Jimmy Kimmel is a well-known superfan of Huey Lewis and The News; he has regularly had the band on his show, celebrated his 50th birthday with the band and even appeared in their ‘Her Love Is Killin’ Me’video.

When Nate Bargatze asked him how many Lewis songs he could name in 60 seconds, vibes were high; Bargatze thought he’d be able to name 24, while Kimmel’s sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez took the over. Kimmel, however, was only able to name 12.

This game is one of the centerpieces of The Greatest Average American, the new game show hosted by Bargatze for Kimmel’s longtime network ABC, which Deadline revealed in November.

“It’s the pressure,” Bargatze told Deadline. “Jimmy Kimmel has been on TV forever, but when you’re sitting there, all that strips away. Put anybody on the spot and ask them to name something quickly, your brain just goes frantic. When I did that with Jimmy, he did not know what I was asking. When I do the challenges, I don’t know what they’re asking me and I deliberately wanted it to be like that, it’s going to be funnier if I don’t know because you’re going to get the real reaction.”

This just makes up one round of the show, where Bargatze has to answer these types of questions, such as how many state capitals can he name. The first round is Family Feud-style where contestants are asked to guess the answer that they believe 100 average Americans would guess.

Case in point, if you asked 100 average American grandmothers, which of these would sum up their opinion of Nate Bargatze? A) Hilarious B) Seems like a nice young man C) Not my cup of tea or D) Who? The answer? Who. “I don’t know who I am sometimes,” he jokes in the show.

The last round polls the audience and contestants must guess what they think, which allows them to judge the audience.

The winner takes home $67,920, which is the average American salary.

It’s the second time in the last six months that Bargatze will be in charge of giving away money on television after his recent charitable escapade at the Emmys.

“I think I forgot about just how much [money] it is. Someone’s trying to win $67,920 and they’re very tense and excited about it and you want them to win it. I’m thinking so much about the game and making sure it’s fun, when it comes down to that moment, this is real. I don’t think I thought about it until the first game we played. This guy was so nervous about if he’s going to win or lose this and I’m nervous for him too, and I’m, I want him to win it, but that hit me,” he added.

Losing contestants also pocket $10,000 and the winner also gets a nice little bonus on top to cover the taxes.

“Anybody that’s ever been on any game show, the first thing everybody says to them is ‘What were the taxes? I wanted people to say ‘I got what I got’. We’re giving them a little extra money, but I don’t have to start a tax company, you need to go pay them,” he joked.

Nateland Entertainment, it turns out, is not getting into the accountancy business. “I don’t go backstage and put some glasses on and start really firing away at your taxes. Good luck on the audit,” he added.

The Greatest Average American, which premieres on Wednesday February 25 at 9pm, shares a name with one of Bargatze’s stand-up comedy specials

The idea started on the road with Bargatze and some of his comedian friends joking with questions. “I would always joke that I have average American taste but I’m the greatest at it. Like, I know all the fast foods,” he said. “I was telling some of my buddies on the road about it and I thought we make this a game show. I was thinking we might do it on YouTube but [my managers and agents] were like ‘Nah, this is a little bit of a bigger of an idea’ and we went out and got hooked up with ABC.”

“At first, I wasn’t thinking about hosting it. I was just think we, at Nateland, would just keep it inhouse and maybe get someone else to host it. Sometimes, even though you’re doing great, you think ‘Are they going to give us this gameshow?’ I’ve been in a lot of development and it is definitely easier now than has been in the past. But, at first I just think I had so many ideas with it, and I needed help… and direction,” he added.

Bargatze credits John Quinn, showrunner of The Price Is Right, who has also worked on Let’s Make A Deal, Password and Press Your Luck, with helping turn it into a real game show. “He was able to make it where it made more sense, and it would be watchable,” he said.

Bargatze grew up watching these shows before getting caught up in Who Wants To Be A Millionaire fever.

“It was just so exciting and everybody wanted to watch it. They’re just very fun to watch and they’re pretty east to watch, they give you a break for 30 minutes or an hour,” he said. “That’s what I’m trying to kind of do… build that kind of world. The idea with this was just to be fun and dumb, I didn’t want to be mean, I wanted to be dumb with [the contestants]. I’m going to embarrass myself more than anybody on that show,” he added.

The Greatest Average American comes from Bargatze’s media company, which produces with Walt Disney Television Alternative and Quinn’s Da Da Production. It’s part of a drive to make more family friendly entertainment; the company has comedy feature The Breadwinner coming out later this year. That movie also revolves around unscripted television, following a woman, played by Mandy Moore, who ends up landing a deal on Shark Tank, making her husband, played by Bargatze, a stay-at-home dad.

“You can feel that people want it. I think they need it. You’re kind of getting pounded in all directions with everything, and everything’s pretty heavy,” he said. You need those moments when you go home. Why are so many people still watching Friends? Why are they going back to these old shows? It’s the comfort. You know what’s coming and it’s not going to be exhausting emotionally or mentally,” he said.

He sees Nateland as a vehicle to make very funny shows and movies, even if he doesn’t understand why there aren’t more classic comedies.

“Friends is unbelievable. There should already be another Friends. It’s like The Andy Griffith Show. You shouldn’t be watching a show from 60 years ago because they haven’t made another one. Then came Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, Friends and Modern Family, we had this run of that kind of stuff and now those are the shows that a lot of people are going back to watch. Some of those shows [were] on 25 years ago. Where is the next wave of shows? It just seems weird to me,” he said.

The Greatest Average American, which is shot in half-hour episodes, was filmed in Nashville, Tennessee. “I didn’t want this to feel like it’s a southern show. I wanted to make sure that we were pulling the entire country in. We really did go out and have people be from all over the country that come and play this game. I want it to feel like it’s for everybody,” he added.

Helped by the fact that he is joined by comedian friends such as Greg Warren, who serves as the announcer, and Julian McCullough, who helps Bargatze with the challenges from the audience, it’s an experience that he really enjoyed. He added, “We had a blast. I do see myself doing this again. It’s something that hopefully can stand long past me. No one’s going to get mad or upset, it’s just a fun, happy, silly gameshow.”