Here’s a monologue idea the comedian Pete Holmes is working on for his new late-night talk show. It’s about sports, generally a pretty safe late-night topic. But he’s worried it won’t ever be funny.
The premise? “The reason I don’t like sports is it reminds me of the futility of doing anything.”
Specifically: “Because people are like ‘Why put the ball in the hoop?’ But it’s like, ‘Why brush your teeth?’ It’s just, like, the problem of life.”
Which is maybe a lot to think about at midnight, when his new show will air, after “Conan,” on TBS. Sleep well, viewers. Also, everything is pointless. Stay tuned for a celebrity interview.
But Holmes might give it a try. He already has a pretty good idea that people like to listen to him talk about life’s bigger questions. Now he just has to hope they want to watch him, too.
Holmes, a comedian whose one-hour special on Comedy Central premiered this spring and whose most broadly recognizable credit at this point is “voice of the Etrade baby,” hosts a podcast called “You Made it Weird.” In episodes that can cross the three-hour threshold on occasion, he leads his guests, usually fellow comedians, on intimate discussions that cover comedy, relationships and religion. And also the benefits of raw chocolate, how close he is to his mother and the value of transcendental meditation.
When it came time to pitch the show to TBS, he says, he could point to the 100-plus interviews he’d already done — plus sketch comedy videos for College Humor, his stand-up experience and time spent writing on television shows. He had essentially DIY-ed his late-night bona fides.
“For better or worse, these days, because it is possible to do so many things on your own, nobody really believes you can do it until you’re already doing it,” Holmes says.
Holmes is the latest comedian to propel himself on a podcast-to-television-show pipeline. The group of comedians using experience with podcasts – easily downloadable and generally free audio shows, featuring interviews, sketch comedy, monologues and other experimentation – includes Nikki Glaser and Sara Schaefer, who turned the rapport they demonstrated on their podcast “You Had to Be There ” into “Nikki and Sara Live” on MTV, which will have its season finale Tueday. Chris Hardwick, who recently launched “@midnight” on Comedy Central, also brought his “Nerdist” podcast to television on BBC America this past spring. In pursuing more comedy programming, IFC has developed two shows from podcasts. Marc Maron, of the popular podcast “WTF,” has a scripted show on the network based on his life as a podcaster called “Maron,” which will be back for a second season next spring. Scott Aukerman brought an absurdist faux talk-show version of his “Comedy Bang Bang” podcast, with band-leading assistance from Reggie Watts, to television viewers. The network just announced that it is bringing the show back for a third season and announced a development deal with the podcast network Earwolf, which Aukerman co-runs.
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