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Cover image credit: Promotional image via Prime Video

Dirty Clean

Pete Holmes

HBO · 2018 · 57 min

Earnest stand-up about new fatherhood, Elon Musk, and yoga pants.

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Pete Holmes is a comedian who wants his audience to feel warm, safe, and happy, even when he is talking about wanting to shake a crying baby. He performs with an aggressive, puppy-dog earnestness, spending as much time managing the mood in the room as he does delivering punchlines. He treats the entire performance like a shared physical exercise, at one point instructing the crowd to sing “Happy Birthday” in their heads to see if they can collectively make the silent chorus louder.\n\nTaped at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, Oregon, this 2018 hour was filmed while his HBO sitcom Crashing was between its second and third seasons. It reflects a comedian who is much more settled and content than his onscreen counterpart. Holmes is a new father who has discovered that the best part of sleep is the act of falling asleep, and a suburban convert who happily wears Lululemon yoga pants without ever intending to do yoga. He touches on the afterlife and Elon Musk, but the core of the show remains his peculiar, high-energy charm—the kind that leads older ladies to thank him for being “clean” right after a set full of swear words.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Child care and the warning never to shake a baby

    Holmes points out how hospital nurses constantly warn parents never to shake a baby, but fail to mention that new parents will inevitably face the intense temptation to do so, comparing rocking a crying infant to kind of shaking them.

  2. Proposing in a hot-air balloon

    Holmes recounts getting engaged while riding a rainbow-colored hot-air balloon with a pilot who continually ruined the moment by calling everything 'gay'.

  3. The afterlife and precedent

    He counters friends who claim an afterlife makes no sense by arguing that life itself makes no sense, thereby setting a precedent for more things that make no sense.

  4. Mike Pence gummy bear comparison

    Observes that Mike Pence looks like a clear gummy bear and riffs on his rule regarding never being alone in a room with a woman other than his wife.

  5. Friend saying 'the N-word'

    Holmes recounts having lunch with a Black friend who repeatedly said the phrase 'the N-word' instead of the actual slur, prompting Holmes to joke that the phrase belongs to white people.

How it plays

Tone
Joyful, silly, warm, authentic, and philosophically inquisitive.
On stage
An affable, joyous goof and wide-eyed spiritual seeker who over-enunciates words and embraces both silly and raunchy comedy.
Pace
Evolves across three phases described as crashing, climbing, and enlightenment, starting off slightly scattered before building steady momentum and driving into deep existential reflections.
About
new fatherhood and childcare, marriage and engagement, consciousness and the human body, the afterlife, clean vs. dirty comedy, driving and traffic

What the critics said

Critical reviews were favorable, highlighting Holmes's infectious joy, philosophical curiosity, and command over audience manipulation and engagement.

In the room: Taped before a sold-out Portland audience described as smart, hip, and receptive, enthusiastically taking part in group visualization exercises.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: hbomax.com, rottentomatoes.com, tvguide.com, oregonlive.com, vulture.com, decider.com, aiptcomics.com, en.wikipedia.org, pro.imdb.com, forbes.com.

Backstory

Holmes had recently married Valerie Chaney and welcomed a newborn daughter, transitioning his stage comedy away from his early clean Christian comedy persona toward authentic adult material blending dirty topics with positive intent.

Details

Released
Taped
Aladdin Theater, Portland
Runtime
57 min
Where
HBO
Director
Marcus Raboy
Topics
Before
Faces and Sounds (2016)
After
I Am Not for Everyone (2023)

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