Coming off his giant area tour, which included five sold-out shows at the Fox Theater, a very entertaining Christmas special, and a lauded two-time host of Saturday Night Live, Nate Bargatze is arguably one of the biggest comedian in the world. A recent Pollstar report lists him as the top-earning comedian globally and ranks him 12th in overall live tour ticket sales. Nate is also the visionary of Nateland Entertainment, an emerging company creating content for families to watch, listen, and laugh together. The Consumers is a new podcast on the Nateland Network hosted by comedian and Kirkwood resident Greg Warren, with co-hosts and comedians Tim Convy, also a Kirkwood resident, and Sean O'Brien, who lives close to Kirkwood. The Consumers is a hysterical hour and a half of family-friendly banter among three funny friends that will leave you laughing and learning. But mostly laughing.
"My name is Greg Warren. I'm a standup comedian and former Procter & Gamble sales account executive," stated Greg as he launched the first episode of The Consumers. This weekly podcast can be seen on YouTube and heard on all the typical podcast platforms.
Greg serves as the podcast host. "I am joined by my good friend Tim Convy," said Greg, introducing his podcast co-hosts on episode #1, Dunkin'. "Tim is a standup comedian and former rock star. He was in the band Ludo. He played the Moog," stated Greg. Tim interjected, "Moogist is what I like to be called." Greg continued with the introductions. "Sean O'Brien is a standup comedian and former car salesman." Sean clarified, "I did sell cars, but I wasn't a sales account executive." If you are wondering how it's possible to sell cars without being a sales executive, listen to the first episode of The Consumers, and you'll quickly understand that Sean is all about the 'why and the logic.'
The Consumers podcast is a history lesson of the brands you know and love brought to you by three comedians who have spent an extraordinary amount of time in grocery stores, at restaurants, and on Wikipedia.
"Every week, we pick one brand to discuss," said Greg. Our intention is to celebrate the brands. We'll do a deep dive into a brand's history, but we are also three different people with three different sets of experiences with the brand." From Tim's deep dislike of Dunkin' donuts to Sean getting fired from the Cheesecake Factory to Greg's unwavering passion for Pringles, these guys don't shy away from peppering their opinions among the product facts.
"We want to have a conversation that is specific to us," said Greg. "I like the process of looking at something mundane and finding the irreverent comedy in it." After listening to The Consumers, you'll look at brands like White Castle, Southwest Airlines, Legos, and Honey Baked Ham through an entirely new lens.
"We want you to be entertained. We want you to laugh," said Greg. "We also want you to learn something. But we are pretty sure two or three times an episode you'll say, 'I don't think they are right about that.'"
While he's not a historian, Greg brings a clipboard of information detailing the brand's history. Tim and Sean chime in with a hilarious amount of "alacrity" (Sean tries to casually drop one big word like "alacrity" in each episode. The comedy comes from the off-the-cuff conversation the three have around whether Sean actually used the word correctly).
One of the best segments of the podcast is when Tim, The Keeper of the Comments and Man of the People, reads messages from listeners about what was or was not discussed during the show. Sean noted, "After the Oreo episode, someone wrote to us saying we didn't discuss having milk with Oreos. That's the number one thing about Oreos. So, we also learn from our listeners. It's people helping people."
The three comedians have a decades-long friendship that underscores the comic genius of The Consumers. "The history of the products is interesting to me," said Greg. "But our superpower is that we have been really good friends for a long time and spend a lot of time together." The facts they share about the brands are fun to hear, but the tangents they go off on are actually the funniest parts of the show. Stories about their road trip adventures, the best ways to park cars on a lawn, and whether wrestling is a more difficult sport than baseball will instantly elevate your mood. And, if you don't laugh out loud when Greg does his impression of a New Yorker asking a waitress about having chipped beef on the menu, then I have to wonder if you've ever laughed at anything?
The Consumers is part of comedian Nate Bargatze's Nateland Entertainment. "Being a part of Nate's network brings a level of gravitas to our show," said Greg. "Adrian Kulp, the Senior VP of Production at Nateland, really helped us develop the podcast. We were all over the place before he gave the show its structure. Before Adrian, we had some funny moments, but it was a mess. It's still a mess, but a watchable mess." Greg added that Adrian previously worked for Adam Sandler's company, Happy Madison, Apple Music, and was the talent booker for The Late Show with Craig Ferguson. "I got my first late-night TV set because of Adrian," said Greg. "He and the team at Nateland love that all three of us live in St. Louis, and they want our show to have a local St. Louis personality."
The idea for The Consumers is a natural extension of the humor Greg finds in consumer products, such as his deep dedication to Jif Peanut Butter, which he expresses in his comedy special, The Salesman. However, Greg said the driving force behind The Consumers was Tim. "Tim is the impetus of the podcast. He constantly said, 'There is no reason why the three of us should not have a podcast.'" Tim's urging intersected with the opportunity to join the Nateland network of companies. "Being a part of Nate's network feels like a gift," said Greg. "The producers at Nateland are helping us create something really great, not just for Nateland but for St. Louis." Of course, there was the time when Sean almost brought down Nateland's entire network - which is hilariously detailed during the Cheesecake Factory episode #6.
New episodes of The Consumers drop every Tuesday on YouTube and wherever podcasts are streamed.
"We're pretty sure two or three times an episode you'll say, 'I don't think they are right about that.'"