Nate Bargatze Breaks Down ‘Washington’s Dream’ & Having To Fight For The Sketch After It Bombed During ‘SNL’ Table Read
deadline.comTogether, stand-up Nate Bargatze and Saturday Night Live writers Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell were able to bring “Washington’s Dream” to reality — and to air.
The sketch, which Bargatze — now the top-grossing comic in the world — has said launched his career into another stratosphere, almost didn’t make the cut, especially after it bombed during SNL‘s table read.
In conversation with Vulture‘s Good Onepodcast, the trio (who also worked together on Bargatze’s CBS holiday special) described how “Washington’s Dream” came to be and why Bargatze threw his weight (in tons, not kilograms) behind it when executive producer Lorne Michaels was uncertain about it. “Washington’s Dream,” which has since garnered 17 million views on SNL‘s YouTube and a round two follow-up, is a relatively simple sketch that hinges almost entirely on Bargatze’s delivery, comic timing and tone.
On paper, there are more statements of facts about U.S. measurement system quirks rather than outright jokes. In it, Bargatze has an assist from SNL vet Kenan Thompson, who interjects a few times to clarify what kinds of plans George Washington has concerning enslaved people — questions that Washington categorically ignores or diverts into further statements on Fahrenheit vs.
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