Patrick Holbert
Treats the grimmest parts of addiction like warm neighborhood gossip.
1 special · 2025
Get an email when there's a new special. Use your email or Google.
Patrick Holbert delivers catastrophic personal history with the cheerful posture of someone recommending a neighborhood diner. He will smile warmly, lean slightly over the microphone, and explain how a disastrous bender led to an arrest without ever raising his voice. The rhythm is steady and conversational, punctuated by small shrugs that signal he made peace with his worst decisions years ago. When an audience stiffens at the mention of rehab, he does not scramble to soften the blow. He simply doubles down on the mundane logistical problems of being a hopeless drunk.
Stand-up specials
-
A half-hour set delivered straight to an anonymous recovery gathering.
Comedy Dynamics · 34 min
On stage
He belongs to the sturdy tier of New York club comics who work every room in town, bouncing between basement showcases, late-night host duties, and recovery conventions. Fellow comedians lean on him offstage to direct and edit their own projects, but behind the microphone he keeps things strictly conversational.
His best material treats twelve-step recovery like ordinary workplace gossip. In Qualification, taped in front of an audience of recovering addicts, he skips the standard redemption speech to pick at petty domestic neuroses and the strange boredom of adult responsibility. He avoids the trap of acting like an inspirational speaker, treating the clean years with the same dry skepticism he gives his active ones.
Before comedy, Holbert spent years producing television, burning out until sobriety forced a reset. Cutting footage for other people taught him how to keep a joke moving, but on stage the appeal is how little vanity he brings to the wreckage.
Turning points
-
Career Shift from TV Production to Standup
After a career working as a television producer and getting sober, Holbert transitioned into performing standup comedy full-time in New York City.
-
Release of Debut Special Qualification
Patrick Holbert released his debut comedy special 'Qualification' through Comedy Dynamics, which was filmed before an undisclosed 12-step recovery meeting.
At a glance
- On stage
- since 2014
- Style
- autobiographical, storytelling
- Breakout
- Qualification
- Influences
- Dave Attell, Jackie Kashian, Laurie Kilmartin, Norm MacDonald, Joe List, Jessica Kirson, Wendy Liebman, Maria Bamford, Harland Williams, Marc Maron, Sean Patton, Jerry Seinfeld, Andy Kaufman
- Topics
- Elsewhere
- Website
Fans also like
-
Joe ListHolbert worked as co-producer, cinematographer, and editor on Joe List's documentary 'Tom Dustin: Portrait of a Comedian' and frequently cites List as a direct comedic influence.
Podcasts
-
We Hired a Sitter For This · co-host
A podcast originally co-hosted by Patrick Holbert with his wife Ross Erin Martineau, and later co-hosted alongside fellow comedian Gastor Almonte.
-
The Comic's Table · co-host
A comedy podcast co-hosted by Patrick Holbert.
Also on screen
- Hack My Life
- –
- The Movie Loft
- –
- Mysteries at the Museum
A clip to start with
"Punch Line Drunk" Alcohol Awareness Comedy Show