Nate Bargatze's BIG DUMB EYES Tour Earns Official Guinness World Records Title
The comedian surpassed two million tickets sold across 129 venues on his record-setting run.
Grammy Award winning and Emmy Award nominated comedian Nate Bargatze is officially the top-selling touring comedian in the world. Last weekend at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Bargatze was officially recognized onstage by GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS for setting a new record: Most Tickets Sold For a Stand-Up Comedy Tour.
On August 16th, Bargatze crossed his 2,045,040 ticket sold on his Big Dumb Eyes World Tour, which spanned 129 venues from April 6th, 2025 to August 16th, 2026, totalling 16 months and 10 days. The record was measured by the total number of tickets sold (paid attendance) for the duration of the tour.
The record was previously held by Jeff Dunham, who sold 1,981,720 tickets in 386 venues over 35 months and 8 days.
Throughout the course of The Big Dumb Eyes World Tour, Bargatze broke 84 venues records, including becoming the only comedian to sell out three consecutive performances at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena in a single calendar year—a feat matched only by Taylor Swift and Garth Brooks. He also broke the all-time comedy attendance record at The Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
Already acclaimed by Pollstar as the top-earning comedian in the world and by Billboard as the highest one-year earning comedy performer in history, his brand of smart, all-audience comedy has become a true mass-market phenomenon.
Bargatze is repped by Brillstein Entertainment Partners, UTA, Ginsburg Daniels Kallis, and 2pm Sharp.
About Nate Bargatze
Hailed as 'The Nicest Man in Stand-Up' by The Atlantic and 'One of the Funniest People' by CBS Mornings, Grammy Award-winning and Emmy Award-nominated comedian, New York Times #1 best-selling author, podcaster, director, and producer Nate Bargatze is selling out shows and breaking attendance records worldwide. With over 2 million tickets sold on his Big Dumb Eyes World Tour, Bargatze is the #1 earning comedian in the world according to Pollstar, putting him in the company of Coldplay, Madonna, and U2. Billboard also recently announced that Bargatze set a new record for the highest one-year gross by a comedy performer in history, and GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS officially recognized his Big Dumb Eyes Tour for selling the most tickets ever on a stand-up comedy tour.
On the big screen, Bargatze stars in the family-friendly comedy The Breadwinner for Sony Pictures, which he co-wrote with Dan Lagana. Released theatrically on May 29, 2026, the film opened to rave audience reviews, earning an A- CinemaScore and an 85% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Bargatze served as an executive producer on the project, which is directed by Emmy-winner Eric Appel and co-stars Mandy Moore, Colin Jost, Will Forte, and Kumail Nanjiani.
On television, Bargatze hosted the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards on CBS, delivering the highest-rated Emmys broadcast in four years. He also hosts his new ABC / Hulu comedy game show, The Greatest Average American. Co-created and executive produced by Bargatze and John Quinn (The Price is Right), the show celebrates the power of being perfectly average, offering contestants the chance to win the ultimate grand prize: the average American salary of $67,920 (with a little extra to cover the taxes).
Bargatze is also a force in the literary world. In 2025, he published his highly anticipated first book, Big Dumb Eyes: Stories From A Simpler Mind (Grand Central Publishing), which instantly became a New York Times #1 best-seller and remained on the list for 11 weeks.
A favorite of Saturday Night Live, Bargatze hosted the show for a second time to rave reviews, prompting Vulture to ask, 'Has Nate Bargatze Cracked the SNL Code?' When he hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time in 2023, he earned rave reviews and secured high ratings for the program, with Vanity Fair calling him, 'A Great Saturday Night Live Host,' and Entertainment Weekly exclaiming, 'A frighteningly funny Halloween episode.'
He also co-produced the holiday variety special Nate Bargatze's Nashville Christmas with Lorne Michaels for CBS.
A native of Tennessee, Bargatze became the only comedian to sell out three consecutive performances at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena in a single calendar year—a feat matched only by Taylor Swift and Garth Brooks. He also broke the all-time comedy attendance record at The Delta Center in Salt Lake City, has shattered over 84 arena records, and performed two sold-out shows at The Hollywood Bowl alongside Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Gaffigan, and Sebastian Maniscalco.
Bargatze's massive touring success is anchored by his hit comedy specials. His first solo one-hour Netflix special, The Tennessee Kid, premiered in 2019, followed by the Grammy-nominated The Greatest Average American in 2021. In 2023, his Amazon Prime special, Nate Bargatze: Hello World, broke records as the platform's most-streamed original comedy special in its first 28 days. He then returned to Netflix with a landmark two-special deal. The first, Your Friend, Nate Bargatze, which premiered December 24, 2024, became the most-watched stand-up special on Netflix over the following year, winning a GRAMMY Award and garnering an Emmy Awards and three Emmy nominations.
Bargatze's clean, relatable comedy has made him a late-night mainstay, holding the record for the most appearances by any comedian on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (16 appearances), alongside multiple appearances on Conan, Seth Meyers, and James Corden.
He is currently signed to Universal Music Group Nashville as the flagship comedian under their Capitol Comedy label. In addition, Bargatze is the founder of Nateland Entertainment, a family-friendly content company that produces stand-up specials, showcases, sketches, and scripted episodic content for film, television, podcasts, and music.
For more information and tickets, visit: nateland.com.
Photo Credit: Noah Stroupe
Photo Credit: Noah Stroupe
