Peter Benedict "Pete" Holmes (born March 30, 1979) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, podcaster, television host, and cartoonist. He began stand-up in 2000. His comedic influences include Conan O'Brien and Sinbad. He has a very big following, through his podcast You Made it Weird, where he and a guest discuss life, careers, and their thoughts on religion and spirituality. He created and stars in Crashing, a comedy series very loosely based on his life.
Tropes associated with Pete Holmes' works include:
- AcCENT upon the Wrong SylLABle: His pronunciation of words such as cookie and flute.
- Annoying Laugh: He is self aware of it, he even used it in part of the plot of an episode in his HBO series.
- Beware the Nice Ones: While most of his comedy revolves around how joyous and harmless he is, some of his punchlines get dangerous. In one bit, he notes, "Who's going to stop me? You? I'll kill you!"
- Large Ham: very much so. What makes it endearing is his self awareness about it
- Camp Straight: In his comedy, he mentions how people often assume that he's gay, but he's not. He states confidently that he likes vaginal intercourse and standing like this, while adopting a humorously prissy pose.
- Chewing the Scenery: His magicians bit, "some of your faces while I do that are why I do comedy. Some of you are like "easy now."
- Death as Comedy: Pete has a routine in his comedy central special and album about how he would like to die by being hit by arrows.
- The Fundamentalist: Subverted. Even though he was raised very religious and used to be, he was never hateful or homophobic. In college, this exchange happened:(Pete and a friend are in Pete ‘s dorm room.)Pete: Don’t use that word "Faggot" in my roomCollege Friend: Don’t use that word "Fuck" in my room.Pete: But we are in MY room. (pushes his friend out of the room)
- Dumb Is Good: early on in his career he had a joke about being called gullible how those who call him gullible are lying in the first place
- Hyperactive Metabolism: He has a routine where he imagines Hagar from Final Fight going to a doctor for a stomachache and describing how he eats apples and turkey dinners he finds on the street after punching barrels.
- Jewish Mother: His mother. She’s Lithuanian and is very much like a Jewish or Italian mother.
- Keet: Very much so, as shown by the naming of his first album title "Impregnated with Wonder". Pete loves to laugh and have fun on stage.
- Gentle Giant: Pete is 6'6, but has a joyous, sweet and harmless personality. He states in his comedy that this is the only possible timeline in which he didn't become a youth pastor. In CrashingUS, several characters note how large he is.
- Manchild: A trait he shares with close friends such as John Mulaney and Mike Birbiglia.
- Two separate friends sent him the same t-shirt - a Dr. Seuss shirt of Green Eggs and Ham. He mentions how the first time he got it, he didn't like it. Then, with the second shirt, it was like God telling him, "I gave you that goof-goof face, wear the outfit!"
- He’s also mentioned he played with action figures until he was 18 and only stopped because of social pressure and his dad making him stop and give them away.
- Parental Favoritism: With his mom.
- The Roast: Pete loves being roasted and made fun of by comics. This happened a lot on Anthony Jeselnik's show.Pete: What do a woman's panties and her nail polish have in common?Anthony: You haven't seen either.
- Self-Deprecation: A lot of his stand-up material is making fun of himself.
