West Coast President Kevin Weaver — tell The Associated Press how 'F1 The Album' came together. An ideal partnership In the years that it took to create 'F1,' Kosinski had 'earmarked big music moments' across the movie's narrative, explains Weaver, who oversaw and produced the project. His team at Atlantic Records took those notes and came up with ideas for songs, artists and writers, collaborating with soundtrack executive producers Kosinski and Bruckheimer. They enlisted Atlantic artists, like Ed Sheeran and Rosé, but also looked elsewhere. 'It's mostly, if not solely, about what the film needs,' Weaver says. 'It really kind of boils down to whose voice would sound best in these various moments. … Who can accomplish what Joe and Jerry needed from a storytelling perspective?' And what they needed were big bespoke songs to meet the film's intensity and match its inclusion of huge classic rock songs, like Queen's 'We Will Rock You.' All the songs featured on 'F1 The Album' are originals, which is why Tate McRae's 'Sports Car,' despite its fitting name, is not on it; instead, she offered 'Just Keep Watching.' Atlantic, usually Weaver, would play the label's song choices against filmed sequences in the editing room, Bruckheimer explains. 'So, if there's a race and we need to end it with a song he'll play, you know, maybe 10 songs against that sequence and it's the best song that wins. It's not usually the song that we think is going to be the biggest hit or features the biggest artists,' Bruckheimer says. 'It's the one that works for a particular sequence.' A global focus with a diversity of talent 'F1 is such a global sport. I wanted the soundtrack of the film to reflect that,' Kosinski says. That meant tapping artists 'from all over the world to give it a feel that the sport really has.' Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton, who consulted on the project, made sure that need for global inclusivity was clear from the start, says Kosinski. 'Sometimes here in Hollywood we can get a little myopic in terms of our cultural focus,' he says. 'And this sport, it is inspiring to me to just see how eclectic it is.' He would send Hamilton demos of the soundtrack and get his opinion: 'I sent him the Burna Boy track,' Kosinski remembers. 'Louis was like, 'This is going to be a giant hit.'' 'We were very intentional about genre and demographic,' Weaver adds. 'We have pop records. We have Afrobeat records. We have electronic records. We have country songs.' The result is a collection of 17 tracks with broad appeal — not unlike the lineup of a major summer music festival. 'It sounds amazing,' Bruckheimer says. 'The soundtrack blends perfectly in with every scene that we put the music against.' A variance of approaches Artists on the 'F1' soundtrack found inspiration and participated in different ways. 'Sometimes it was bringing an artist in and showing them a scene, like Rosé,' who then created to that, says Kosinski. Chris Stapleton did the same. Other artists were simply given a concept or an idea to inspire them and would record a track that would later be tailored to a specific scene. For Sheeran, Kosinski came up with 10 key phrases as lyrical prompts, words that 'identify Sonny Hayes,' the film's protagonist played by Pitt. Sheeran's song, 'Drive,' was written with John Mayer and Blake Slatkin 'specifically for the end title of the movie,' adds Weaver. 'It's kind of the culmination of the Brad Pitt character.' Other artists have deep ties to Formula One — like the DJ Tiësto, who has regularly performed at F1 grands prix across the globe as part of 'a long-standing relationship' with the motorsport, as he tells the AP. Atlantic Records asked if he'd like to pitch any songs for the movie — and he actually ended up in the film, portraying himself in a big Las Vegas nightclub scene. 'I hope I win an Oscar for this,' he jokes. 'I jumped right on it,' Tiësto says of the opportunity. 'Dance music and racing, there's a connection because they're both high energy. And with F1, it's a perfect combo and it brings people together from all over the world.' That's true for the Dutch DJ especially: His song for the soundtrack, 'OMG!,' features Missouri rapper Sexyy Red. 'She heard the song, and she really loved it and, yeah, she wanted to write lyrics for it,' he says. 'It was a really cool collaboration.' For rapper Roddy Ricch, participating in the soundtrack was simply an opportunity to 'be in the company of great company,' he says, name-checking Doja Cat and Don Toliver. 'I just love being a part of things that's great.' His song, 'Underdog,' arrives in a big race moment and takes a conceptual approach to the motorsport. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. 'Sometimes when you're in the race of life, you feel like you may be doubted, you may be under pressure,' he says of the song's messaging. 'Just keep your head up and finish the race. The marathon continues.' The movie's director has one particular wish for the album. 'I hope people come away discovering something,' Kosinski says. 'An artist they've never heard before … and if they aren't fans of Formula One, hopefully they come away with interest or a passion for the sport.' ___ AP Sports Writer Alanis Thames contributed reporting from Miami.
