Handsome – Episode Summary

Podcast: Handsome
Episode: Pete Holmes Asks About Inexplicable Inexperiences
Date: March 24, 2026
Hosts: Tig Notaro, Fortune Feimster, Mae Martin
Guest/Question Asker: Pete Holmes

Episode Overview

This lively and heartfelt episode of "Handsome" centers around experiences that are utterly inexplicable—psychic moments, eerie coincidences, and uncanny brushings with the mysterious. Comedian and podcaster Pete Holmes joins the show (virtually, via a pre-recorded question) to ask Tig, Fortune, and Mae to share their most unexplainable life encounters, leading to an episode rich with bizarre stories, earnest moments, playful banter, and open-hearted vulnerability. The trio also covers life on the road, birthday traditions, fan encounters, and the freeing power of earnestness among friends.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Celebrating Tig’s (Early) Birthday

• The episode opens with playful ribbing about Tig’s upcoming 55th birthday—"Double nickels. Finally old enough to move into a retirement community." (Tig, 01:02)
• The discussion leads to the American tradition of senior discounts at fast food restaurants. Tig relates a long-time habit of asking for senior discounts even in her youth.
  • Quote: "I can't believe it now has caught up with me that I can actually ask for a senior soda." (Tig, 02:41)

2. Life on the Road (Touring Stories)

• Mae is calling in from a tour bus, trying to balance the odd hours and eating habits of touring life.
• There's playful banter about snacks (beignets!) and vegan road food.
• Mae provides a window into her road routine, fan interactions, and the emotional impact of safe spaces at shows, especially in politically tense regions.
  • Quote: "There's an added emotional depth to it right now, especially in Florida...people are really happy to be in, like, a safe space." (Mae, 12:08)

3. Fan Encounters & Wild Anecdotes

• Mae shares wild, funny, occasionally awkward meet-and-greet stories, including a fan handing her a banana (referencing a previous, half-forgotten podcast joke) and another having Mae sign a "legal document" declaring her a hall pass.
  • Quote: "It looks like a legal document that said this entitles the person to sleep with Mae Martin...why did I sign that?" (Mae, 34:05)
• The trio muses about the boundary-pushing nature of fan encounters, the gendered dynamics at play, and dealing with being a “people pleaser.”

4. Earnestness in Friendship and Birthday Toasts

[23:00 – 31:00]

• A sincere, unexpected thread emerges: how much the hosts value earnestly expressing affection and admiration among friends, especially around birthdays.
• Mae and Fortune both deliver touching, earnest toasts to Tig, highlighting her resilience, growth, and gift for connection.
  • Quotes:
    • "To have the privilege of getting to know someone who is so endlessly curious...what a gift. And I'm eternally grateful." (Mae, 26:01)
    • "Someone who has had perseverance in a way none of us can understand, but who loves and appreciates life as a result...we are blessed to share that life with her." (Fortune, 28:48)

5. Pete Holmes’ Big Question: Most Inexplicable Experiences

• Pete Holmes appears (37:07) with his signature blend of curiosity and whimsy, asking the trio to share their most unexplainable, mysterious, or psychic experiences.
  • Quote: "Could you share something that happened that was just completely inexplicable?...It's my favorite question." (Pete, 37:21)
• Mae’s Stories:
  • The psychic whose face “melted” or shifted during a reading.
  • Manifesting an old friend, David, in Nepal by writing his name and encountering him days later, thousands of miles from home.
    • Quote: "It felt really like I'd magnetized him, or he magnetized me." (Mae, 40:15)
• Fortune’s Story:
  • Her mother’s encounter with a mysterious nurse (possibly an angel) who correctly predicted Fortune’s birth as a ten-pound girl, offering prophetic comfort before disappearing.
    • Quote: "This nurse looked in my eyes in a way...I knew it, I knew she was right and it felt very, like, otherworldly." (Fortune, 41:37)
  • Brief brush with possible ghostly activity in a Toronto rental house.
• Tig’s Stories:
  • The uncanny timing of seeing a production company sticker ("FinMax Productions") with her soon-to-be children’s chosen names ("Finn," "Max") on the day of their birth.
    • Quote: "I was truly like, my eyeballs like a cartoon or like...so that was a really bizarre moment." (Tig, 49:11)
  • Subtle, serendipitous moments involving the late Andrea, her former romantic partner.
  • Highlights on quantum entanglement and the possibility of science eventually explaining these phenomena.
    • Quote: "We're gonna find out one day...that you are connected to your loved ones and can sort of like quantum entanglement." (Mae, 47:14)
• Discussion branches into the reliability of psychic readings, the comfort of such stories, and remains open to both mystical and rational explanations.

6. Pete Holmes’ Own Inexplicable Experience

[52:18 – 53:49]

• Pete recounts a psychic, unprompted, identifying his secret relationship nickname ("Boog"), which no one could have known—"paradigm shifting."
  • Quote: "She said, you want to talk about relationships? And I said, yes. And the first thing she said was, who's Boog?...I've never been like that. I do not post...It was completely mind blowing." (Pete, 53:02)

7. Playful Plans & Podcast Traditions

• The idea of a "Wellness Weekend" getaway full of journaling, meditating, and art is floated—amid much comic resistance from Fortune.
• Jokes about starting a fortune-telling side hustle, with Tig reading “broccoli stems” instead of coffee grounds (55:11).
• Light-hearted banter about caricatures and fan-made art wraps the chat.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On fan interactions:
  • "Last night, this woman comes up in the meet and greet...she goes, I want you to fuck me with this banana. I said, excuse me?...I don't remember that." (Mae, 11:14)
• On earnest birthday toasts:
  • "I like toasts. I like really earnest moments...especially as a comedian. People expect comedy from me, and I like to show that other side." (Tig, 22:58)
• On the unknown:
  • "What's interesting to me about inexplicable things is like, in the future, are we going to find out that it's scientifically explicable?" (Mae, 38:11)
• On admiration for each other:
  • "Every single day that Tig celebrates her life, she knows, is a blessing, and we are blessed to share that life with her." (Fortune, 29:00)
• On Pete’s psychic moment:
  • "She goes, who's Boog? That is just...paradigm shifting." (Pete Holmes, 53:02)

Timestamps for Major Segments

• Birthday, Senior Discounts, Touring Banter: 00:53 – 10:36
• Fan Encounters & Beignet Chat: 11:14 – 15:00
• Emotional Connections at Shows: 12:08 – 13:40
• Earnest Birthday Toasts: 23:00 – 31:00
• Inexplicable Experiences (Main Segment):
  • Pete Holmes’ Question Introduction: 37:07
  • Mae’s Psychic/Manifestation Stories: 39:01 – 40:34
  • Fortune’s “Angel Nurse” Birth Story: 40:49 – 43:48
  • Tig’s Name Synchronicity (FinMax): 48:36 – 50:17
  • Pete’s Psychic Nickname Story: 52:18 – 53:49
• Caricatures, Wellness Weekend Jokes, Closing: 55:11 – end

Tone & Language

The episode is classic "Handsome": a whiplash blend of deep, vulnerable honesty and irreverent, quick-witted comedy. The trio oscillates between heartfelt affection and ridiculous comic riffs, never shying from earnest expression—but always ready with a self-deprecating joke or side-eye about being “too earnest.”

For New & Returning Listeners

This episode is an ideal listen to experience the full spectrum of Handsome's appeal: dazzling chemistry among the hosts, rollicking road stories, wild audience interactions, deeply personal anecdotes, and a rare comfort with moments that defy easy explanations—often finding genuine connection (and a punchline) where least expected.

Listen for:

• Velvet-soft psychic stories and hard laughs
• Fans requesting bananas and “sex documents” at the meet and greet
• Unexpectedly beautiful birthday tributes
• A celebration of the inexplicable—embraced, retold, and never fully explained