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Nate Bargatze Hilariously Describes Jimmy Fallon's "Revenge" After His Tour Bus Prank
"You trapped me in like it's Squid Game on your tour bus," said The Tonight Show Host told the Big Dumb Eyes comedian, after their antics sleeping on the road.
In January 2024, Jimmy Fallon returned to his comedy roots by opening for Nate Bargatze on his Be Funny Tour — and it turns out the comedic antics continued offstage. During his latest visit to The Tonight Show on December 18, The Nate Bargatze's Nashville Christmas star revealed that Fallon got the full touring-comedian experience when he performed in Syracuse, including trading off pranks on Bargatze's tour bus.
To set the scene, Fallon shared a photo of what the inside of Bargatze's tour bus looks like, pointing out the location of the two-time Saturday Night Live Host's bedroom, and the bunk cubbies he and comedian Joe Zimmerman slept in. Bargatze explained that the bathroom is behind a fourth wall, and just before his bedroom, "It's got like electric doors that shut...and so I did not tell [Fallon] that."
Fallon recalled that in the middle of the night, he got up to go to the bathroom (Bargatze roasted his friend for wearing a full pajama set:"He gave us pajamas! I was like, I never wore pajamas in my life!"). Except he had no idea where the bathroom was in the dark vehicle, nor how to get there.
RELATED: Jimmy Fallon Returned to Stand-Up Comedy and "Killed It" as Nate Bargatze's Opener
"So I did not tell Jimmy how to open those doors," Bargatze repeated.
Jimmy Fallon shared a photo of Nate Bargatze's tour bus
"While I was sleeping in my bunk — I was not bothering anyone, sleeping pleasantly — and while I was sleeping, you enclosed me in! You trapped me in like it's Squid Game on your tour bus," said Fallon. "I get out and it's pitch black, and I don't know what's going on because all the walls have changed and everyone's asleep."
"I was feeling the walls, I go, 'Is there a button?' And I don't want to go in your bedroom, I don't want to bother anyone," Fallon continued, as he got up from behind his desk to reenact the moment.
The Tonight Show Host eventually found the bathroom — but as Bargatze recalled, "you got your revenge the next morning."
"We stayed up late, and I was like, 'We can stay up late... Jimmy, are you gonna sleep in, though? I need you to sleep in tomorrow, all right? Don't be waking up too early. You know, you're not at home. We don't get up super early, sleep in.' Does not sleep in,'" said Bargatze, joking that Fallon's like "if you took your child on the bus."
In the early hours, Bargatze and the other comics on the bus were awakened by the rousing "William Tell Overture" booming from Fallon's bunk.
"So it starts playing super loud. It's the longest song. On the whole bus! And it was all for this joke," Bargatze continued, as The Roots played some of the iconic symphony. "It finally stopped, and then we just hear from his bunk, he goes, 'Hello? Hey, I can't talk right now. Everybody's asleep.'"
"We were mad, then like, 'That's pretty good,' you know? We did like that one," the comedian admitted.
"I was so proud of that joke," Fallon said with a cackle.
RELATED: Jimmy Fallon Reunited with the Family Who Rescued Him When He Was Lost in Bavaria
Nate Bargatze talks his new George Washington-inspired Christmas special
The 2023 "Washington's Dream" Saturday Night Live sketch starring Bargatze has already been deemed a modern classic since it first premiered in October 2023, even spawning a Season 50 sequel. The comedian's new primetime special, Nate Bargatze’s Nashville Christmas, features a "nativity scene that's very 'George Washington' vibes," he revealed on The Tonight Show.
This makes sense, since SNL co-head writer Streeter Seidell and SNL cast member Mikey Day, who wrote on "George Washington", also wrote on the new holiday special, which is produced by SNL creator Lorne Michaels and just might feature a cameo from Fallon, too.
Watch Nate Bargatze's December 18 Tonight Show interview above.
