Pete Holmes

I’m sure you’re familiar with this often hilarious, sometimes cloying, podcaster’s voice:

That’s right; it’s the E-Trade baby. His manic yet insightful podcast is called You Made it Weird, a bit of a misnomer, considering the fact that it’s almost always Holmes, who “makes it weird.” It’s another addition to Chris Hardwick’s ever-expanding podcast channel on Nerdist.com.

The latest episode with Megan Ganz clocks in at three-plus hours, and it has its moments. But it too often revolves around Holmes’ obsession with ephemeral health trends. Topics like sitting being the new smoking or pecans versus other nuts probably act as conversational currency in Holmes daily interactions (they are interesting to some extent), but they grow tiresome and make this gifted comic come off as gullible–someone who readily subscribes to dogma whatever its delivery system.

Don’t let my criticisms deter you from subscribing to this gem, however. It’s full of life, and Holmes clearly has the talent and the stamina to push it to the next level. He just needs to reign his in a bit; his ostensible onstage ticks (loud hit-or-miss non sequiturs) don’t quite work in a long-form interview setting. I keep coming back for more, though. You will too.