Saturday 28 February 2015

HOLMES, PETE

BandPETE HOLMES
GenresStandup Comedy / Improvisational Comedy / Observational Comedy / Sketch Comedy
Related artistsN/A.
CountryLexington, Massachusetts USA
Years Active2001-present
Song: "Google and Not Knowing"
Album: "Impregnated with Wonder"
Year: 2011
Label(s): Comedy Central Records
This post's artist is from the January 2014 Mix. This is track #9.
You can download: the February Mix#12 right here or get the new March 2015 Mix#1 here.
For fans ofBrian Regan, Louis C.K., John Mulaney, Jerry Seinfeld, Dane Cook and laughter.

Before PETE HOLMES was on late night television, he dropped one of the best stand-up comedy albums I've ever heard. I don't even remember who told me to check him out, but I'm glad I stumbled across his stuff. By the way this was before his late night show started which I never got into. He released the phenomenal 'Impregnated With Wonder' in 2011 and the partial letdown that is 2013's 'Nice Try, the Devil'.

One of the beautiful things about 'Impregnated With Wonder' is the delivery, besides the obvious, which would be jokes. PETE follows some bits with, "Do you understand?!" and "Listen to me!" which I find to be pretty original and quite entertaining. I also like that there is almost no swearing, which is kind of odd because I swear all the time. If a comedian can make me lose my shit with G-rated material then you know he or she has to be good. Let's skim over a few tracks/jokes from said album.

"Killer in the Backseat" discusses how he is an adult yet still gets freaked out that a criminal may have broken into his car and may be hiding in the back seat.
"Listen to me, I have a fully formed rational brain. This isn't comedy, this is something I do!"
"Is anybody biding their time back there?"

"Magic Sound" brings me to tears every time I hear his version of the sound of magic. Basically, he discusses how alpha males try to ruin a magic show for themselves by figuring out how the magic isn't real. The real gut-buster is the end when raises the point that when magic floors a person, there isn't really a sound they can make. They may say something like, "woah" or "wow", but compared to comedy and the intended end result of laughter is very obvious, instinctual and hardwired. He wishes people reacted to magic that blows their mind by making this grunting sound of "magic" that they cannot inherently control. That doesn't sound that funny, but listen to the track, it's awesome.

"Youtube Comments"=
"You shouldn't have a voice that reaches millions of people when you are that young and stupid. There's a record of that...forever! How's anyone going to run for president? Yeah, funny joke, valid point."

"Blond Mustache"=
"You gotta be careful though, there's a fine line between fun dad and creepy uncle. It's not really a line as much as it's a blond mustache. When did they decide? Did they have a meeting? Do you like something messed up, sexually? Let the world know, stop shaving here you fair-haired monster. And buy a van."

In "Sex in My Dreams" PETE starts talking about how he can't have sex in his dreams because he has no control over the dream. He discusses how he dreamed of a bunch of hot girls dancing and instead of making moves, etc. he takes out his cellphone and starts taking pictures of them. He also has a great joke about a beautiful woman he is dancing with in his dream who doesn't know his identity and, "...right before we kiss I'm like, 'I'm just kidding, it's Pete! I'm like a fat Val Kilmer' and she ran, she ran away from me, and I yelled 'I'm the worst Batman!' as she ran. I can't even make it happen in my dreams."

"Pieeeeeeerce!" is probably the quintessential track because it shows PETE at his most simplistic and quirky, as he takes a person's name and combines it in a sentence with a homonym (a word that sounds just like the person's name). Sounds dumb and it is, but you will be thinking about this with a smile on your face after listening, I'm sure of it. "Prince get me some mints!"

In "Subway" he lets a few f-bombs drop as he rips the "restaurant" a new asshole. There's no way you'll be eating that disgusting garbage after listening, as he reminds us all that the food tastes just like the restaurant smells.

"Google and Not Knowing" is one of my favourite tracks as he discusses how new generations of humans have lost the sense of wonder because instead of searching for information socially we can just use google and therefore, "life is over". It's a very interesting listen which will have you laughing at the same instant.

In '2013' he dropped 'Nice Try, the Devil' and I sat salivating on my couch ready to watch it. Unfortunately it doesn't hold a candle to his debut effort. It certainly isn't bad, but it almost sounds as if the material was written before the very impressive 2011 material. It's much rawer, based more around sex and gritty, judgmental musings. It's still funny, but there are too many moments when I think things like, "he's pushing it", "cheese" and "he's trying too hard".

Regardless of what I think, at least check out that first LP. It's a masterpiece.

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DISCOGRAPHY

2011 - Impregnated With Wonder cdLP

2013 - Nice Try, the Devil cdLP

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(2011) PETE HOLMES - "Magic Sound" (from 'Impregnated With Wonder')

(2011) PETE HOLMES - "Killer in the Backseat" (from 'Impregnated With Wonder')

(2011) PETE HOLMES - "Google and Not Knowing" (from 'Impregnated With Wonder')

(2011) PETE HOLMES - "Sex in My Dreams" (from 'Impregnated With Wonder')

(2011) PETE HOLMES - "Pieeeeeeeeeeeeerce!" (from 'Impregnated With Wonder')

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PETE HOLMES is pretty famous therefore I'm too lazy to add additional links, wait here's one

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