David Letterman kicked off the first of three nights of his “Gods of Comedy” interview series at Netflix Is a Joke Fest on Monday, sitting down with Nate Bargatze at the Montalbán Theatre in Hollywood.
“I have not met this man, so to nudge up against a guy who is just as good as it gets is a thrill for me,” Letterman said, prepping the crowd for the surprise guest. “In the world of comedy, some perhaps are as good. No one is better.”
Over the next 90 minutes, Letterman probed Bargatze about his Tennessee upbringing and his journey as a comic, including the time bookers for The Late Show With David Letterman rejected his audition tape to appear on the talk show in 2012.
“I was told that it was ‘too mundane,’ and I did not know what that word meant so I looked at it and I put it in my head, and I was like, ‘I don’t think it’s good,’” quipped Bargatze, who performed alongside Jerry Seinfeld, Sebastian Maniscalco and Jim Gaffigan in front of a sold-out crowd at the Hollywood Bowl on May 1 and 2.