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NEED TO KNOW
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Nate Bargatze opened up to PEOPLE about moving from Los Angeles back to his hometown of Nashville about 10 years ago
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He said he wanted his daughter Harper, now 13, to have a grounded upbringing away from the entertainment world
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Nate shares Harper with his wife of nearly 20 years, Laura Bargatze
Nate Bargatze is opening up about why he moved back home to Tennessee.
In an exclusive PEOPLE in 10 interview, the actor and comedian, 46, recalled moving from Los Angeles to his hometown of Nashville about 10 years ago with his daughter, Harper, in mind. He shared that he wanted Harper, now 13, to have a grounded and “average” upbringing.
“We live in a great neighborhood. We’re in a cul-de-sac. No one who’s really in entertainment [lives] there. It’s people who have regular jobs, our friends,” said Nate, who hosts the new ABC game show The Greatest Average American, which premiered on Thursday, Feb. 26.
“So everything that she is around now … she’s not around this,” he continued, referring to his showbiz career. “She knows I do it, and I have her introduce me in my specials. So she sees sights of it, but overall, she’s going to school [and living a normal life].”
Nate, who shares Harper with wife Laura Bargatze, said he “specifically moved home” for his daughter. “I wanted her to not be around all of this.”
Nate and Laura Bargatze with their daughter Harper
Credit: Nate Bargatze Instagram
“If she ever wanted to do it, it’s on her own. It’s her call,” he said of Harper getting involved in the entertainment business like her dad and her grandfather Stephen Bargatze, who is a magician.
Nate previously spoke about his move back to Tennessee during a February 2025 interview with WSMV 4 Nashville. “A big part of me wanting to come back was for [Harper] to at least have somewhat of a normal existence,” he said. “Her friends are just friends, they’re friends that I would’ve grown up with.”
“Nashville, I think, provides that, and it [gives] her some sanity, at least for her dad doing this kind of crazy nonsense,” he added.
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Nate and Laura Bargatze with their daughter Harper
Credit: Nate Bargatze/Instagram
Nate and Laura — who first met while working together at an Applebee’s in Tennessee and wed in 2006 — welcomed Harper, their only child, in July 2012.
The comedian has mostly kept the details of his family life private as his career has taken off. During an April 2025 appearance on The Interview podcast, he explained, “I haven’t talked about her a ton outside of when she was a baby because … I want her to be her own person.”
He went on to share that, as a father, he wants Harper to feel comfortable speaking freely with him.
“I want her to be able to trust that she can come to me as her father, which is the most important thing, and say stuff to me and not think anything she says I’m going to go tell the whole world,” he said.
Nate spoke about his close bond with Harper in a 2020 episode of The Nateland Podcast, noting that only having one child has allowed him to devote all of his time to her.
“Having one kid, the great thing is with that, with how crazy my life and our lives, is I have a relationship with her that I would have had to split up between two kids,” he said. “When I’m home, my time is to her, and her mom’s time is to her, and so she gets our complete focus.”
Nate Bargatze hosting ‘The Greatest Average American’ on ABC
Credit: Disney/Connie Chornuk
When it comes to his stand-up comedy, it seems Nate has a pretty tough critic in Harper. While appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in June 2025, Nate revealed that his teen daughter usually doesn’t find his comedy specials funny.
“It’s a mix. Stand-up-wise, maybe not as funny, but when I do anything outside of stand-up, Saturday Night Live, and all that stuff, she thinks it’s cool,” he said.
In a video for Netflix in 2021, Harper declared herself to be “way funnier” than her famous dad, and said that some of his jokes about her “are terrible” and should be taken out of his routine.
The Greatest Average American airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
Read the original article on People