Nate Bargatze was photographed Aug. 13 at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Artistic and Fashion Director Alison Edmond. Dolce & Gabbana jacket; vintage shirt; David Yurman ring. Photographed by Beau Grealy; Fashion Assistant: Elliott Pearson. Hair: Eric Miller. Makeup: Katie Barr. Tailor: Mariana Vasiltsova. I notice Nate Bargatze's car before I notice him. The burnt orange Porsche has just pulled up to the bustling Nashville restaurant where we've agreed to meet, and the valet is signaling for Bargatze to park out front. Once he's made his way inside, he'll tell me that his primo spot is a perk of driving a stick shift - what he won't say, and what he'd hate having to read here, is that it's also a perk of being the most successful touring comedian in the world. As Bargatze, 46, has climbed to the top of that comedy food chain - slowly at first, then lightning fast - he's wrestled with many things, none more so than: How does a guy who's parlayed his everyman persona into a burgeoning empire remain an everyman? After all, an everyman doesn't sell out arenas; he doesn't star in movies; he doesn't host Saturday Night Live; he doesn't get tapped to emcee this year's Emmy Awards; and he certainly doesn't have a burnt orange Porsche parked out front. Related Stories Movies Ben Affleck, Matt Damon Find Hidden Money in Netflix's 'The Rip' Trailer TV 'Black Mirror' Creator Charlie Brooker Reveals Next Netflix Show Photographed by Beau Grealy Truth is, Bargatze loves the car. He spends so much time on tour, it's nice having something he looks forward to driving when he's home. And frankly, at this stage, he could afford a whole fleet of them without noticing a dent in his bank account. But there's also a genuine discomfort that comes with the spoils of success. "I'm embarrassed," he says as a few restaurant-goers do double takes. "I hesitate to even talk about it because I don't want anybody to think that I think I'm better than them." Bargatze has spent a fair share of his time lately grappling with concerns like this one in therapy, which is another thing that he's embarrassed about. He's terrified he'll come off as some out-of-touch elitist and not the comfortably relatable, oafish dad that's earned him his legions of fans. But he has just come from his therapist's office, and he had a good session, maybe even a breakthrough, and once he starts talking about it, he can't seem to stop. You have to understand this is all relatively new territory for Bargatze, who was raised "upper lower class" in Old Hickory, Tennessee, where nobody spoke about shrinks, much less saw one. "Where I come from, the only reason you'd go to therapy is if you, like, set your house on fire," he says, "not because you're, like, managing life." But who else is he supposed to talk to about this stuff? These aren't exactly everyman problems. *** Nate Bargatze was photographed Aug. 13 at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. He's performed on the famed stage many times over the years, but his first job included sweeping the Opry steps. Artistic and Fashion Director Alison Edmond Canali suit, shirt, pocket square; David Yurman lapel pin, ring; Christian Louboutin boots. Photographed by Beau Grealy; Fashion Assistant: Elliott Pearson. Hair: Eric Miller. Makeup: Katie Barr. Tailor: Mariana Vasiltsova. In Bargatze's high school yearbook, students were asked what they thought they'd be doing with their lives in 10 years. His response? Performing at Zanies, the preeminent comedy club in his native Nashville. On its face, it's an obvious answer for the funny kid in class - it also reveals an ambition that he's always had but has only recently been comfortable discussing. "I think it used to feel stupid for me to want to dream this big," he says. Ask the same question of Bargatze today, and he'll look you in the eyes and tell you that he's trying to build "the next Disney" - a destination for the kind of wholesome content that he grew up on and wishes were still available to enjoy with his wife, Laura, and their 13-year-old daughter. A decade from now, Nateland, as he's named his company, should have TV shows, movies, podcasts, specials, live events and, yes, even an amusement park. He laughs off the notion that it may be too late for mass-appeal entertainment in an era of niche. "Every weekend, I look out [at packed arenas] and I see that it's OK to be for everybody," says the comic, whose family-friendly act grossed more than $80 million last year, outselling everybody in the business, including Dave Chappelle, Jerry Seinfeld and Sebastian Maniscalco combined. Still, he regrets how he articulated his vision for Nateland and, more notably, its competition in a springtime interview with Esquire, telling the magazine: "Now Disney is run by a guy that's just a businessman [and] doesn't care about the audience." It wasn't exactly what Bargatze meant, and when he saw his comments making headlines, he was frustrated, mostly with himself. "That was me dumbly no