Pete Holmes: The New Late Night Kid!

Comedian Pete Holmes juggles a lot already including a successful stand-up career, hosting a hilarious podcast called, “You Made it Weird,” making incredibly funny shorts complete with goofy impressions, and being a witty and talented writer. He's even the voice of that “E-Trade Baby.” And just when you thought he couldn't add any more to his plate, Holmes has been tapped to host his very own late night talk show and we personally can't wait. With The Pete Holmes Show premiering October 28th on TBS right after Conan, we talked to Pete about what kind of hilarity is in store for us when he hits the TV screen every Monday through Thursday.

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OC Weekly (Ali Lerman): First of all, you were absolutely fantastic on Opie and Anthony a couple of weeks ago. I loved the story about you “being off of the porn.”

Pete Holmes: Oh you're the first person that I've talked to that heard me on there so I'm so happy to hear you say that! Well also, I don't talk to anyone. [Laughs.] What's interesting is that those things that we were talking about on O&A are the sorts of things that I want to talk about in my monologue. Those topics about being off pornography or allowing yourself to feel the need to require another person, it's exactly the sort of stuff that I want to cover. Wouldn't that be weird?

I think it'd be pretty awesome because everyone's monologue on late night TV is pretty much the same. I've heard enough about Lindsay Lohan for a lifetime.

Yeah. [Laughs.] Well that's the plan. There are enough people who do the set-up/ punchline from the news and they do it very well. We're going to try to be as different as we can be.

I love that idea. Just to be clear though, you are back on the porn now correct?

That's a great question. [Laughs.] I was off of it for a few months and then I went back on it. So I've been off of it an on it, I go back and forth. I'm trying still to be off of it because it just felt really good for me. It just made actual sex so much better. I mean it was already great but if it makes it a lot better, why aren't we all doing this? [Laughs.]

That's so funny. So in a non-sexual way, how did you get involved with Conan?

Haaa. Well Conan and I have had a non-sexual and non-porn relationship for a couple of years now. [Laughs.] It started by just doing stand-up on his show and then we ended up talking afterwards. Then I did his show again maybe a year later and again, we talked after and hit it off again. We had a couple of meetings and we just talked about our approach to comedy and our approach to life to be honest. I kind of thought that was all that would come of it but then we had a third meeting and we discussed going to TBS and pitching a show. And that's why we're here now!

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So what will the format be for your show? Sketches and interviews?

Yeah kind of. We're going to be doing some stuff that might feel familiar but I think we're going to be doing it in our own way. Like we went to the BET Awards and that might be a familiar late night thing but, I think we did it in a weirder way. Like one of my questions for this rap duo Migos was, “Are you guys getting it wet a lot?” I don't think a lot of late night hosts are asking stuff like that! So even if we are doing something that has been done before, I think that we're doing it in our own way. I think our show will also stand out because we have a lot more sketches, digital shorts, and the monologue is more like stand-up where it is more personal. Rather than me being this host persona, it really is a way for me to upload all of the details of my life for comedy.

That seems like a lot of stuff packed into a half hour. Do you think after time goes on you'll switch to an hour long format?

That interesting because right now I'm very comfortable with it being a half hour because it is four times a week, so it's an overwhelming thing. Once we're in the swing of things though, I'll be interested to see if we feel like we are getting cut short. But the answer really is, it's a half hour on TV and I think a lot of stuff will be living on-line too. So you might see the best four to six minutes of an interview but then the other twenty minutes will be on-line. Really the show doesn't have a length except when it is airing on TV because the show will still exist on-line.

Do you have any dream guests?

I mean beside Gosling? [Laughs.] I'd love to get Christian Bale on to see what he thinks about my Batman videos and I'd love to get Kate Upton on just because she's gorgeous. But honestly, the guests so far aren't even promoting anything. Almost 90% of them are people I know from my life, like comedians I've known for a decade. You can't really manufacture that rapport so I wanted to have them come on and break my balls a little bit especially at the beginning. Some of them are famous and some of them aren't so much, but they're all really funny so I think that people will enjoy getting to know them through the show. Then we'll work our way up to Gosling!

Check out the premiere of The Pete Holmes Show on TBS October 28th and get more info and get tickets to sit in the audience of the show on his website www.PeteHolmes.com and follow him on Twitter @PeteHolmes.

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