I wasn’t sure what to expect from Big Dumb Eyes, but I ended up really enjoying it. Read it with the family on a road trip, and we all enjoyed it. If you’re familiar with his stand-up, you’ll recognize a few repeated stories, but they still land well.

I haven't followed Bargatze's career too closely, but I appreciate that he's a clean comedian and person of faith.

The first half of this was kind of meh...I didn't laugh. The second half though had me laughing late at night in bed and my roommates wondering what in the world was going on.

It's always helpful to have a clean comedy book on my kindle as a palate cleanser...I'm thankful for this one. Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC.

2.5 stars rounded up

I was excited about Big Dumb Eyes by Nate Bargatze because I think that Nate is funny on stage but the book was a collection of mostly unconnected stories from the author's past that seemed to have no point. I thought this book would be like The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl where Issa Rae tells her story through funny anecdotes but the book didn't go deep enough and it wasn't funny enough for me. While the book tries to be relatable, I think that it lacks the author's on-stage charm. I understand the book was some meta-joke about him being dumb but when he treats the reader as dumb too it presented itself as condescension.

I'm rating as a 2.5 because I thought that the story about his grandmother's treatment of his father was very insightful on his dad's psyche and why he would treat his children, but the book wasn't about his father. Nate jokes on-stage and on the book about books having too many words but he presumably wrote this and it was so many words that felt like he said nothing substantial about himself. I don't think I would recommend this book given that it felt a little flat to me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Grand Central Publishing, and Nate Bargatze for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Big Dumb eyes was a fun easy read. I enjoy watching Nate’s standup and decided to give this book a try and wasn’t disappointed. I think listening to his voice narrating the audiobook would make it even better!

As a rule of thumb, I don't read memoirs from people under the age of 60. They always feel unfinished and maybe even a little pretentious. My only exceptions to that rule are for extraordinary people who died young, revolutionaries...and comedians. I like Nate Bargatze's stand-up and his dry delivery, so I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book.

I will start by saying that there are some really good moments in this book. The stories about Nate and his sister, Abigail, are heartwarming and funny. And the ones where his dad is the star are superb. I couldn't wait to read more about them (I would legit just read a book about his childhood with his dad's shenanigans).

But this book was a slog to get through. There’s an exhausting amount of “I’m just a dumb guy” energy, how he's not equally yoked with his wife, Laura, and highlighting moments that only make him look like a manchild which starts out kind of charming but quickly becomes grating.

There are also a few running jokes that fall flat for me, like the whole story around P-P. Or how dumb Nate is. They get old fast. And yet, despite being a famous comedian, there's only one chapter where he addresses his career at all. And most of that chapter is about being a dog owner while trying to make it in the big city. I'd have loved to have seen more of what happened between there and becoming who he is now.

Then the fact that the book is written kind of like he was speaking into a voice recorder and hit “send" is off-putting. I’m sure the decision was intentional so that it reads kind of like his stand-up, or like he actually wrote it and not a ghostwriter. But it made the book tiresome because I wanted a little more polish to make it more palatable.

All in all, I didn’t love this book or even like it very much. It wasn’t even funny. I kept waiting for his trademark humor to show up, but it never did. Which is disappointing because I'll definitely be watching his next stand-up special and laughing my butt off the next time he's on SNL.
But I won’t be reading his next book.

I really enjoy Nate's stand up comedy, but I feel like this book was just being stuck in an awkward conversation with him. Perhaps my expectations were too high, though, and if I hadn't known much about him before reading this I may have liked it more.

Nate Bargatze is a genius comic. I've been following him for years so I was excited and surprised to see that he was writing a book! If you've watched his comedy, you'll love this book. It's more stories like we get in his sets, but it's surrounds more about his family and wife, Laura, than we typically see in his comedy. It's the story of who he is and who is surrounds himself with. It's funny and engaging. I highly recommend this book if you like stand-up!

Nate Bargatze is funny and relatable. Loved his stories, especially living in Tennessee. It was an easy read and each chapter stood alone, so easy to take breaks and come back to it without missing a beat. Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the digital Advanced Readers copy.

Nate is one of the best comedians out there. Me and my folks adore him. This collection of stories isn’t exceptionally hysterical BUT it’s damn good and I can read it in his voice. He’s definitely gifted and I hope his screenplay is as good

Nate Bargatze is an absolute superstar. Since he first exploded onto the comedy scene, he has been nonstop.

"Big Dumb Eyes" is hilarious and refreshing right from the start. The whole book feels like one big conversation with Bargatze, filled with amusing anecdotes with surprisingly emotional insights hidden within them.

I would recommend this book to any type of reader and guarantee that they will laugh out loud.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

What is there not to love about Nate Bargatze? As a "family-friendly" (aka non swearing) comedian, his dry humor covered with self-deprecation is one of my favorite voices out there. I discovered him years ago and have been waiting patiently for his book to come out. He's one of the few writers that will always make me ugly snort laugh. This book did not disappoint

Nate Bargatze's debut book is everything his stand-up fans want. He admits more than once that he doesn't even think about books or reading, which made it difficult to try writing a memoir. It worked just fine after his two years of making it. He credits the help of talented copy editors who may have done quite a lot to make his spoken words easier to digest for readers. None of the editing process decreases the pleasant Tennessee drawl of Nate Bargatze. If you are a fan, hearing his voice while you read may be easy.

Big Dumb Eyes calls back to one of Bargatze's bits where he talks about himself not being smart, and how people generally speak very slowly to him which he attributes to having big dumb eyes.

Whether or not you've seen his performances, this collection of anecdotes and vignettes of his life makes for an enjoyable experience. He dives into more details about growing up with a born again clown-magician father, an equally strict mother, his brother Derek, and baby sister, Abigail, who is ten years younger. On stage, Bargatze keeps the stories of his family light, funny, and cheery, even when talking about the death of a beloved pet. In Big Dumb Eyes, expect the boundary of the stage to disintegrate. Bargatze reveals sad details about his father's side of the family. Looking at his father's stage presence and style of entertaining audiences, Bargatze explains that his father's jokes "came from a place of darkness."

Faith and certain traditions have been a large part of Bargatze's life and weave into his formula for making stories about his life appealing to a wide audience. His lack of swearing (cussing, cursing) keeps his billing as a "clean" comic which means family-friendly. He built onto his stand-up comedy by forming Nateland Entertainment which produces stand-up comedy specials, showcases, sketches, and scripted episodic content for film, TV, podcasts, music and more. The titular Nateland Podcast features Bargatze, Brian Bates, Aaron Weber & Dusty Slay.

Summary:

You don't need to have seen any of Bargatze's stand-up routines to enjoy Big Dumb Eyes: Stories from a Simpler Mind. Big Dumb Eyes is a smooth memoir that makes for an easy reading experience. Though Nate Bargartze states that a reader can take the chapters in any order they like, I recommend starting at the beginning and flowing straight to the end in order so that every time there's a call back (like the origins of his best friend P-P's nickname), it will all make sense. There are silly footnotes about parts of stories that Bargatze's family recall differently. The book also includes delightful family photos allowing people even more insight into this Southern, peculiar, competitive, and loving family.

Rating: 5 stars

Nate Bargatze is one of my favorite stand up comedians. This book was probably the first laugh-out-loud funny autobiography that I've ever read. I enjoyed this book and look forward to his next comedy special and any future books!

Nate Bargatze’s Big Dumb Eyes is as funny and silly as expected, with some sweet little sprinkles of endearment. There’s a lot of stories in here that will make you laugh out loud but my favorite is his life long running bit of Michael Loafman. Classic. I’ll probably say it in my head the next time I do something super lazy or real dumb. Congrats to @natebargatze and more importantly, his magical clown dad who I hope he has open for him at the Emmy’s. And thanks to Grand Central Pub for the gifted copy. Five stars!

3.5 stars: **Familiar, funny, and a little uneven — but hey, that’s Nate**

Having enjoyed Nate Bargatze’s stand-up for a while now, I figured I’d give *Big Dumb Eyes* a shot, and for the most part, it’s exactly what I expected -- in a good way. His occasionally over-self-deprecating humor translates pretty well to the page (particularly given how adamant he is about not being a reader), and if you’ve heard him tell stories about his family, marriage, or growing up, a lot of this will feel like settling into familiar territory. Especially if, like me, you grew up in the South -- there were a lot of people, places, and incidents that sounded really familiar.

The stories are longer than his stand-up bits, which works in places and kind of drags in others. It’s got that same clean, "you can retell this story to that lady you know from church" tone that's given him a broad audience, so no big surprises there.

What did rub me the wrong way, though, was the "The Dog Chapter." The death of poor Cosmo the cat was pretty callously played for laughs, with an attempt to keep it "family friendly" by joking about the blood being red Kool-Aid. I get it, Nate. You're a dog guy, and Cosmo was "just a cat." There's a lot of love for various dogs in that chapter, but this is a total trigger warning for cat people on that chapter: just skip it. It's not like "I don't like picking up dog poop" is one of the funnier confessions in the book anyway.

That aside, it’s a light read that Bargatze fans will enjoy — but it didn’t quite land for me the way I’d hoped. If you love his stand-up and don’t mind a few meandering stories, this one’s worth a look just for all the magician and P-P callbacks. Just maybe skip the cat part.

(Thanks to Netgalley and Grand Central publishing for the free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

All the stars. Adorable. If I could give it a sixth star, I would. I love his Netflix specials and now I can say I love his books just as much. Thank you and goodnight. * takes a dramatic bow.*

Nate Bargatze has quickly become my favorite comedian with his quick observant wit, his distinct delivery, and his family friendly humor. This book is just the same. It's delivered exactly how his comedy is but in long form. Not a vulnerable memoir, so much, but I didn't expect it to be. It tells his life story in a similar style to his comedy, true moments with a little exaggeration and a lot of self-deprecation. I also appreciated reading him unapologetically talking about growing up in a Christian household and clearly still holding those values. It made me like him even more.
Obviously, there are whole chapters (albeit short) that were basically just bits like his comedy jokes, not made to be taken seriously but telling a little about his personality (i.e. the food chapters). Some of the reviews I've seen for this book make it clear that some people just didn't "get" the book, which I find odd when they clearly like his comedy. To me, they were the same. He told stories of his family and of his early jobs and how he met his wife. I'm sure there is a lot more to his life story, so I hope he continues to write more books. I'd love to hear more about how he came to such fame (this one sort of stops short of his big hit moments) and how he and his family have handled it. That will be fun to read one day.
(P.S. the audiobook is FABULOUS if you love his comedic delivery!)

**Thank you netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for a review copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

This was a funny, offbeat read that captures Bargatze’s laid-back, self-deprecating humor perfectly. His storytelling voice comes through clearly on the page, full of dry wit and understated absurdity. That said, the book feels like it would be even better as an audiobook—his delivery is such a key part of what makes his comedy land. Still, it's an enjoyable, easy read that fans of his stand-up will appreciate.

Nate Bargatze (b. 1979) is an American comedian who's known for his family-friendly act. Bargatze likes to say he never reads books (too many words) but he guarantees folks will like THIS book because it's funny and has lots of stories that aren't in his act. And Bargatze's right; this is an entertaining memoir.

Bargatze grew up in the tiny burg of Lakewood, Tennessee, which was later incorporated into Old Hickory - a DuPont company town. The burg had six police officers whose only job was to give traffic tickets, and the cops would 'sit across from the Piggly Wiggly, shaking down families on their way to church.'

When Nate was a kid, his father Stephen was a professional clown who later morphed into a funny magician. Bargatze writes, "My dad's story is like the stories of a lot of funny people I know, in that it doesn't start out funny at all." Stephen had a difficult childhood with an abusive alcoholic mother, and he hit rock bottom before relatives helped him turn his life around. Afterwards, Stephen believed "we needed to laugh at ourselves and at each other" and he became a clown.

For Nate, having a clown dad was normal and fun, except when kids at his birthday party preferred watching Yo-Yo to playing with him. When Bargatze began his comedy career, he got his magician dad to open for him at a 2007 Nashville show. Bargatze asked his dad not to be TOO funny, since Nate wanted to be the funniest guy that night. But Bargatze's dad absolutely KILLED - and Nate still has Stephen open shows for him to this day.

Bargatze was a good student until the 7th grade, after which things went downhill. Bartgatze blames this on a concussion resulting from a terrible fall. Afterwards, Nate barely graduated from high school, had one year of community college, and flunked out of Western Kentucky University. Along the way Nate hung out with his friends, watched TV, ate pizza, and had sundry temporary jobs. In a fun story, Nate writes about being a water-meter-reader who helped guard a Tennessee water facility from the Taliban after 9/11.

For transportation, Nate's parents bought him a 1985 Mazda 626 jalopy that he named 'Old Blue', and Bargatze confides, "Every single one of my passwords, to this day is OldBlue626# - and now, I will have to change them all."

Bargatze riffs on a variety of subjects in the book. These include: His obsession with the correct socks; His conviction that competing brands can't be worn together (Adidas clothes and Reebok shoes are a no-no); Getting cut from his high school basketball team but making it to the NBA (Nashville Baptist Association); Being a dog owner (in Old Hickory, people didn't leash or clean up after their dogs); His love for the Vanderbilt Commodores; His food preferences (McDonald's two cheeseburgers meal is a favorite); Being Christian in small-town Tennessee (the first thing you ask people is 'Where do you go to church?'); And the culture shock when he moved away from his hometown and not everyone was Christian.

Note: Vanderbilt's athletics teams are called the Commodores in honor of the nickname given to Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided a million dollars in 1873 for the university's establishment.

Bargatze also has lots of anecdotes about his parents, his younger brother Derek, and his little sister Abigail. Nate and Derek had an ongoing rivalry, and one afternoon Derek rushed home and reported to their mother Carol that Nate had used the 'f-word'. Bargatze recalls, "Even my mom, with her sailor's mouth, was appalled." Mom then found out Derek meant 'fart', and laughed, but decided she wasn't a fan of that f-word either. Nate loved his sister Abigail from the day she was born, and they bonded over Disney songs and 'Men in Black' movies. It's clear the Bargatze brothers are VERY competitive, sister Abby is much loved; and the entire family is close and supportive.

When Bargatze was twenty, he decided to try a career in stand-up comedy, and moved to Chicago to get a start. Bargatze has lots of amusing tales about life in Chicago, like the giant rat that chewed through a baseball glove and pushed a heavy old-fashioned TV out of the way. When Nate's future wife Laura visited Chicago, Nate managed to hide the rat problem, and now that they're married, Laura is in charge of any rodent infestations in their home.

Bargatze later moved to New York, and suddenly life and dogs got a lot more complicated. Nate writes, "I'd barely ask [people] what church they went to before they'd tell me to get to the point: I'm in a hurry! Don't you see how much dog stuff I still got to clean up?" During this time Nate worked day and night to advance his career, struggled to take care of his dog Sasha, and got married to his fiancée Laura - and the memoir has gobs of fun yarns about those days. Bargatze's career took off when he was in New York, and of course he's a very successful comic today.

Bargatze jokes about how cheap his father and wife are, but it's good-natured ribbing. For instance, Nate and Laura got married in Old Hickory on Friday the 13th because the club basically said, "We will pay YOU money to get married on this date, because everyone else will be home hoping they don't get murdered by a dude in a hockey mask." After more 'frugality' anecdotes, Bargatze quips, "Next time you need your lawn mowed, your driveway sealed, your brick drilled, or a refrigerator dragged flat on its back across your front yard, just call 1-800-BARGATZE. We work real cheap."

There's lots more entertainment in the book, and Bargatze's sincere affection for his family and friends comes through as well. If you're a Bargatze fan, you'll probably like the book, and if you're unfamiliar with the comic, the book can help you get to know him.

I liked 'Big Dumb Eyes' and enjoy Bargatze's specials on streaming services.

Thanks to Netgalley, Nate Bargatze, and Grand Central Publishing for a copy of the book.

I saw Nate live last summer and could not stop laughing the entire hour of his set. He is a hilarious comedian! This book though…I sadly just didn’t enjoy it. It took me almost a month to read because it just wasn’t very funny, and I had to force myself to keep reading a chapter at a time. I laughed out loud only a few times. I did find parts of his life to be interesting, especially seeing how he rose to such fame, but as a whole was relatively bored and disappointed by this one. I still love your stand-up though Nate!!