Divine comedy: HBO’s ‘Crashing’ explores faith Cover Story this

By Sarah Passingham TV Media

L ike many comedians, Pete Holmes (“Ugly Americans”), writer, creator and star of HBO’s “Crashing,” has drawn humor from some of his deepest memories and most personal life moments. The concept of the series was formed from Holmes’ experiences as he rededicated himself to the pursuit of a standup comedy career. The comedy is currently in its sophomore season, with a new episode airing Sunday, Feb. 4, on HBO.

The show’s lead — also named Pete, and played by Holmes himself — struggles with the realities of adulthood, such as the dissolution of his marriage to Jess (Lauren Lapkus, “Orange Is the New Black”), questioning his faith, and reimagining his dreams when confronted with the difficulties of carving out a place for himself in the comedy world.

As the series is semi-autobiographical, many of Holmes’ comedy contemporaries appear as themselves in the show, including Artie Lange (“The Artie Lange Show”), T.J. Miller (“Silicon Valley”), Hannibal Buress (“Broad City”) and Sarah Silverman (“I Love You, America”). Other comedians, such as Jermaine Fowler (“Superior Donuts”) and Aparna

Nancherla (“Inside Amy Shumer”), feature as well, albeit in more fictional roles.

This is not the first endeavor for which Holmes

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has combined his personal and professional lives for compelling content. He has long been the host of the popular podcast “You Made It Weird,” in which he welcomes friends, guests and other comedians into conversations that explore complex ideas. Between the podcast, the confessional nature of standup comedy and the series inspired by events from his own life, Holmes has honed his skill of oversharing until it becomes art.

Holmes attended Gordon College, an Evangelical Christian college in Massachusetts, and his faith has been challenged and broadened since those formative years. Following his upbringing in

Christianity, Holmes explored Buddhism as an adult, and he brings his knowledge of and experience with faith with him in his everyday life, including in his creative projects. As Holmes told the New York Times, spirituality is “not just a Sunday-only thing for me. It’s something I’m constantly reading and thinking about.” So, naturally, it’s a driving force of the plot of “Crashing.” Confronting divorce and a new career pushes Pete to question what his faith means to him, and he is not the only character in the show who contemplates his spirituality.

Lange, playing himself in the finale of the first season, engages in a discussion about the place of spirituality in a world where people seek logical meaning for life’s events. Artie comes out of the conversation giving himself a sort of baptism as a new believer. For Lange, getting out of New Jersey and finding a home in New York City as a successful standup comedian was its own spiritual experience. Speaking to Exclaim! about leaving his home state, he said he “became more enlightened than my friends by going into show business.” The passion that Lange has for comedy is felt by audiences and critics, as his turn playing a fictional version of himself in “Crashing” has gifted him with the most well-received performance of his career.

Holmes shared with Paste magazine that in creating “Crashing” as a dark comedy, he felt that he was “playing catch-up with other great artists like Lena Dunham and Ricky Gervais.” It is not a surprise then that Judd Apatow, who famously executive produced “Girls” for HBO, would settle into the same role for “Crashing.” Holmes shared with The Hollywood Reporter that what inspired him to need Apatow as a mentor was the “serious heart and warmth” he felt the characters of “Girls” had and which he wanted in the characters of his own show.

What seems like a perfect fit now almost wasn’t. When Holmes pitched the concept of “Crashing” to Apatow, the latter told Vulture he felt it was “too sad.” Holmes, however, was motivated and certain about the show, and after writing a series of episodes, the partnership with Apatow became a match made in heaven, and they got to work. The series leans into the adulthood malaise that Apatow is known for producing not only in his television series, but in his film career as well. In “Funny People” (2009), a comedian deals with a terminal illness with signature Apatow humility as he develops a quick friendship with a green comic. So, while it is a story told many times before, it may be told best with “Crashing,” as Holmes and Apatow have practiced and are at their best.

“Crashing” upends some stereotypes that many autobiographical comedies lean on, and the goodness of Pete is what steers the show into plots less traveled. While comedians are often portrayed as bad people making bad decisions, for “Crashing,” Holmes created Pete from a different cloth. He is a thoughtful, if at times naive person whose decency is often what causes problems for him, as well as some of the most enjoyable tension. A key factor in what makes “Crashing” work is the opposing natures of the fictional versions of Holmes and Lange. Lange is the gruff veteran comic to Pete’s innocent newcomer, and the two explore parallel problems questioning faith and entertainment. Centering the story from Pete’s point of view is what makes “Crashing” a fresh take on a comic’s origin story.

Catch a new episode of “Crashing,” airing Sunday, Feb. 4, on HBO.

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