Nate Bargatze earns opportunity to meet Mark Pope and Kerr Kriisa

Nate Bargatze is one of the funniest and most popular comedians in the world right now, recently wrapping up a tour stop in Lexington with a packed crowd inside Rupp Arena. Among attendees? None other than Kentucky head coach Mark Pope and guard signee Kerr Kriisa, who caught up with Bargatze at the Joe Craft Center before the show on May 10.

“(Nate Bargatze) not only funny…but got mad game!” Pope said at the time. “So cool to have him get loose at Joe Craft Center today…before he brings down the house (at Rupp Arena) tonight!!”

.@natebargatze not only funny…but got mad game! So cool to have him get loose at Joe Craft Center today…before he brings down the house @Rupp_Arena tonight!! pic.twitter.com/5dg3Fy6aCv

— Mark Pope (@CoachMarkPope) May 10, 2024

A few short weeks later, Bargatze shared a behind-the-scenes look at his trip to Lexington and his pre-show meet-up with Pope and Kriisa — both sides equally starstruck with the other.

“We’re taking a recruit here and someone said you’re doing your standup, I said, ‘Stop!’ So we’re coming today,” Pope told the star comedian. “So hyped.”

“Oh, awesome! Congrats on this (getting the Kentucky job), as well,” Bargatze responded, adding that a member of his crew was a diehard fan of the Wildcats and was giddy to meet Pope in person.

“Tell me about the tour. Tell me how many stops.”

“This tour will end up being probably over 200 dates. It’s wild. We’ll go until July.”

“I’m sorry — you’ve got a little bit of Seinfeld juice with me right now where even listening to you talk I wanna start laughing,” Pope said. “It’s brilliant.”

That’s when he brought over Kriisa, gracing Bargatze’s presence with one of college basketball’s most entertaining players.

“This is Kerr Kriisa,” Pope said. “He is a world-class performer in and of his own right. Kerr Kriisa is one of the great performers of college basketball. Every home team loves him and every other school in the country hates him like crazy.”

“That’s pretty accurate,” Kriisa responded.

Take a look at the must-see exchange below:

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A post shared by Nate Bargatze (@natebargatze)

Bargatze may have been the most recent performer inside Rupp Arena, but Kriisa will be taking things over later this year. Be prepared, Big Blue Nation.