Pete Holmes

Holmes was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His mother is a Lithuanian refugee.[1] 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 to become a youth pastor. This gave way to public speaking, and eventually his love for comedy and his devolving faith in God (he now refers to himself as "Christ-leaning" or jokingly, a "hooratheist") won over his need to preach.[2] Holmes got married at 22, the same age he began performing stand-up comedy, and he divorced at 28[3] after his then-wife had an affair.[4] Finding little success, he lived in Sleepy Hollow, New York and Chicago before moving to Los Angeles.

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.[5] His cartoons have appeared in The New Yorker.[6] 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 credited as a writer for those commercials.[7]

He wrote for the NBC primetime sitcom Outsourced and for the Fox sitcom I Hate My Teenage Daughter prior to its cancellation in May 2012.[8]

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] He released his third album, Faces and Sounds, in 2016. In 2019, he released his fourth album, "Dirty Clean." [11]

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.

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.[12]

On May 14, 2019, Holmes released his book Comedy Sex God, which is described as, "Part autobiography, part philosophical inquiry, and part spiritual quest."[13]

Holmes has listed Brian Regan, Sinbad, Steve Martin, Gallagher, Jackie Martling, Conan O'Brien, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Farley,[22] Dane Cook,[23] and Ray Romano[24] as his biggest comedic influences.[25]

Holmes married his first wife when he was 22 years old; they divorced when he was 28.[26] Holmes married Valerie Chaney in late 2017.[27] Their daughter, Lila Jane, was born in September 2018.[28][29] Early in his career he performed on the Christian comedy circuit.[30]

• Impregnated with Wonder (2011)
• Nice Try, The Devil (2013)
• Faces and Sounds (2016)
• Dirty Clean (2018)

• Official website
• Pete Holmes at IMDb
• Pete Holmes on Twitter