Play along and laugh it up! :D

March 5, 2014 3:28 PM

Pete Holmes jokes about cosmic ping-pong
posted by esprit de l'escalier (12 comments total)

I can't help but smile at his optimism.
posted by Fizz at 3:36 PM on March 5, 2014

waiting for Marc Maron to give him a knock back into his place, lest he start talking earnestly about his early marriage again
posted by C.A.S. at 4:22 PM on March 5, 2014

Wow. I really like Pete Holmes generally but that whole unreflective "If I woman doesn't smile back at me I go from 'hi neighbor' to 'I kill your whole family'" bit is sort of not funny to me.
posted by jessamyn at 4:23 PM on March 5, 2014 [4 favorites]

Bizarrely, I had never heard of Holmes until now (and now that I've looked him up, the odds of my never having come across him are, like, astronomical), but based on that clip, my first impression of him is that he's like one of the Christian Stand-ups I would see sometimes in high school in the nineties, but he says "fuck," so I guess he's not that... hmmm...
posted by Navelgazer at 4:42 PM on March 5, 2014 [1 favorite]

No that's the thing, he's really funny as far as observational humor goes, talking about what a big doofus he is, how great it is to be a grown-up. Not edgy but with a real sense of self-awareness in some ways. And yet, at the same time, he misses some chances to really take it somewhere a bit more personal and/or interesting which is too bad from my perspective (because I really like him otherwise) but pretty normal for people at his level and loved at that level by Comedy Central. I saw another bit he did about being raped by a clown and while I got what he was going for he just wasn't the right guy to be doing it. A little unaware. Not surprising at all, just now that I think more people are used to the Louis CK approach, I'm surprised some of it hasn't caught on more.
posted by jessamyn at 4:48 PM on March 5, 2014 [1 favorite]

Navelgazer

That may be closer to the truth than you realize. Pete Holmes attended Gordon College, a Christian college in Massachusetts, around the late 90's and early 00's. Having attended Gordon myself at that time, my impression is that he was a driving force behind nearly every comic endeavor on campus during that time, from the improvisational group Sweaty-Toothed Madmen to an Onion pastiche, the Paisley (or was it Parsley?), anonymously published in pamphlet form.

It's presumptive to draw any conclusions about his childhood, but I suspect he would have been more likely to hear Mark Lowry in his youth (as I did) than George Carlin or Chris Rock.
posted by The Confessor at 6:12 PM on March 5, 2014 [1 favorite]

I deeeeeply suggest his podcast work on "You made it weird," for anyone who is interested in Pete Holmes. It's very personal and he's had some amazing interviews with some amazing guests. The Aisha Tyler episode's a good one to start on imho.

I haven't watched his tv show yet, but I hear it's great. A nicer, more natural take on the talk show.
posted by es_de_bah at 8:08 PM on March 5, 2014 [3 favorites]

Better Mark Lowry than Mike Warnke!
posted by symbioid at 8:22 PM on March 5, 2014 [1 favorite]

Come on, Mike Warnke is comedy gold, man!
Not that I've ever seen his stand-up, but his older stuff? Warnke, John Todd, Bill Schnoebelen, and their like have given me untold hours of mirth.
posted by Trinity-Gehenna at 8:46 PM on March 5, 2014

His podcast is amazing! Although I was surprised at how not-interesting the recent Jennette McCurdy episode was. His interview with teenager Shelby Fero was broad and deep, and then he goes and spends almost 90 minutes asking seasoned sitcom actress McCurdy about her week dating an NBA player.
posted by infinitewindow at 8:57 PM on March 5, 2014

Navelgazer, he actually has a bit about that!
posted by brieche at 10:35 PM on March 5, 2014 [2 favorites]

Never heard of him before today either. He seems very pleasant. Nice guy comedy.
posted by GrapeApiary at 5:48 AM on March 6, 2014 [1 favorite]