Wikipedia

Pete Holmes

For other people named Pete Holmes, see Pete Holmes (disambiguation).

Peter Benedict Holmes (born March 30, 1979) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and podcaster. Musings on spirituality and religion are frequent themes in his works.

Pete Holmes
Holmes in 2024
Birth namePeter Benedict Holmes
Born (1979-03-30) March 30, 1979 (age 45)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
MediumStand-up, television, film, podcast
Years active2001–present
Genres
Spouse
Valerie Chaney
​
(m. 2017)​
Children1
WebsitePeteHolmes.com

Holmes gained recognition in the early 2010s as a stand-up comic, during which he launched his podcast You Made It Weird (2011–present), released his first comedy special, and worked as an actor and television writer. Subsequently, he began his own late-night talk show The Pete Holmes Show (2013–2014), which ran on TBS for two seasons in the time-slot after Conan, a frequent champion of his work. During the decade, he released five comedy specials: Impregnated with Wonder (2011), Nice Try, The Devil (2013), Faces and Sounds (2016), Dirty Clean (2018), and I Am Not For Everyone (2023).

Holmes created and starred in the semi-autobiographical scripted comedy series Crashing, which aired on HBO for three seasons (2017–2019). He has worked as a voice actor and starred in the 2022 CBS sitcom How We Roll.

Early life

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Peter Benedict Holmes was born in Boston on March 30, 1979.[1] His mother is a Lithuanian refugee, while his father is American with Irish ancestry.[1] He has a brother who composes music under the name Dr. Holmes. He grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts, where he graduated from Lexington High School before attending Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts, where he graduated with a degree in English and Communications in 2001.[2] During this time, he played in a punk rock band and participated in an improvisational comedy troupe called The Sweaty-Toothed Madmen.

Partly at the behest of his mother, Holmes had plans to become a youth pastor. This gave way to public speaking, and his love for comedy won over his need to preach.[3] Finding little success as a comedian in his home state, he lived in Sleepy Hollow, New York, then moved to Chicago and then Los Angeles.

Career

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2001–2009: Early career

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Holmes career began in the New York City comedy scene. In the mid-2000s, he was making club appearances and took part in Comedy Central's Premium Blend, as a regular panelist on VH1's Best Week Ever, and on VH1's All Access.[2][4][5] He began working as a touring comic,[4] including on the Christian comedy circuit.[6] Since 2006, his cartoons have appeared in The New Yorker.[7]

Holmes also created and appeared in a Super Bowl XLIII ad for Doritos in 2009 featuring a fictional new beer flavor of the product, in which each chip contains as much alcohol as a 16 o.z. can of beer.[8]

2010–2013: Breakthrough

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Stand-up and You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes

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In 2010, he performed on John Oliver's New York Stand Up Show as well as Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. On February 26, 2010, he performed his first television special on the series Comedy Central Presents. On March 21, 2011, and on November 17, 2011, he appeared on the TBS talk show Conan.

Holmes released his first album, Impregnated With Wonder, on iTunes on November 15, 2011.[9] In 2013, he released his second album, Nice Try, The Devil.[10]

In 2011, Holmes launched his long-form comedy podcast You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes. It has featured guests such as Garry Shandling, Judd Apatow, Aziz Ansari, John Mulaney, Ben Schwartz, and Dana Carvey. Topics typically discussed in each episode are the guests' views on comedy, sexuality, and religion.

Television and The Pete Holmes Show

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Holmes has provided the voices for several of the characters on Comedy Central's cartoon Ugly Americans. He was the voice of the E-Trade baby on several television commercials and was credited as a writer for those commercials.[11]

He wrote for the NBC primetime sitcom Outsourced and for the Fox sitcom I Hate My Teenage Daughter.[12]

Holmes has created a comedic portrayal of Batman in CollegeHumor's internet series Badman. He ran a YouTube channel which was focused around skits alongside Matthew McCarthy called frontpagefilms.[citation needed]

On August 21 and 23 in 2012, Holmes recorded three episodes of a talk show pilot for TBS, produced by Conan O'Brien, entitled The Midnight Show with Pete Holmes.[13][14] Holmes's guests on the unaired pilots included Nick Offerman, Joel McHale, T.J. Miller, and Bill Burr. On February 26, 2013, TBS picked up the show and began airing in late 2013.[15] By July 10, 2013, the name of the show was The Pete Holmes Show.[16] The series premiered on October 28, after Conan.

The show was picked up for a second season by TBS. On December 9, 2013, Gabe Liedman performed the show's first stand-up routine.[17] On May 23, 2014, TBS canceled the talk show after two seasons following poor audience ratings. The show ended its run on June 19, 2014.[18][19]

2014–present: Crashing and new projects

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Main article: Crashing (American TV series)

Holmes released his third comedy special, Faces and Sounds, in 2016. In 2019, he released his fourth album, Dirty Clean.[20]

Holmes created and starred in the TV series Crashing, a semi-autobiographical show which aired on HBO. It revolves around Holmes' character Pete, a young comedian who pursues a career in stand-up comedy after his wife cheats on him, leaving him homeless.[21] Holmes successfully pitched the idea of the show to Judd Apatow and it was picked up by HBO for filming in September 2015, with Apatow as director. The success of the pilot led HBO to give the green-light to the first season in January 2016. After four episodes had aired, HBO renewed the series for a second season[22] which premiered on January 14, 2018. On February 21, 2018, HBO renewed the series for a third season. HBO canceled Crashing in March 2019.[23][24]

 
Holmes in 2023

On May 14, 2019, Holmes released his book Comedy Sex God, which is described as "part autobiography, part philosophical inquiry, and part spiritual quest".[25]

On March 29, 2021, Holmes was selected to play the lead role of a laid-off auto worker-turned-professional bowler (based on the life of Tom Smallwood) in a CBS sitcom pilot.[26] On May 14, 2021, the pilot for Smallwood was ordered to series, with a mid-season debut planned for the 2021–22 television season.[27][28] On November 24, CBS announced the sitcom has been retitled How We Roll, and received an adjusted first-season order of 11 episodes.[29] On December 10, 2021, CBS announced the series would premiere on March 31, 2022.[30] On May 12, 2022, CBS announced the show had been canceled after one season.[31]

Influences

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Holmes has listed "Weird Al" Yankovic, Brian Regan, Sinbad, Steve Martin, Conan O'Brien, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Farley,[32] Dane Cook,[33] and Ray Romano[34] as his biggest comedic influences.[35]

Personal life

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Holmes married his college girlfriend, whose identity he has not disclosed, at the age of 22; they divorced six years later after he discovered that she was cheating on him,[1] which later inspired his semi-autobiographical sitcom Crashing (2017–2019).[1][21][36][37] He married Valerie Chaney in late 2017.[38] Their daughter was born in September 2018.[39][40]

Holmes is a vegan.[1][41] He is a Christian who originally planned to become a youth pastor, and now jokingly refers to himself as "Christ-leaning" and a "hooraytheist".[3]

Works

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Comedy specials

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2014 I Am Road Comic Himself
2016 Don't Think Twice Pete Holmes
2019 The Secret Life of Pets 2 Chuck Voice role
2020 Gutbuster Himself
2021 Home Sweet Home Alone Uncle Blake
2023 Family Switch Peter
Woman of the Hour Terry
2024 The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Bob Bradley

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2005 Premium Blend Himself Episode: "8.6"
2007 Scott Batman Presents Scott Batman Presents Earth's New Robot Overlord (voice) Episode: "One"
2010–2011 Outsourced Writer
2010–2012 Ugly Americans Toby (voice) 20 episodes
2010–2013 John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show Himself 3 episodes
2011 Pete Holmes: Impregnated With Wonder Himself Stand-up special
2011–2012 I Hate My Teenage Daughter Writer
2013 The Jeselnik Offensive Himself Episode 1.9
2013 Maron Himself Episode: "Marc's Dad"
2013 Pete Holmes: Nice Try, the Devil Himself Stand-up special
2013 American Dad! Toby (voice) / Millionaire Matt Davis (voice) Episode: "Lost in Space" "The Longest Distance Relationship"
2013–2014 The Pete Holmes Show Himself (host) Also creator, writer, and executive producer
2014 Mulaney Trey Episode: "In the Name of the Mother, and the Son, and the Holy Andre"
2016 Animals. Patrick (voice) Episode: "Rats."
2016 Pete Holmes: Faces and Sounds[42] Himself Stand-up special
2016–17 Mighty Magiswords Teri Gargantuan, Thaddeus Thirdwell III (voice) 4 episodes
2017 Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero Ryan (voice) Episode: "A Tale of Two Wizards"
2017–2019 Crashing Pete Also creator, writer, and executive producer
2018 Bob's Burgers Connor (voice) Episode: "Something Old, Something New, Something Bob Caters For You"
2018–2020 The Simpsons Matthew / Bode Wright (voice) Episodes: "Bart's Not Dead", "Warrin' Priests"; also writer
2019 Star Wars Resistance Flobb / Fleez (voice) Episode: "From Beneath"
2018 Pete Holmes: Dirty Clean Himself Stand-up special
2022 How We Roll Tom Smallwood Lead role
2023 Night Court Rand 4 episodes
2024 Make Some Noise Himself Episode: "A Celebrity's Unflattering Wax Figure Reveal"

Web series

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Year Title Role Notes
2023 Star Trek: Very Short Treks Capitain Episode: "Skin A Cat"

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Crashing star Pete Holmes on creating comedy out of his divorce". Stuff. February 18, 2017.
  2. ^ a b "In Focus: Alumni". www.gordon.edu. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Burke, Daniel (May 24, 2019). "Comedian Pete Holmes was a good Christian guy. Then his wife left him, and things got weird". CNN. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Comic Pete Holmes Draws On His Early Career And 'Churchy' Roots In 'Crashing'". NPR.org. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  5. ^ Pete Holmes at IMDb
  6. ^ "Pete Holmes on Christian jokes - YMH Highlight". YouTube. January 27, 2019. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved February 2, 2019.
  7. ^ Kharakh, Ben (October 26, 2006). "Pete Holmes, Comedian". Gothamist. Archived from the original on April 18, 2008. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
  8. ^ "Doritos Beer". YouTube. February 12, 2009.
  9. ^ Harris, Will (December 8, 2011). "The best comedy albums of 2011". The A.V. Club. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
  10. ^ McFarland, Kevin (December 3, 2013). "The best comedy albums and specials of 2013". The A.V. Club. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
  11. ^ Steinberg, Don (February 18, 2011). "The Funny People Behind the Famous Ads". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  12. ^ Murthi, Vikram (November 22, 2016). "'Crashing' Trailer: Pete Holmes' HBO Sitcom Shows The Comic Adjusting To Divorced Life". IndieWire. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  13. ^ "Get Free Tickets For The Pilot Of "The Midnight Show With Pete Holmes"". Retrieved August 20, 2012.
  14. ^ Luippold, Ross (July 25, 2012). "Pete Holmes To Follow Conan O'Brien? Talk Show Pilot In Development At TBS". HuffPost. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
  15. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (February 26, 2013). "TBS Greenlights Conan O'Brien-Produced Late-Night Show Starring Pete Holmes As 'Conan' Companion".
  16. ^ "You Made It Weird #166: Johnny Pemberton « Nerdist". Nerdist. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2013.
  17. ^ "Gabe Liedman Was 'Pete Holmes Show's First-Ever Standup Last Night". Vulture. December 10, 2013. Archived from the original on October 19, 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
  18. ^ Goldberg, Lesley (May 23, 2014). "TBS Cancels 'The Pete Holmes Show' After Two Seasons (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
  19. ^ "TBS Cancels 'The Pete Holmes Show'". Deadline Hollywood. May 23, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
  20. ^ Kozell, Isaac (December 17, 2018). "The 3 Stages of Pete Holmes's New HBO Stand-up Special Dirty Clean". Vulture. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
  21. ^ a b Swidey, Neil (January 17, 2018). "How Lexington's Pete Holmes got Judd Apatow's attention and became a comedy star – The Boston Globe". Boston Globe. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  22. ^ "HBO Renews Pete Holmes' Crashing for Season Two". Paste Magazine. March 15, 2017.
  23. ^ Otterson, Joe (March 8, 2019). "'Crashing' Canceled After Three Seasons at HBO". Variety. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
  24. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (March 15, 2017). "HBO Renews Pete Holmes Comedy 'Crashing' for Second Season". Variety. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
  25. ^ Holmes, Pete (2019). Comedy Sex God. New York, NY: Harper Wave. pp. Back cover. ISBN 978-0062803979.
  26. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (March 29, 2021). "Pete Holmes Set As The Lead Of CBS' Tom Smallwood Comedy Pilot". Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  27. ^ Low, Elaine (May 14, 2021). "CBS Orders 'Smallwood' and 'Good Sam' to Series". Retrieved May 17, 2021.
  28. ^ "Pete Holmes To Star In New CBS Comedy Smallwood Debuting Mid-Season". CBS. May 19, 2021. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
  29. ^ White, Peter (November 24, 2021). "Pete Holmes' CBS Comedy 'Smallwood' Retitled 'How We Roll' As Episode Order Adjusted". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
  30. ^ Pedersen, Erik (December 29, 2021). "'How We Roll' Premiere Date: CBS' Pete Holmes Bowling Comedy Books Lane For March". Deadline Hollywood.
  31. ^ Petski, Peter; White, Denise (May 12, 2022). "'How We Roll' Canceled After One Season By CBS". Deadline. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  32. ^ "#MeetPete Facebook Questions". YouTube. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  33. ^ "You Made It Weird". Nerdist. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  34. ^ "You Made It Weird". Nerdist. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  35. ^ Sam Jones. "130. Pete Holmes". Off Camera with Sam Jones (Podcast). Quote by Pete Holmes. Sam Jones Pictures. Event occurs at 17:31–18:08. Retrieved October 10, 2019. For the first five years, maybe ten, most comedians are just doing, it's like they have a vita[min] mix and they just put in—like me, it was like, Steve Martin and Seinfeld, and you put in, like Brian Regan and you blend it up and you can—you reek of it.
  36. ^ Ryan, Patric. "How divorce led Pete Holmes to HBO's 'Crashing'". USA Today. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  37. ^ Jordan Zakarin (February 16, 2017). "Pete Holmes's Life Blew Up. His New HBO Show Is His Therapy". Inverse. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
  38. ^ Baraka Kaseko and Marah Eakin (November 17, 2017). "Pete Holmes says being married changes things". The AV Club. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
  39. ^ "Pete Holmes Thinks Expectant Dads Should "Woman Up" @ Team Coco". TBS/Conan O'Brien. October 2, 2018.
  40. ^ The A.V. Club (January 21, 2019), Let's watch Pete Holmes rate baby names, archived from the original on December 13, 2021, retrieved January 21, 2019
  41. ^ "You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes: Rob Zombie on Apple Podcasts".
  42. ^ "Here's a Promo for Pete Holmes's HBO Standup Special 'Faces and Sounds'". Vulture. November 7, 2016. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
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