Comedian Nate Bargatze recently mentioned some of the failures of people currently running Disney.
The 46-year-old standup artist, who has become popular in recent years for telling clean jokes that are also hilarious, said that Walt Disney is one of his biggest influences, emphasizing that the entrepreneur cared about his audience (other names on the list included Jerry Seinfeld, Judd Apatow, and Adam Sandler). But he said CEO Bob Iger isn’t doing the best job of carrying on Disney’s legacy.
“Now Disney is run by a guy that’s just a businessman,” he told Esquire in a new cover interview, seemingly referring to Iger. “Well, that guy doesn’t care about the audience.”
He then referenced his own fans and how much he owes them, saying, “None of this happens without them.”
The article goes into detail about how Bargatze is currently the most successful comedian in the world, outselling Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, and Sebastian Maniscalco combined last year. What makes his story even more incredible is that his comedy doesn’t include swearing, sex, drugs, or politics.
Bargatze talked about some of his fellow comedians who garnered attention for saying controversial things and how he attempted to avoid that path.
“They would skip a bunch of steps,” he said of his contemporaries. “Now they’re mentioned everywhere because they said something crazy. Now Netflix called them and they got a special.”
“The hardest thing to do is to stay that path because it’s not as flashy,” Bargatze told the outlet. “You got to just sit in it. You got to slowly keep going. Then you get to the point where I’m at now. I’m frustrated by an entire system that’s like, ‘Y’all were just grabbing headlines,’ when I felt like, ‘Why did y’all not look at me more?’”
The comedian also hinted at plans for ending his standup career and working on entertainment projects with broad appeal, plus opening a theme park in Tennessee called Nateland. “I don’t think anybody’s even trying to make stuff for everybody,” he said.
Meanwhile, Disney has not been doing well lately with several high-profile flops in recent years, including the latest disaster, “Snow White.” The film is expected to lose up to $100 million after being plagued by controversies with both the lead stars and the content of the movie itself.
Iger was formerly the CEO of Disney from 2005 until 2020. He was replaced by Bob Chapek and then reinstated to his position in November 2022 when Chapek was fired. In November 2023, Iger said the studio was too focused on sequels.
Last May, the Disney exec promised the company would pivot from focusing on quantity to quality, reducing the studio’s output of sequels and television spinoffs overall.
