Pete & Me
YouTube · 2026 · 66 min
Stand-up about growing up with a profoundly autistic brother.
Released , on YouTube.
Graham Kay spends an hour talking about his older brother Pete, who has profound autism, without turning him into a punchline or asking the crowd for sympathy. The sharpest stretches come from Kay’s childhood logic, including his insistence that his own compulsive clicking tic (picked up while trying to become Michael Jordan) got the family kicked out of restaurants, rather than Pete spinning in the corner or their father yelling from the table. He pairs those stories with daily phone calls where the two pretend to be Bert and Ernie, a memory of getting arrested and having Pete hang up on the cops, and the blunter adult question of who cares for Pete and what happens to Kay’s career once their aging parents are gone. Taped at Manhattan’s SoHo Playhouse and directed by Dan Bricker and Eytan Millstone, the 66-minute special premiered April 17, 2026, on Nate Bargatze’s Nateland Entertainment YouTube channel, timed to Autism Acceptance Month, with an audio album following on 800 Pound Gorilla Media in July. It is the fourth special for the Ottawa-born, Brooklyn-based Comedy Cellar regular, who previously appeared on Fallon and Colbert and spent three years working the material up as a solo stage show at New York’s Under St. Marks Theater, the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe, and SoHo Playhouse in 2025. Paste praised the early New York run for its “careful consideration, heartfelt candor, and masterful storytelling,” and the Child Mind Institute lauded the stage show as well.
Notable bits & set list
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Pete's Fish Tank
Kay describes giving Pete a fish tank as a therapeutic hobby, which Pete turns into an unmanaged swamp where fish immediately die, making Pete the 'angel of death' in a tucked-in Spider-Man t-shirt at the local pet store.
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Bert and Ernie Morning Ritual
Kay and Pete roleplay over the phone every morning as Bert and Ernie, sharing Pete's spot-on impressions and heartfelt voicemail messages.
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Childhood Compulsive Clicking and Getting Kicked Out of Restaurants
Kay humorously blames his childhood OCD clicking tic—linked to his dream of becoming Michael Jordan—for his family being expelled from restaurants rather than Pete's public meltdowns or his father's shouting.
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Dating a Woman with a French Child
Armed with autism knowledge, Kay misdiagnoses a date's non-speaking toddler with autism, only to be informed the child is simply speaking French.
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Jail in New York City and Pete's Voicemail
Kay spends days in jail after an alcohol-fueled incident because Pete hung up on the NYPD in Canada, but emerges to find Pete was the only person who left him a voicemail checking in on him.
How it plays
- Tone
- Deeply funny, tender, bittersweet, honest, and unexpectedly moving.
- On stage
- Dry wit, self-deprecating neurosis, and emotional candor balancing affectionate mockery with sincere sibling devotion.
- Pace
- Delicately structured narrative storytelling with precise comedic timing, shifting smoothly between raucous laughs and tender reflections.
- About
- profound autism and caregiving, brotherhood and family dynamics, OCD and childhood compulsions, loneliness and aging, dating and mortality
What the critics said
Universally praised as a masterclass in comic timing, narrative empathy, and honesty, seamlessly combining breathless hilarity with poignant emotional weight.
In the room: Uproarious laughter and visceral glee mixed with palpable shared tenderness and quiet reflection.
Backstory
Released in recognition of Autism Acceptance Month, exploring his relationship with his older brother Pete, who has profound autism, and addressing the future reality of caregiving when their aging parents pass away.
Details
- Released
- Taped
- SoHo Playhouse, New York
- Runtime
- 66 min
- Where
- YouTube
- Director
- Dan Bricker, Eytan Millstone
- Honors
- Five stars (★★★★★) - The Indiependent
- Topics
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