Andy Gray

Assorted ramblings from the world of entertainment:

•  Comedian Nate Bargatze will perform Sunday at Covelli Centre.

Bargatze has become one of the biggest names in standup in recent years, thanks to the popularity of his Netflix specials, “The Tennessee Kid” and “The Greatest Average American,” and his new Prime Video special “Hello World.”

As the name of one of those specials implies, Bargatze is a Tennessee native, but he’s also proof that all roads lead to the Mahoning Valley.

Bargatze is known for his family-friendly humor, and he’s looking to expand the brand by producing and directing standup specials by comedians who aren’t trying to be the next Andrew Dice Clay.

The first one was released last week on Bargatze’s Nateland Entertainment YouTube Channel, and it features Canfield native Mike Vecchione.

Vecchione’s “The Attractives” already has been viewed more than 90,000 times in four days and mixes humor about his Italian-American heritage, dating, COVID-19, Bitcoin and a favorite topic in the Valley — pizza. The language is clean, but Vecchione’s humor still has a sharp edge.

In an interview earlier this year with Utah’s Deseret News, Bargatze said, “Mike is someone who wasn’t necessarily clean. He was always close enough to be clean. I was like, ‘Look, if you can do a special being clean, I’m willing to get behind it.’ Just how great of a comic he is. … When I produce it and do it, if you like my comedy, it’s along those lines. It’s just giving an audience more to choose from. Especially from a comic who has really learned on the road and learned in New York City and has the chops of New York.”

Vecchione — who has appeared in the film “The King of Staten Island,” Netflix’s “The Iliza Shlesinger Sketch Show” and had four spots on “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon” — often opens for Bargatze when he’s playing larger venues, but he will not be with him on Sunday.

Tickets for the 7 p.m. show range from $36.75 to $76.75 and are available through Ticketmaster.

•  Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band’s current tour will make its Ohio debut on Wednesday at Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

The tour was supposed to play Columbus last month, but that show was postponed due to illness. Since early dates on the tour went ahead as planned despite Steven Van Zandt, Jake Clemons, Soozie Tyrell and Nils Lofgren all missing shows at one time or another due to COVID-19, the assumption is that Springsteen himself must have been sick for Columbus, but no official statement ever was released.

I won’t post any spoilers for those who have been avoiding them, but if you saw a setlist from earlier in the tour, don’t expect much variation from that when the band arrives in Cleveland. More than 20 of the 26 to 28 songs that get played every night have remained the same since the tour started in February. Van Zandt said in a podcast interview released this week that Springsteen is trying to tell a cohesive story with the songs in the setlist, so there is less variation than might be expected by fans who attend multiple shows on every tour.

Here is a bit of advice for longtime Bruce tramps heading to the concert — don’t pregame too long somewhere else.

The start time on the ticket says 7:30 p.m. In the past, that meant Springsteen and the band hit the stage about 8:10 p.m. The show has been getting started closer to 7:45 p.m. most nights, so get there more or less on time if you don’t want to miss the opening songs.

Andy Gray is the entertainment editor of Ticket. Write to him at agray@tribtoday.com.