Entertainment Weekly - February 24 - March 3, 2017

TV

86 EW.COM FEBRUARY 24/MARCH 3, 2017

A lot of comedians these days are
creating shows for themselves to
star on. When did you first realize
youwantedtodothisseries?
PETE HOLMES Well, I was doing a
talk show for a while on TBS
[The Pete Holmes Show]. I found
out the show was going to be
canceled [in 2014]. It’s funny,
when I got divorced in real life,
you have that moment where
you’re like, “Should I drink vodka?”
And when the show was can-
celed, it was obviously sad
in a different way, but I looked at
my producer Oren Brimer
and was like, “Should we? Is that
what men do?” That’s what you
think you’re supposed to do! But
I’ve never been a sad drinker or

anything, so instead we were like,

“Well, we could try making a

sketch show. Let’s go pitch one!”

SoCrashingbegan as a sketch

series?

HOLMESNot really. Let’s say we

were canceled on Tuesday.

The very next day, we went to

Comedy Central just to chat and

see if they were interested,

and they said that they had too

many sketch shows. So I got in

the car and was kind of frustrated.

I was like, “If you could do

anything, what would you want

to do?” I’m a big fan ofGirls

and was really kind of...I wouldn’t

say obsessed with but veryinto

Lena. I would read about her

On the newJudd Apatow-produced HBO comedyCrashing(debuts
Feb. 19, 10:30 p.m.), series creator and Lena Dunham superfanPete
Holmes plays a religious comic named, well, Pete, who gets divorced
and finds solace in the world of stand-up comedy. As Holmes, 37, and
Apatow, 49, reveal, it’s a tale that hits close to home.BY RAY RAHMAN

process, and I was like, “That

sounds to me like the dream.”

So would you say this is your

Girls? It does have a similar vibe.

HOLMESI thought to myself, “What

would bemy show?” And I’ve

always kicked around the idea of

doing a show about my actual

divorce. In fact, when I did a

sketch with Judd for my talk show,

I pitched him this show as a joke.

JUDD APATOWI said, “Oh, your life

is too sad.” But then he came in

later [in 2014] and formally

pitched this idea of a comedian

who is going through a divorce

and has no money—all he has is

the comedy community. So he

has to sleep on different people’s

couches while he tries to get

better at it because he’s not good

enough to pay his bills. I thought

that was great.

Judd, forCrashingyou directed

a couple of episodes, which you

haven’t done for a TV comedy

since the shows you created. Why

was this the project to get you off

the bench?

APATOWUsually I feel like other

people can do it better than

me, and I’m always proven correct.

I never directed an episode of

Pete Holmes with Lauren Lapkus, who plays his wife

Girls[Apatow is an EP], but I’ve

also never watched any moment

ofGirls and thought it wasn’t

directed as well as it could have

been. But becauseCrashing stars

a lot of comedians, it’s a world

where I feel like I know I helped

get the best out of all of these

people. We do a lot of improvisa-

tion, which requires a different

kind of directing—you’re writing a

scene on its feet as it happens.

That’s fun for me.

Pete, your character grew up

religious, got married early, and is

going through a divorce—so

obviously the show has a lot of ear-

nest, emotional moments. Was it

difficult to balance all that while

making sure it was also humorous?

HOLMESWe really played with the

rawness. I think it’s funny, but it’s

definitely sad for the character.

I knew I wanted aGirls-type show

about my life, but what’s the big

thing that happened to me? Oh,

I got married when I was young.

Howmuchdoesyourcharacter’s

fictional journey mirror your

real-life one?

HOLMESI’m not religious anymore,

but I was raised religious. I was

married when I was 22, and then

my wife cheated on me. That’s all

true. The show is obviously a fic-

tionalization of that. The charac-

ters are different, the situation is

different, but everything is based

on a true emotion or something

that’s like, this is how that really

felt, and this is what I would have

said, and this is what you would

have said.... I always wanted to do

something about what it’s like to

get divorced, especially when it’s

a young marriage to start with.

After he leaves his wife, your

character crashes with famous

Is This Guy Making

the NextGirls?

MACALL B. POL AY/HBO (2)