Peter Benedict Holmes is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and podcaster. Holmes is well-known for his cheerful personality, self-aware humor, and musings on spirituality and religion, which are all frequent themes across his works.
Early life
Holmes was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His mother is a Lithuanian refugee. He attended Lexington High School and Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. He played in a punk rock band. In college, he majored in English and Communications, and he participated in an improvisational comedy troupe, The Sweaty-Toothed Madmen. Partly at the behest of his mother, Holmes had plans on becoming a youth pastor. This gave way to public speaking, and eventually his love for comedy and his devolving faith in God won over his need to preach. Holmes got married at 22, the same age he began performing stand-up comedy, and he divorced at 28 after his then-wife had an affair. Finding little success, he lived in Sleepy Hollow, New York and Chicago before moving to Los Angeles.
Career
Holmes has appeared on Comedy Central's Premium Blend, as a regular panelist on VH1's Best Week Ever, and on VH1's All Access. His cartoons have appeared in The New Yorker. 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 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 also credited as a writer for those commercials. He wrote for the NBC primetime sitcom Outsourced and also wrote for the Fox sitcom I HateMy Teenage Daughter prior to its cancellation in May 2012. Holmes released his first album, Impregnated With Wonder, on iTunes on November 15, 2011. In 2013, he released his second album, Nice Try, The Devil. Holmes has created a popular comedic portrayal of Batman in CollegeHumor's internet series Badman. He also ran a YouTube channel which was focused around skits alongside Matthew McCarthy called frontpagefilms. Holmes created and stars in the HBO series, Crashing.The pilot was written by Holmes and directed by Judd Apatow. After the season three finale, it was announced that HBO had canceled the series. On May 14, 2019, Holmes released his book Comedy Sex God, which is described as, "Part autobiography, part philosophical inquiry, and part spiritual quest."
''You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes''
Holmes hosts a podcast titled, You Made It Weird. It has featured guests such as Garry Shandling, Judd Apatow, Aziz Ansari, John Mulaney, and Dana Carvey. Topics typically discussed in each episode are the guests' views on comedy, sexuality, and religion.
''The Pete Holmes Show''
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. 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. It showcased "the comedian’s incredible skill set, combining sketches, short films, live comedy, field pieces and in-studio guest interviews into a fast-paced half hour." As of July 10, 2013 the name of the show was The Pete Holmes Show. The series premiered on October 28, right after Conan. The show was picked up for a second season by TBS. On December 9, 2013, Gabe Liedman performed the show's first-ever stand-up routine. 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.
''Crashing''
Crashing is a semi-autobiographical show on HBO that 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. 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 which premiered on January 14, 2018. On February 21, 2018, HBO renewed the series for a third season. Although season three was praised by fans and critics alike, HBO canceled Crashing in March 2019.
''Badman''
Holmes portrays the lead character Batman in this parodyweb series. The series recreates scenes from Christopher Nolan's Batman films with a comedic twist, such as Batman appearing completely incompetent or sex-obsessed.
Holmes married his first wife when he was 22 years old; they divorced when he was 28. Holmes married Valerie Chaney in late 2017. Their daughter, Lila Jane, was born in September 2018. Early in his career he performed on the Christian comedy circuit.
