''The Pete Holmes Show'' is an American
late-night talk show
A late-night talk show is a genre of talk show popular in the United States, where the format originated. It is generally structured around humorous monologues about the day's news, guest interviews, comedy sketches and music performances. It i ...
starring comedian
Pete Holmes
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.
Holmes gained recognition in the early 2010s as a stand-up comic, ...
. It aired Monday through Thursday at midnight on
TBS, from October 28, 2013 until June 18, 2014. The show was atypical among late-night talk shows for having personal as opposed to topical monologues, more sketch comedy, and taking place within a one-hour format.
History
Pilot episodes and pre-production
In July 2012, Pete Holmes and
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for having hosted late-night talk shows for almost 28 years, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' (19 ...
began developing a show called ''The Midnight Show with Pete Holmes''. Three pilot episodes were shot on the ''Conan'' set on August 21 and August 23, 2012. On February 26, 2013, it was announced that the show had been picked up for a seven-week run.
On July 19, 2013, it was revealed that the show would be titled ''The Pete Holmes Show''.
Pete Holmes officially began work on the show on September 23, 2013.
Pete Holmes hosted a panel promoting the show at the 2013 New York Comic Con, showing the show's ''Ex-Men'' sketch and a
CollegeHumor
CollegeHumor is an Internet comedy company based in Los Angeles. Aside from producing content for release on YouTube, it was also a former humor website owned by InterActiveCorp ( IAC) until January 2020, when IAC withdrew funding and the websi ...
sketch with his ''Badman'' character.
Test shows were shot on October 16 and 18, 2013.
Debut
The debut episode was taped on Tuesday, October 22 and aired on October 28, 2013.
The show began with a cold open sketch called "Ex-Men" (a parody of
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in ...
) in which Pete played
Professor X
Professor X (Charles Francis Xavier) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as the founder and sometimes leader of the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writ ...
firing
Wolverine
The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for "gluttony, glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is ...
for being useless. In the monologue Pete told a story of going to an
Enrique Iglesias
Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; (born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican indie label Fonovisa and became the bestselling Spanish-language act of the decade. By the ...
concert. Pete also visited ''
Daily Show'' host
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted ''The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts ''Th ...
in New York to seek advice for hosting a talk show. The interview segment featured comedian and long-time friend
Kumail Nanjiani
Kumail Ali Nanjiani (; ur, کمیل علی ننجیانی, ; born May 2, 1978) is a Pakistani-American actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is known for his role as Dinesh in the HBO comedy series ''Silicon Valley'' (2014–2019) and for co-wri ...
as the first guest, and the show closed with the segment "All the Games" in which the titles of lesser-known (fake) video games were shown. The first episode was viewed by approximately 407,000 people.
Run and cancellation
A total of 28 episodes aired in the show's first season in 2013. On January 8, 2014, the show was renewed for a 13-week second season, beginning on February 24. The show was broadcast Monday through Thursday on TBS at midnight in the United States.
On May 23, 2014, TBS announced the
cancellation of ''The Pete Holmes Show'', citing insufficient audience numbers. The show's second and final season ended in June 2014.
Format and production
In the show's first season, episodes began with a cold open pre-taped sketch, were followed by the opening titles, and a personal monologue delivered by Holmes. After the first commercial break, a remote segment or another sketch was shown, or a live comedy bit was performed. The third segment was a short interview, usually with another comedian. The show would close with another short comedy piece.
The show's second run featured a less formal structure, relying more heavily on pre-taped interviews. Most notably, the final episode entirely lacked a monologue, and was closed with the show's only musical performance ("Poke" by
Scott Hutchison
Scott John Hutchison (20 November 1981 – 9 May 2018) was a Scottish singer, songwriter, guitarist and artist. He was the founding member and primary songwriter of the indie rock band Frightened Rabbit, with whom he recorded five studio albums ...
of
Frightened Rabbit
Frightened Rabbit were a Scottish indie rock band from Selkirk, formed in 2003. Initially a solo project for vocalist and guitarist Scott Hutchison, the final lineup of the band consisted of Hutchison, his brother Grant (drums), Billy Kennedy ...
). Unlike most late-night talk shows (including its lead-in, ''Conan''), ''The Pete Holmes Show'' had a 60-minute format.
The show was taped in front of a live studio audience on Stage 10 of the Warner Bros. lot in
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...
. For budgetary reasons, shows were not taped on the days they air.
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for having hosted late-night talk shows for almost 28 years, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' (19 ...
, Jeff Ross, Nick Bernstein, and Dave Rath are presumed to have been involved in production.
Show highlights were posted on Pete Holmes's
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
account.
Episodes
Season 1 (2013)
October
November
December
Season 2 (2014)
February
March
April
May
June
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pete Holmes Show, The
2010s American late-night television series
2013 American television series debuts
2014 American television series endings
2010s American television talk shows
2010s American variety television series
English-language television shows
TBS (American TV channel) original programming
Television series by Conaco