Nate Bargatze isn't joking about building 'Nateland' in Nashville
Grammy-nominated comedian Nate Bargatze loves almost everything about his hometown of Nashville.
He enjoys the entertainment community that helped him launch his career which has reached astronomic proportions along with the city's music, sports and even its growth.
The one thing that didn't sit well with Bargatze was the closing of Opryland USA theme park where he worked as a teenager growing up in Old Hickory. It closed in 1997 during Bargatze's senior year at Donelson Christian Academy.
He's never quite gotten over the closing of the park that sat on 212 acres and now with the immense influence and resources Bargatze has at his disposal being considered the funniest man in the world by many, he plans to do something about it.
The two-time host of "Saturday Night Live" wants to build Nateland, similar to Opryland, complete with movie studios, entertainment venues, theme park rides and other carnival-like attractions. Yes, he's serious about it too — no joke.
"Opryland was great; We were devastated when it closed," Bargatze said. "I want to make some movies and continue to tour and then hopefully build a world here. You see Universal Studios. I kind of would like that to be a Nateland. We can have rides and start making movies here. I think I know what is missing in entertainment and I think this would work."
Because of Nashville's growth over the last 20 years, Bargatze is confident Nateland could be even bigger than Opryland was during its two decades before being converted into a shopping mall.
Laura Bargatze and Nate Bargatze, stand together during a ceremony renaming the gym in Nate Bargatze’s honor at Donelson Christian Academy in Nashville , Tenn., Friday, Jan. 17, 2025.
"Nashville is the perfect place now; it's easier to get people to come do things here because of its size like shoot movies or do shows," Bargatze said. "Nashville has blown up and that can be a good thing. A really good thing."
Bargatze said he also hopes to develop a sitcom based on Derrick Stroup, a guest comic who appeared on the "Nate Bargatze's Nashville Christmas Special" on CBS in December."
Bargatze is not interested, he said, in producing a show based on his own life similar to "Seinfeld."
"I tried to do that stuff and it just never worked out," he said.