You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes

Episode: Samm Levine (July 13, 2022)

Episode Overview

In this ebullient, sprawling conversation, Pete Holmes sits down with actor/comedian Samm Levine (Freaks & Geeks, Inglourious Basterds) for a classic deep-dive into secret weirdness, near-death stories, cinephilia, and the bittersweet “lore” of Hollywood bit parts. The two riff endlessly on everything from breakfast cereal and skydiving to Tarantino's moviemaking ethos and why neither of them has ever finished The Godfather. True to form, their banter weaves smart observations, Jewish humor, and vulnerable moments into a fast-paced, laughter-filled ride.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Jewish Identity and Traditions

• The episode opens with a tongue-in-cheek riff about Jewish identity, holidays, and the street-side “Are you Jewish?” question.
  • Samm: “There’s a holiday where they stop you on the street and ask if you’re Jewish.” (07:59)
  • Pete: “It’s called Nazi Germany. Show us your papers!” (08:15)
• Discussion on wedding traditions, like breaking the glass, with Samm explaining why he and his (non-Jewish) wife skipped many Jewish rituals.
  • Samm: "I'm not going to do it if I don't know why I'm doing it... There's no single straight answer." (90:56)
  • Pete: “I’m kind of tradition envious.” (88:30)
• They both reflect on the secularization of religious identities and the meaning (or lack thereof) behind certain customs.

2. Lottery Wealth and the Good Life

• Pete floats a thought experiment: if you were anonymously worth $300 million, would you still do the things you love?
  • Samm admits he’s a “man of leisure”—the type who wouldn't go stir-crazy taking it easy (22:25).
  • Pete: “That is the movie Office Space. You’re Peter, man.” (23:07)
  • Samm: “I am capable of doing very little in a day and being very okay with that.” (23:19)
• Leisure days for Samm involve watching three baseball games with zero guilt or need for more activity (24:28).

3. Hollywood Anecdotes – “Lore” and Getting Cut

• Samm’s Jobs (Ashton Kutcher/Steve Jobs biopic) anticlimax: He auditioned for one smallish role, improvised, and ended up with a “numbered” bit part that was cut down to one line on the fly. He requested to go uncredited—only to see his name in the credits on an airline years later (39:05–50:12).
  • Samm: "I'm a big boy. I've been cut out of plenty of things." (44:15)
  • "I thought, I should probably go uncredited in this movie, what with my one line of dialogue..." (45:02)
  • On seeing it years later: "I forgot I was in that movie... I had a moment in my seat on this plane." (48:39)
• Similar “lore” from being unbilled in Lost and the mid-level Hollywood experience.

4. Movie Love and Cinephilia

• Samm’s cinephilia is deeply rooted; both parents and his grandfather were movie nuts with extensive collections. He grew up with cable TV in his room by age eleven (55:29).
  • "My parents loved movies. They had an enormous collection... I was brought up with a love of cinema." (56:44)
• The “first movie that opened the world”: A Clockwork Orange at age 11 or 12, which transported him and shifted his view of what movies could do (58:18).
  • Samm: “I did not think a story like that could be told in a film.” (58:54)
• Pete shares how Good Will Hunting similarly moved him—“snapped him into reality” at 17 (64:24).
  • “Sometimes when I’m pitching a movie, I’ll remind people—do you remember what it was like … you watched a movie and it actually snapped you into reality?” (65:05)
• Discussion on what makes “the best” vs. “favorite” films, with Samm naming The Godfather as “the best,” and A Clockwork Orange as his favorite (68:03).
  • Samm: “Anything goes with favorites. No one can touch your favorite.” (67:15)

5. Near-Death Experiences

• Samm details two times he almost died:
  1. Drowning in Mexico During Filming: During Club Dread’s shoot, a night swim where Samm, a weak swimmer, got caught in an undertow and nearly drowned—saved, in part, by a lucky wave and crawling to shore (74:04–81:33).
     • “I'm fighting for my life in water that I cannot handle.” (79:14)
     • Pete: “We go from don’t die to don’t make someone else uncomfortable.” (81:00)
  2. Solo Skydiving Malfunction: Took skydiving past tandems, and on his first solo jump, his main chute malfunctioned. Samm troubleshoots his malfunction at dangerously low altitude before the chute finally fully opens (101:11–110:35).
     • “I look up, and I immediately identify what the malfunction is, and I’m trying to fix it ... I gave it everything I had … then it goes—pop!—and now I’ve got it.” (109:48)
     • He continued to skydive, reaching 11 solo jumps, before a rough landing sidelined him (112:18).

6. On Not Having Kids & Secular Worldviews

• Couples' decision not to have children: Pragmatic, selfish, undramatic ("We want to eat nachos in the sad world by ourselves." 116:18)
• Samm is an agnostic/atheist who won’t claim 100% certainty either way; likens it to Penn Jillette’s “infinite possibility” viewpoint (118:49–120:17).
  • “Much in the same way that no one can prove there is 100% a God … you can be 99.9, you can’t be 100.” (118:49)

7. Tarantino, Acting, and “Because We Love Making Movies”

• On the Inglourious Basterds set, Quentin Tarantino famously motivates the crew between takes by saying: “Because we love making movies.” (as explanation for re-doing great takes; 125:54)
  • Samm: “He’s never allowed himself to forget his childlike exuberance of love of cinema ... he gets to do at the highest level.” (127:11)
• Reveals Tarantino’s backstory for Brad Pitt’s Aldo the Apache's scar (lynching gone awry after intervening against racists), and his directorial method—authenticity above all; he'd rewrite scenes on the fly if the actors' energy changed (131:12–140:21).
  • “He needed something authentic. And if we couldn't get to the authentic thing he wanted, he'd find the authentic thing we could do, and he'd make that the scene.” (140:34)
• Reflections on being cut from scenes (“I got Steve Jobs’d”) and how big ensemble movies are made longer and edited down (133:07).

8. Favorite Deep-Cut Movies & Trivia Brain

• Samm’s affection for the “bad” film Freejack (Emilio Estevez, Mick Jagger) and ability to recall minute movie details and trivia—“That’s how my brain works. I remember everything in the movies.” (124:26)
• Pete marvels at Samm’s encyclopedic memory, emotional connections to movies, and their contagious energy.

9. Hardest Time Samm Ever Laughed

• The hardest he ever laughed was at a Friars Club street joke, which he still tells himself to cheer up:
  • “Help me find my car keys. We’ll drive out.” (punchline of an old blue bar joke; 145:58–147:54)
  • Samm: “I laughed so hard I’m crying at the table.” (145:47)

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On leisure and the good life:

  • Samm: “Some people retire … and they don’t know what to do. … Not me. … I am capable of doing very little in a day and being very okay with that.” (23:18)

• On “Jobs” Movie Lore:

  • “I thought, I should probably go uncredited in this movie, what with my one line of dialogue… It’ll be one of those weird things that makes it a little more special for me.” (45:02)
  • “I forgot I was in that movie … I had a moment in my seat on this plane.” (48:39)

• On the power of movies:

  • “I did not think a story like that could be told in a film.” (Samm, on Clockwork Orange, 58:54)
  • Pete: “Sometimes when I’m pitching a movie, I’ll remind people—do you remember what it was like … you watched a movie and it actually snapped you into reality?” (65:05)

• On traditions:

  • Samm: “I'm not going to do it if I don't know why I'm doing it ... There's no single straight answer [to the glass].” (90:56)
  • On breaking the glass: “If even one person who stepped on a glass did it for that reason [superstition], I’m not doing it.” (92:15)

• On almost drowning:

  • “I'm fighting for my life in water that I cannot handle.” (79:14)

• On skydiving malfunction:

  • “I tried one last time, gave it absolutely everything … then it goes—pop!—and now I've got it.” (109:48)

• On atheism and uncertainty:

  • “Much in the same way that no one can prove there is 100% a God… you can be 99.9, you can't be 100.” (118:49)

• On the Friars Club hardest laugh:

  • Samm: “I laughed so hard I’m crying at the table. … Help me find my car keys, we’ll drive out.” (145:47, 147:54)

Timeline of Key Segments

• 07:59 — Opening, Jewish holiday riff, Mr. Rogers impressions, docking jokes.
• 13:50 — Steve Jobs/lottery wealth & the “curse of too much money.”
• 22:05 — Doing nothing/leisure days—baseball and happy solitude.
• 39:05 — The Jobs movie “being cut” story, Hollywood lore.
• 54:00 — Samm’s family movie history; seeing A Clockwork Orange at age 12.
• 64:00 — Pete’s Good Will Hunting moment.
• 74:00 — Club Dread drowning incident, followed by the skydiving story at 101:00.
• 90:56 — Wedding traditions and breaking the glass debate.
• 118:00 — Secular worldview, atheism, “99.9%” certainty discussion.
• 124:26 — Samm’s deep-cut trivia brain; love for Freejack.
• 125:54 — Tarantino set stories ("Because we love making movies"), directing style, Pitt’s character scar.
• 145:47 — Friars Club street joke—hardest time Samm ever laughed.

Conclusion: Episode Vibes

The episode is vintage You Made It Weird: riotous, rambly, and full of warmth, with Pete and Samm swapping stories both absurd and sincere. It’s a conversation about why comedy (and movies) matter, why sometimes being “cut” from something can be a badge of honor, and why the best weirdness is often the truest. For fans of comedy lore, personal mythologies, and the secret handshakes of showbiz, it's a can’t-miss.

“Help me find my car keys. We'll drive out.”
– Samm Levine (147:54)

“Because we love making movies.”
– Quentin Tarantino, via Samm Levine (125:54)

“No one can touch your favorite.”
– Samm Levine (67:15)