Johnson-Reyes asked Bargatze if there were a clear moment during his career, as he was hustling and pursuing his dreams, when he realized that it was not about him. Bargatze said, yes, the shift occurred when he began performing in arenas. “I did not have that thought process before that,” he explained.
Bargatze, who is from the Nashville area of Tennessee, performed at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena in April 2023. Performing at that arena had been a dream for him, and when he finally got there, he not only sold out the show but also broke the attendance record. Regarding that day, he said, “You pray a lot about it, and you just kinda go, this day has nothing to do with me.”
Bargatze said his goal of performing at Bridgestone had driven him for 20 years, so once he achieved that goal, he had to reevaluate what his new goal was going to be. Johnson-Reyes pointed out that it’s as if that milestone marked the beginning of a new identity for him. “Now you have this whole next chapter of your movie that you and God are writing together,” she said.
Bargatze reflected on “God watching” him throughout his journey. The comedian looks back now “on all the dumb stuff and, like, just how much God protected me…there’s so many dumb little things where you’re like, I should have been kicked out there…all these stupid things I did.”
Even, he told Johnson-Reyes, “the fact that he put me with you” is a sign of God’s hand on his life. “I could have went out with so many other comics that do not have God in their life [and are] you know, just dudes that are going to be dumb and whatever,” he said.
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“We were together so long, that could have spiraled me into a whole [other] realm, but he put me with you, someone that was like-minded with me,” said Bargatze. “You know you openly, you’ve always talked about your faith. And so that was even just nice for me to see, even at that time, just to, you know…you’re always grateful for your time with people.”
Bargatze said that Johnson-Reyes would give people her time and her full attention, and he said that his father pointed that out to him once when Johnson-Reyes visited their home. “So I do that because of you,” Bargatze said.
Correction: This article has been updated with the correct spelling of Anjelah Johnson-Reyes’ name.
