That’s what ABC is counting on, anyway. Bargatze is officially set to steer The Greatest Average American, a new game show that presumably takes its title for his 2021 special of the same name. The show “celebrates the power of being perfectly average,” Deadline reports. Players will compete in multiple rounds of challenges and trivia to, in the trade’s description, “guess how everyday Americans think and live.” At the end of the contest, one player will be crowned the “Greatest Average American” and win the ultimate grand prize: the average American salary of $67,920. If competing in a whole game show just to earn a year’s worth of regular pay isn’t a sure sign that we’re hurtling into a recession, it’s hard to know what is.
Bargatze himself co-created the series along with The Price Is Right showrunner John Quinn. The comedian is also producing the show under his Nateland banner, through which he previously told Deadline he intends to build “a world” of his own. That world will soon grow by one film, when Bargatze makes his feature-length debut in the Eric Appel-directed The Breadwinner. Bargatze co-wrote the script with Dan Lagana, and he’ll star as an alternate universe version of himself, who has to become a stay-at-home dad after his wife, Katie (played by Mandy Moore), lands a deal on Shark Tank.
According to the Deadline interview, other Nateland bucket list projects include podcasts, talent showcases, and even a 2026 Nateland cruise as well as a Nashville theme park. None of that sounds very average, but that’s why Bargatze is the one hosting the show.
