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Valerie
You made it weird. You made it weird.
Pete Holmes
You made it weird.
Valerie
Oh, yeah.
Pete Holmes
You made it weird. Yes, you did. You made it weird with Pete Holmes.
Valerie
What's happening, weirdos?
Pete Holmes
We're back, baby.
Valerie
We're back, baby.
Pete Holmes
Val was sick and. And we had some big guests, so sometimes when the guests are big, we'll take the week off just to put more or highlight on the Anna Kendrick episode.
Valerie
We were out of town, too. It's been a busy three weeks. Really.
Pete Holmes
It's been a beast. Yeah. But we're so happy to be back. And we're rested and ready. Rested and we're ready arrested.
Valerie
And I'm ready to begin. You went up with it to be.
Pete Holmes
We're so glad you're here. This is a great episode. I know I always say that if you're new to these episodes, these are kind of the bonus episodes, but that seems like putting it down.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
What it is.
Valerie
I think Anna Kendrick's the bonus.
Pete Holmes
Yeah.
Valerie
I love her so much.
Pete Holmes
Wednesday is the guest driven. Friday is me and Val. Val and I are lovers.
Valerie
Okay.
Pete Holmes
I love these, and I love that you guys listen. It's. These are some of my favorites to do, and this is no exception. So if you like the show, we're going to. We're going to play some ads here. I always say try to be as transparent as we can about the ads. These are how we pay the staff. Katie Levine, our wonderful producer, Joe Faria, our video producer, all that stuff. It keeps the lights on, as they say. But they are products that we use and love. So if any of them are mildly interesting to you, give them a try. Supports the show and we really appreciate it. Also, I'm on tour. Raleigh, North Carolina, is next, followed by Indianapolis, Seattle, Portland. On December 20th is a special one. The first show at the Aladdin has sold out. The second one, I believe there's still tickets available, and I believe we're going to be filming that one. I've already done a special at the Aladdin, but we're going to film this and see how we feel about it. And then Eugene, Oregon, the next night is sold out. A lot of fans in Oregon means a lot. But let's see if we can sell that second Aladdin out and maybe add a third, who knows? And then Phoenix, Arizona. So those are them. Katie. Roll those ads, guys. Give these a try if you can. Roll it. Pardon the interruption, weirdos. This episode is brought to us by our friends at Apollo. You can see in this episode, I'm wearing my Apollo. I'm actually not wearing it right now because it's charging. That's the only time I'm not wearing my Apollo is when I briefly have to charge it. What is an Apollo? It is a piece of wearable tech and it is the piece of technology that's changed my life the most, hands down in the past years. It's wearable. Helps your body recover from stress by sending vibrations into your body at an almost sub perceptual level. That helps your nervous system be calm and in control by giving it the sensation of being touched or held. Apollo can help you relax, sleep, focus and be more productive. Every night it lulls me to sleep and it's smart. It reruns in the night to keep me asleep. It's like a wearable hug for the nervous system. Using touch therapy to help you feel safe and in control. I like to wear it on the wrist. Val wears hers on her ankle. Apollo Neuro is like finding the fuse box for your emotional life, for your physical body. With settings for energy, social, clear and focused, rebuild and recover, calm, unwind and fall asleep. Apollo Neuro is not woo woo. It's not a crystal. It was not developed by a hippie in Sedona. It was developed by a neuroscientist and a board certified psychiatrist who have been studying the impacts of chronic stress in humans for nearly 15 years. And Apollo's effects on stress, sleep, cognitive performance and recovery have been proven in multiple clinical trials and real world studies. And I'm here to tell you I'm one of those studies. I'm a living study. My own personal anecdotal experience with the Apollo is. It is a game changer. I always, always always wear it every single day. You get 40 bucks off at ApolloNeuro.com weird. You using promo code weird. That's a P O L-L-O-N-U-R-O.com weird. Use promo code weird for $40 off. Great gift by the way. For anybody in your life that could use a little assistance. And couldn't we all regulating their bodies and their emotions. We're also brought to us by our friends at Living Libations. I always say this, this is a great way to support the show because I guarantee you there's something in your medicine cabinet. Could be a moisturizer, it could be something for your teeth, it could be something for your baby hair, nails, eyes, whatever it is. Living Libations is a high end. Meaning quality. Meaning kick ass effective but natural alternative to the random chemical nightmares they sell at convenience stores. I'm very mindful about what I put in my body, but I realized a few years ago I wasn't being about. Very mindful about what I put on my body. Of course, the things you put on your body end up in your bloodstream, end up in your body. I was buying a shaving cream that was like a pressurized blue goo and a can. Not anymore. Living Libations came in. We did a complete overhaul. You can get something small, you get something big. Support your body, support the show. I love their Zen shave cream. It's the only shaving cream you can use as an after shave. That's how natural you just rub it in when you're done. It's incredible. Feeding your skin everything that it needs. We use the best skin ever face moisturizer at night, which makes a huge noticeable difference to your glow and to the feel of your skin. And we love their zinc based sunblock in the summer and all of their baby stuff. For Leela, it's great to feel like you're putting something natural that you can trust on your family, on your child. So do it. Great way to support the show and support your body. You get 15% off, tons and tons of stuff. Go to livinglibations.com weird for 15% off. That's living libations.com weird. All right, everybody. So glad you're here.
Valerie
Valerie, get into it. Mind if I have a little cheese?
Pete Holmes
Why is a cheese a nerd?
Valerie
Okay, a bigger question. I think I know Family Matters. As somebody who watched it regularly.
Pete Holmes
Yes.
Valerie
What the hell was that? What happened in our culture where that was comedy?
Pete Holmes
Like, what a nerd.
Valerie
Yeah. And like. And I feel like the original.
Pete Holmes
Yeah.
Valerie
Idea for the show was like, this is about a family, like, with struggles. And then it became like, 98, about Urkel being a nerd and liking cheese.
Pete Holmes
And like, I love that, you know, got any cheese? Because people. People know, did I do that right?
Valerie
Oh, no, I'm telling you.
Pete Holmes
Got any cheeses? Was intended to be just as strong of a catchphrase as did I do that?
Valerie
I'm telling you, I loved that show.
Pete Holmes
Me too.
Valerie
But in hindsight, truly, what the hell happened to you?
Pete Holmes
We've been. I think about this a lot. You know, Leela has a friend who's a genius, a little friend who's a genius. And I find this, like, very, very 90s inclination to, like, want to laugh, like, somehow break the tension. This kid is so much better than me. So I'm gonna, like, kind of like, whatever. Nothing mean, but there's like. There's, like a residue of that Urkel mentality. Like, who's this brainiac kind of thing?
Valerie
Right?
Pete Holmes
Obviously, I don't act on it, but I think it's a remnant of, like, maybe insecurities, certainly. Yeah, it is. Like, what it is, is. What it is, is. That's funny. Incongruity, right? So someone is so smart. So the kid. That is a genius. We have a Halloween memory about that kid. This kid is amazing. I love her. She's like a member of our family. And if you gave her a bottle of water, she wouldn't know how to open it. So that's. This is a year ago. Yeah, that's incongruity. We think it's very funny if you can think perfectly, but you can't walk. Cool. You know what I mean?
Valerie
Yeah, I guess.
Pete Holmes
Like, that is a joke to us. Like, this person, like, I was thinking about, you know, well, the over, like, the sight. Why is it, like, dorky that if science was like, there's a. There's a troll. There's a dragon coming to the castle, and they get at their protractors and they're like, well, if he flies, there's a route, and we prepare, and then they. They all get torched. Like, that's like a classic. Because that's kind of how humans are. Like, thinking is the best thing, and it's our undoing. So it's funny that someone's like, a black belt at very meticulous thinking. And we even find this in. You know, it's part of why people are like, global warming. Shut up, you fucking eggheads. Which they shouldn't, obviously, but it's. I think it's. It's born out of that observation. Like, thinking is great, and sometimes maybe it's just time to walk cool and open a water bottle.
Valerie
That's really interesting.
Pete Holmes
Did that make any sense?
Valerie
Yeah, but I think it's outdated.
Pete Holmes
I mean, I know it never made sense.
Valerie
Well, yeah, it never made sense, but I'm saying I don't. Well, I could be wrong. This could be, like, my bubble. But I was. I don't think that's a thing anymore. I think in the 80s and 90s, we had Urkel, we had Revenge, the nerds, we had Screech. Like, it was such a part of our culture that it was like, there are nerds. Don't be a nerd. And, like, can you think of any, especially, like, Gen Z or even millennial example of that? Like, we don't.
Pete Holmes
Napoleon Dynamite and that.
Valerie
And that was like. Everybody wanted to be him.
Pete Holmes
That's so funny.
Valerie
That was the turn of it, maybe.
Pete Holmes
It was like, you. He does that dance. Like, he studiously learns that dance. That's cool.
Valerie
Napoleon Dynam. Exactly. But I am wondering if, you know, like, other parts of the country, you know, like, maybe I'm like, the concept of nerds is dead. And, like, that's so great. And then I'm like, well, maybe that's just because I live amongst the nerds and there are still, like, you know, people in Boston or in the south that are like, don't be a dork.
Pete Holmes
I take. I do take slight issue with this, and I do it on behalf of the true nerds. There's this whole thing they did on Portlandia where a true nerd isn't just someone who sees Marvel movies. You know what I mean? That's done. Oh, you like Game of Thrones? And it's certainly not just someone who likes reading, is good at math, or is, like, judicious about doing their own taxes or anything. That's not enough to make a nerd. Well, no, a nerd is someone.
Valerie
A lot of these things are mainstream, too.
Pete Holmes
Absolutely. It is mainstream. And this is what I mean. I'm actually definitely offending the true nerd. The true nerd. Like in American Splendor, Judah Friedlander's character, we're talking about, like, autism. Severe autism.
Valerie
Yeah, sure.
Pete Holmes
That, to me, is what we were trying to reconcile. And. And the comedy. Comedy has so much to do with aligning yourself with power. I'm not an idiot. I'm not a weirdo. I'm not a freak. Even in your freakiness, you find a way to celebrate it into the mainstream. So when we had autism showing up more and more, and I say this as someone with family members, definitely non neurotypical. And there was just teasing. That was all that there was. That was treatment.
Valerie
Oh, my God.
Pete Holmes
Wasn't treatment. It sucked. And that's what Urkel was, was. They were going like, we don't know what to do. There are these, like, computer people.
Valerie
Yes.
Pete Holmes
That can't dance. They don't know how to flirt. They. They don't understand social cues.
Valerie
Exactly.
Pete Holmes
They don't understand vocal volume. What do we do with them?
Valerie
We didn't know about autism or neurodivergence in any way. So that was.
Pete Holmes
What is Ghattany Cheese? Got any cheese? That's a person who doesn't know how to ask for a snack, and they're doing it at the wrong time.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And what is cheese if not kind of like a disgusting, fragrant.
Valerie
You know what I mean?
Pete Holmes
I like cheese.
Valerie
Cheese.
Pete Holmes
And I fucking wish you didn't. No, I'm just saying. I just taught Leela the phrase cut the cheese. And it means. Obviously, we know. Obviously. It means fart. It means fart. It's a wonderful way, because when you cut into a block of cheese, it releases the smell. It's the grossest way. It's the grossest way.
Valerie
I never thought about why it was called.
Pete Holmes
No, you got a block of Limburger, and it doesn't smell until you cut it. And it's disgusting. Cut the cheese is disgusting? Well, yeah, as a phrase.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
I just thought it to Leela. I couldn't. I couldn't be happier.
Valerie
Yeah. But I remember last night. You taught her that. I didn't know it. I came up to put her to bed, and she was like, what did you cut? And I was like, I didn't cut anything. And she went, you cut the cheese? And I got so defensive. I was like, no, I didn't.
Pete Holmes
Yeah.
Valerie
And you were like, I just taught her that. She just wanted to say that.
Pete Holmes
Yeah, she. It was a gotcha moment. It was just. It was just to illustrate that she learned it and couldn't wait to say it to you. And you were like, no, it didn't.
Valerie
That's how defensive I get about farts.
Pete Holmes
It is the grossest way. In fact, if I were to try to summarize the 80s and how the 80s was different than now, it's that we called farting. Cut the cheese. It's so disgusting.
Valerie
Yeah. And I would.
Pete Holmes
It's invasive. It's gross. It's a little esoteric.
Valerie
I know. And I think, like, what is it? Garbage Pail Kids? It's like that kind of puking Polly. Like, what were we doing? What was that?
Pete Holmes
BMX Ben. And he's, like, running over a. An old lady.
Valerie
I think it really is us reconciling, like, over correcting. I wonder. This is my theory. Because the 80s was also the era of the yuppie. No, I was absolutely pendulum swinging from hippies. And so it was like, be buttoned up. Don't, you know, like, have a calculator in your car? This is what I think used to have.
Pete Holmes
Yeah.
Valerie
Yeah. And then it was like, our phone. There's an equal and opposite reaction. So then you're like, garbage. Yeah. And my therapist actually had an interesting theory. I didn't even tell you this, that, like, body Horror, you know, I was telling You. That's like, a thing right now is like, I don't know that much about it, but I know that, like, body horror is a genre that's, like, really coming out. And apparently substance. The new movie is like, classic body horror. And I don't know if this genre is new, but it's new to me. And she was saying, like, I think this is a. A correction from, like, swinging so far towards PC, like, beings being careful what you say, watching. And she's like, Cause we can't ignore the primal. Like, you have to have both.
Pete Holmes
And then it goes too far. Like, Tony Hinchcliffe's joke was me going like, oh, it's starting to bleed over the edge. Right. So we had this time, and I'm not saying we shouldn't still be considerate, but there was a time that it really was on the forefront of everybody's mind. Yeah, don't get canceled. Don't say that. Don't say the thing.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And then people get a little tense on that. And then comedy always goes with the seasons and the flows, and then it always, inevitably goes too far. Right. I would even say that, like, I never really even watched Fallon. I always just use Fallon as my example of, like, he just seems like a sweetie. So he's just kind of doing sweetie stuff and being sweet. So no shade here. Not dragging him. I'm just saying that seemed to be, like, what we want, and it goes between these two.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
I think Shane Gillis is very funny, but Shane comes out to be like, what? What the fuck? What? What? And then it always. Once someone breaks that membrane, people go like, we're going this way now. We're going this way now. And like, we inevitably. Whichever direction we're going on, anything we start, then we go too far, and then we move back. And here's what's weird is whether that's happening politically or culturally or comedically, we always forget that that's how the world works, that it's always just this in and out, and it's this wave of going up and down, up. And we get caught in going like, my good must win and my bad must lose. And it's like, actually, what's gonna happen is that maybe the thing that you're aligned with, let's say, being more sensitive about our. More considerate about our words, that will be winning in quotes for a time. That's just the countdown to when we'll start correcting it and over correcting it. And we do that in government as well. That's why it's so. I think it's brilliant that we have two parties. I don't love the state of politics right now. I think it's become grotesque, obviously. But I do see a wisdom. Two halves of our brain.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
Whenever you're looking at your psyche, like Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde kind of stuff, it's always two. It's always like we have these two things, so let's let them fight. And in. In between, maybe there'll be some equilibrium.
Valerie
Yeah, I think so too. And I don't know, I. It feels like the seasonal thing we forget in our personal lives and then we forget on the larger scale too. So it's. It's like what we've talked about on this podcast before, where, like, if I'm in a certain mood, I go like, this is me now. This is my forever. I'm this person now. And we do that with the moods of the culture too, where we're like, it's PC. You cannot see, say any of that stuff ever again. And then it overcorrects and we're all like, wait, we're what's going. We're going backwards. And it's like, no, there's just constant expansion and contraction.
Pete Holmes
Here's another way I was watch. I got a little stone last night. Just a little bit stoned. And I. Just a little. And I watched the first Avengers movie.
Valerie
Uhhuh.
Pete Holmes
So stupid. It's not stupid. I shouldn't be so hard on myself, but I was like, remember that? Like the first Avengers, that's like fucking 20 years ago. So I put it on and obviously when the first Avengers came out, it was the cutting edge. And now you watch it and you're like, it looks a little whatever year it was. The sunglasses, the cuts of the suits. So everything is moving and every fashion. And what you were saying about the 80s, the reason why it was Garbage Pail Kids, the reason why it was Schwarzenegger and cigars and Hummers, was exactly because that's what the economy was. And it was exactly in response to hippies. Obviously, hippies were an extreme of the culture in the way that hipsters were an extreme of the early 2000s. So it wasn't just hippies and yuppies, but, like, these are the symbols of the. Of the far side of that spectrum. And like, being in a field and taking acid and dancing with a swan is going to make a guy with slick back hair and suspenders, like, bulldoze a playground to make a toxic waste factory if it means he makes 30,000 extra dollars so he can pinch a waitress in the ass. You know, like all that bad behavior is. It's just what we do. It's like you can't get away from it. You can't get away.
Valerie
The nature of reality is sort of. Is balance, you know, and like, it's not. We're not doing it perfectly because we would just stay balanced. But we're doing our version of it, which is like overcompensating and then coming kind of back and then overcompensating again and then coming.
Pete Holmes
You know that's right.
Valerie
And. But it is. It's better than just staying. And we couldn't anyway. Because nothing in nature is constant and stays nothing.
Pete Holmes
That's the whole message.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
This too shall pass.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And every. Like, you know, you can't. This is moving. This is moving. It's always moving.
Valerie
Hold any of it.
Pete Holmes
And when they ate from the tree of Good and Evil, right. It's eating of. Yes and no. Black and white, light and dark. And then human beings. You know, I have that joke. It's not on the special, but it's not. We made this doc about the cut bits of my special. And it's like the way that we came into existence because I do this joke about the fish that left the ocean, that grew legs, little feet, and walked out of the ocean. And I'm like. I do the joke and I'm like, why did he want to walk out? It's fucking too. And then I go, you know, I read this. The reason it's a theory, why the fish left the ocean was because there was that asteroid the size of Texas that killed the dinosaurs, made the oceans so toxic, inhospitable to life, that the fish had to leave.
Valerie
Right.
Pete Holmes
So they're fine. Yeah, they're prehistoric fish. Fish don't even know they're prehistoric. It's just life.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
Just going around eating whatever's floating. They don't know what year it is. Dumb fish. Then the unwanted asteroid boils. The ocean toxifies the ocean and it makes them grow legs and walk out. And then that evolves and evolves and evolves and becomes us. And the joke goes. And it's crazy that we're born on the backs of catastrophe and we walk around going, why can't things be perfect?
Valerie
Yeah, that's right.
Pete Holmes
That's the. That. That isn't my material. I stole that joke from the universe. That was the universe's bit.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
The universe's bit is that we are in a constant wave flux, light Dark, light, dark, light, dark. Washing machine. And we're just going, like. And everything good comes from going through conflict, comes from going through catastrophe. All growth comes from that. And we go like, why can't it just be pumpkin spice lattes and. And colonics, whatever you like to do.
Valerie
Well, yes.
Pete Holmes
It's two very specific things.
Valerie
It seems like the fundamental, you know, force of life is to evolve, is to keep going, growing, moving forward. And there's you. You. I mean, it's a cliche for a reason. Like, you don't do that if you're comfortable.
Pete Holmes
You don't.
Valerie
So it's. We can brace against the things that make us uncomfortable and try to, like, dig our feet in and stay. But we're going against not just, like, our own life's momentum, but, like, the capital L life's momentum.
Pete Holmes
The whole.
Valerie
The whole nature of reality, the whole thing.
Pete Holmes
We say it constantly on this podcast, but you don't want to just be happy doing nothing. You want to be happy doing nothing after you went through something.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And what I. I'm fortunate. My job challenges me. So doing stand up is always a little bit scary, a little bit tense, or there's stakes to. It could really go badly. It could really go well. And then the day after always feels so fantastic. We talk about that. I just did my largo this month. That day I'm just a little tense, and then afterwards, I feel fantastic. So we want. There was a saint that used to pray for just the right amount of adversity.
Valerie
Yes.
Pete Holmes
And I forget which one it was.
Valerie
That's a nine. An Enneagram nine prayer, if I've ever heard it.
Pete Holmes
Well, what you want is that perfect amount. I think if you retreat too much and really just try. It's like a myth. You just try to make, you know, the house on the hill, the Howard. Howard Hughes. Yeah, Howard Hughes. You have everything in your mansion. You don't. You never go out. Your food is all there. You have butlers and stuff. It's like, that doesn't work, you know, need to be in the fray, but.
Valerie
It is also balanced. That's why I like the just right amount of adversity too much. We've known people who are, like, perfectionists about themselves, and it seems like they just want to live in the fire. And everything needs to be a constant challenge and opportunity to growth.
Pete Holmes
I don't mean to pat ourselves on the back, but we are a sine wave. We are. We have seasons. We're in one right now. I've been home for the past 10 days, we've been like, gooey family. We're going trick or treating today. It's been amazing. And it comes on the back of, like, I went out three weekends, basically, in a row, which was awesome. But, you know, I started losing my voice, started losing my mind a little bit.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
It gets a little bit crazy, and then the sizzle. The wave hits the beach, and then it pulls back, and there's this sizzle and. But you can't only sizzle, and you can't only wave. Yeah, but we know. We know people. Look, I'm glad you made that distinction, because I am not saying, get up, put a car battery on your nipples and run uphill, but grease your feet. I'm not. Can you put me on clip these? Die Hard indeed. Die Hard on. Okay. What I'm saying is, yes, just the right Arnold Palmer. But one of the things, you know, when I hadn't done done, I hadn't smoked, eaten weed in a really long time. And as people know, I love bringing this up. I can't bring it up enough. I like getting up in the morning, and I do my cold exposure. I noticed that if I smoke weed or eat weed the next morning, whatever part of me that is just not about that, it's like the part of me that wants to get up, read, exercise, whatever, the things that make me feel good, that part is the part that gets stoned first. So he's hit in the head with a shovel, and who's left is this, you know, like, Lebowski kind of like, we don't want to get in the water, man. That's fucking cold. Get a bathrobe and a roach clip, man. I'm just saying, man.
Valerie
It's all right.
Pete Holmes
And, like, I don't think. Why is the Dude a good character? Because he's trying to relax, and yet he can't. That's the blend.
Valerie
That's the blend.
Pete Holmes
If that dude had his way and just smoked joints in a bathrobe and drank White Russians, that's not a good Dude. That's not the Dude. The dude is like, hey, man, there's a beverage here. He's in the fray.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And what I'm doing with cold exposure or getting up early, these, like, micro disciplines is trying to welcome enough fray into my life because, you know, yeah, it's like, we fast, right? And the past 10 days, I haven't been fasting. I do two days where I only eat 500 calories. That's. It's called 6. 2. If you're interested? Any Hoozle Woozle.
Valerie
It's called 5 2.
Pete Holmes
5 2. Excuse me. Yeah. It has to add up to 7, doesn't it? 5, 2, 5, colon, 2. And I stopped doing it because of whatever travel something. I never. I don't do it on days where I have shows. Blah, blah, blah. So I just wasn't doing it. And then at. At a certain point I started feeling this sort of like gravy density in my life where it was like, all I do is eat. Like, I just. Because I'm also not great with food. That's my drug of choice. It's the blanket you chew. So I need. You've never heard me say that I need to manufacture because otherwise I don't have the levels just right there. Needs. And I'm going to say the fasting days and the getting up early and the cold expo or whatever it might be. That's the lemonade. May. Or maybe. Maybe that's the iced tea. What do you think?
Valerie
I think that's the iced tea.
Pete Holmes
Yeah. Because it's bland.
Valerie
Because. Yeah. And it's a little bitter. Like the lemonade is pure sweet.
Pete Holmes
Yeah. In my mind it was bad lemonade. It was too bitter. Can you put some sugar?
Valerie
What? No.
Pete Holmes
Yeah.
Valerie
Yeah. But I'm the type of person who can't have a bad lemonade.
Pete Holmes
That's very interesting, Val, because I'm the kind of person that if you say, do you want some lemonade? I'm surprised I didn't know this about myself. I'm 99 sure it's going to be bitter and unpleasant. Like, I'm not going to lie.
Valerie
When you say bitter, you must mean sour.
Pete Holmes
Yes, sour.
Valerie
Okay. Well, that's two different flavors.
Pete Holmes
Okay. Do you. Can I talk to you? Sour. Too sour.
Valerie
Wow.
Pete Holmes
Lemonade's yellowness makes me think, like. Remember when you would see lemonade in a cartoon?
Valerie
Huh?
Pete Holmes
It's just yellow.
Valerie
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Pete Holmes
I wanted it to taste like how I thought it would taste based on the color in the cartoon. I mean, same with water. That perfect blue sounds like what you.
Valerie
Want is pink lemonade. And of course you do. It's a perfect drink.
Pete Holmes
Even that. The parts of my mouth, the bumpers.
Valerie
You have to get past that. You. That's just the first sip.
Pete Holmes
Valerie. I can't believe. So when we say you're an enneagram9, it's like you're like a beach. You want to be on the beach. You want to be comfortable. You want to be in bed. You want to watch. You love the Fall, you light a fire, you get a blanket, you get a cup of coffee, you get a book. And I love that too. But you would think that your based on everything I know about you. Your drink should be hot chocolate.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
Not hot cocoa. Milky Swiss Miss. It definitely is like an earth tone, gritty, textured mug.
Valerie
Yep.
Pete Holmes
With like a little thumbprint where you can use.
Valerie
Well, you know, those are the mugs.
Pete Holmes
That I have and. That's right. It's a hobbit mug.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
You're a hobbit. And I want a dark but milk chocolate. That's your drink. And you're telling me. You're basically selling me to me as a drink that you have to fight through the sour. Don't confuse sour with bitter. Like, that's me telling someone how to do cold plunge. It's like, don't think of it as cold. Think of it as the opposite of death, which I am insufferable. That's what I just realized.
Valerie
No, you're not in this moment. And you know, you are, you are right. You are right. I have no argument. Except for that in summer, like a lemonade doesn't sound good to me right now. But in summer it's a perfect drink because you know why? It's comforting me from being hot and thirsty.
Pete Holmes
Which I believe is how it was. It was designed for like at the end of a marathon.
Valerie
Yeah. I really associate it with like, I still have a memory of being in like, I must have been, I think I was eight years old.
Pete Holmes
Yeah.
Valerie
Coming home from church. And I had, I used to have to wear those white. You probably, I don't know if you know about stockings, but I had to wear like the white nylon stockings. So that's the one that's like, you pull up all the way to your waist and they're thick and white. And I had to like, wear uncomfortable shoes and dresses. And it was like a hundred degrees outside and I was so hot on the drive home. And I remembered that my mom had made Country Time lemonade.
Pete Holmes
Yeah.
Valerie
And I, I, that's like maybe the only memory I have from that entire year of my life. I'm freaking out is realizing, like, when I get home, I'm gonna have cold lemonade.
Pete Holmes
Yeah.
Valerie
I've never wanted anything more in my life.
Pete Holmes
Lemonade in the mo. In, in antiquity was like an iv.
Valerie
It was so much sugar because we weren't drinking water. So that was our water.
Pete Holmes
I think so. But also just like, you just need calories. You need to replenish your glucose and all this stuff. But it's funny that we all just like. It's also just good with a burger. And it's like, we used to give that to people who ran a marathon and were about to die.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And you're just sitting in a recliner sipping what is very funny. I'm going to join you on the par in the parlor. First of all, tights should be called underpants.
Valerie
Oh, my God. A hundred percent.
Pete Holmes
They're underpants.
Valerie
They are underpants.
Pete Holmes
They're underpants. When you were talking about tights, I was like, yeah, yeah, like the underpants.
Valerie
Oh, my God.
Pete Holmes
And I was like, underpants.
Valerie
Is that because they used to, like, bloomers? Like, they used to wear.
Pete Holmes
I think underwear used to be tights.
Valerie
I think it used to. Well, I think it used to be actual, like, cotton pants with, like, ruffles. At least for the ladies and let's face it, probably for the men.
Pete Holmes
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Men were very jealous back then. Any if women wore, like, a giant doily that made it look like their head was on a plate.
Valerie
Yes.
Pete Holmes
Men were like, I get that, too. Right?
Valerie
Yes.
Pete Holmes
Because, look, we're all going to be dead of syphilis in, like, 20 minutes. So I want my head on a plate, a paper plate, and give me those underpants that frill out. And then it's like someone invented briefs or panties. I know people don't like the word panties.
Valerie
No.
Pete Holmes
And then someone tried them on and was like, wow, like, underpants. And he's like, well, no, but. Okay.
Valerie
Yeah, our briefs. Called briefs. Because it's like they're pants that go on briefly. Like, they're. Look, they go. They are.
Pete Holmes
You're all I want in a person. You're all I've ever wanted.
Valerie
Insane. That's an insane reaction to this.
Pete Holmes
All I've ever wanted.
Valerie
This idea is like wet toilet paper.
Pete Holmes
No. No, it's not. If you're running your finger. You put your finger on my forehead and all I'm wearing is briefs, and you run it down my nose. Don't get too erotic here. But you pass my lips pass my chest, and then you're touching my. My underpants, and then you're on my legs. You're only on it briefly.
Valerie
Thank you. That's what I meant.
Pete Holmes
Are you reading me like Braille?
Valerie
Yes.
Pete Holmes
Well, then these are going to be brave.
Valerie
These. These underpants are going to be brief.
Pete Holmes
Let. Let me be brief. Let me be brief.
Valerie
Love that. You knew exactly what I meant. Especially because I said, they're only. They only Go on. Briefly. Sounds like they're only on for a short period.
Pete Holmes
No, no, I knew what you meant. Duration. In touch. I meant touch. Duration.
Valerie
Much more.
Pete Holmes
I'm ridiculous. Look, I'm feeling. I'm Beyonce today. I'm feeling myself, and I'm loving us. I'm saying this is what a good, loving, rapport relationship sounds like. We said that people who are in love and are good together should edit a movie the same way. But I also think when you say briefly, that I should know what you mean.
Valerie
Well, absolutely.
Pete Holmes
You dropped your ring. And that's so annoying to me. It's like when someone drops a phone on an airplane.
Valerie
I know, and I knew it was annoying to. I, like, looked up, like, eat.
Pete Holmes
It's just our relationship. It's just. It's just drama.
Valerie
Well, it wasn't my wedding ring. It was just one of my garbage.
Pete Holmes
Doesn't even matter.
Valerie
It turns my ring, my finger green.
Pete Holmes
So I have a couple things for you. Oh. But I lost one of them. But it doesn't matter. The thing that I really wanted to say. That I love talking to you. That. That was clear. Two Tetley iced tea.
Valerie
Tetley.
Pete Holmes
Tetley. It was a powdered. Yeah, Tetley. So in my house growing up, there was this lazy Susan, and we were like, get out of here, Susan.
Valerie
She never paid rent.
Pete Holmes
A lazy Susan for people who didn't.
Valerie
Grow up in the 80s and 90s.
Pete Holmes
Yeah. It's like just a little shelf that rotates all the way around. It's hard to explain. It looks like a Pac man from above, and it rotates.
Valerie
I think people know lazy Susans are.
Pete Holmes
I like that. I thought of. It looks like a Pac man or a pizza with one slice missing, which is what Pac man was doing.
Valerie
There's also lazy Susans that are like. What we have on our. Our counter is a lazy Susan.
Pete Holmes
What?
Valerie
It's a. The full disc where we put our hot sauces and our salts.
Pete Holmes
Oh, really?
Valerie
Yep. And it spins.
Pete Holmes
That should be, like, a lazy Susan. Like, if it's, like, just on your counter.
Valerie
A lazy Suzy Sue.
Pete Holmes
Oh, my God. So there was Tetley iced tea, and it's a powdered iced tea. And so it just looks like brown powder, but there's, like, crystals of sugar in it. Like, you can see the sugar. And I made myself essentially what was like a short. Like, you should make a big, tall glass of it. But I put a whole scoop in, like, a small glass. Oh, I know. My. My. My food dick.
Valerie
You know, I'm. I am getting the me Too. The. The pools on either side of the tongue.
Pete Holmes
I'm pooling. So when you said your mom was making you country time, like, let us pray. And she's heavy on the powder hand. You know, she's mounding it. She's not leveling it. She's not leveling that school way. It's a little mountain.
Valerie
This is a woman who regularly. For the side. Like, one of the sides of every meal was baked beans that are already incredibly sugary, that she added sweet barbecue sauce and a, like, teaspoon of brown sugar.
Pete Holmes
Yeah. Your mom is. That is your mom.
Valerie
I know.
Pete Holmes
So I made myself this Tetley tea, and it was one of the best beverage experiences of my life because it's also jacked with caffeine. So I'm, like, fudgeing ripped on caffeine and sugar, and it was like, just a very dense iced tea. But, like a sweet tea.
Valerie
Yeah, it's sweet tea, essentially.
Pete Holmes
Like, I.
Valerie
Tea is.
Pete Holmes
No, it's no joke.
Valerie
No joke.
Pete Holmes
It's fudgeing.
Valerie
It's sweeter than anything you've ever had.
Pete Holmes
And then the. Absolutely. The other memory I have is after Little League, I got in the car, and my mom. It wasn't my mom. It must have been a friend. I must been getting a ride home, and they gave us Kool Aid juice boxes because no one knew what the fuck we were doing.
Valerie
No, I didn't know anything.
Pete Holmes
My mom is a snob. And she got us shark bites.
Valerie
Oh, yeah.
Pete Holmes
Because no one knew when I. Every morning, I make Leila's breakfast, and there's, like, a medley. That's the only word for it.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
A medley of fresh berries.
Valerie
Oh, berries. And cucumbers and tofu and, like, it's insane.
Pete Holmes
Insane. I'm, like, garnishing it. And. Yeah, there's steam.
Valerie
There's olive oil and fresh Himalayan sauce.
Pete Holmes
There's freshly cracked.
Valerie
I ate lunchable pizzas.
Pete Holmes
Yeah. And what I'm saying is, even though we were snobs and we're better than people, of course I'm joking, but that's kind of like how we felt.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
I'm still opening Shark Tank. Shark. Shark Bites.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And getting that great white. What that tastes like. We didn't know it was a mystery. It's like pineapple. Yeah, pineapple.
Valerie
Pineapple.
Pete Holmes
So what am I. Oh. So I get in the backseat. Vivid, vivid memory. One of the best food experiences. What? It's really a drug experience. That Tetley story is a drug story.
Valerie
Oh, 100.
Pete Holmes
And this is a drug story, too. It Was frozen. Jesus Christ. And what did happen? No, no, I'm just like, wait, no.
Valerie
The shark bites were frozen.
Pete Holmes
No, no, no. The. The juice box of. Had been frozen.
Valerie
Oh, no.
Pete Holmes
And here's what happened, Valerie. I know you know. I know you know.
Valerie
I do. And I'll tell you.
Pete Holmes
It was like Neapolitan ice cream, meaning all the water was at the top and had become, like, white and flavorless, but at the bottom was 100% Kool Aid. Kool Aid brand lemonade. Like Kool Aid, the company that animated the Godzilla monster by accident. Like, just the most wayward company.
Valerie
Yep.
Pete Holmes
Making the densest little golden brick. And I put that straw through that foil.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
This is like erotica. And I went all the way to the bottom, which is where all the concentrate was. And I. And my brain lit up like, was it 4th of July?
Valerie
Was it slushy?
Pete Holmes
It was slushy, yeah.
Valerie
Okay. You just reminded me.
Pete Holmes
I chased that for. I'm still looking.
Valerie
I can tell you.
Pete Holmes
I'm still looking.
Valerie
I can tell you how to find it. And I literally forgot about this for decades until just this moment. But I used to freeze Capri Suns, and then I would thaw them for an hour while I watched my shows. And then I would cut it open and I would, like, crunch it up with a spoon and eat a very light pink. So. And I used to love the fact I remember even saying this as a kid. I love that because it's almost clear you think there's not going to be that much flavor, but there is. And then it's just the most flavor you can handle, brother.
Pete Holmes
There is.
Valerie
Oh. And I still. I remember exactly what it tastes like.
Pete Holmes
This is. This is how we know we're food addicts. But the other thing that I love as a food addict is if you're eating a flavored pistachio, like a smoky.
Valerie
We love the hickory smoke.
Pete Holmes
Okay. Pistachio is for food addicts. There's efforting, so it slows you down. You have to earn each bite.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And when there's a powdered that or something. I don't know how they flavor these things. I'm guessing it's a powder of some sort.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
I don't know. It might be smoke. I don't know.
Valerie
I don't know.
Pete Holmes
But there. I talked to your brother about this. There are certain ones. One out of 15 will be a double dusting.
Valerie
Oh, yeah.
Pete Holmes
And you eat it. And then this is my gambling.
Valerie
Yes.
Pete Holmes
You know what I mean? Like, that's the one you're chasing now. I'm looking for the double dust.
Valerie
Yes.
Pete Holmes
Same with a Dorito. You get a Dorito, that's double dust. You get a Dorito, that's double dust.
Valerie
Double dust, Rito and double distributo. Okay.
Pete Holmes
I loved it and I needed it.
Valerie
Thank you.
Pete Holmes
Okay, so we're gonna go to the mids. Oh, what do you got?
Valerie
I was gonna say let's go to the mids because I need to pee. And then maybe we should. I don't know if any of our hardest laughs that we had in the car on the way to Largo.
Pete Holmes
Oh, I'd love to try, but sure.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
We'll be right back. Thank you. Go ahead, Val. I'll bill burr this part. This will be the Monday morning podcast. I. Yeah. You guys know what I'm gonna say. This show is supported by you guys maybe trying these ads. So they're not just ads, they're ways to support if you like these things. We like these things. Buy one, buy one for a friend. Use the promo code. Let keeps the lights on here pays, pay, pays. Katie pays, Joe, everything like that. So please give them a try. Katie, roll that beautiful bean footage. This episode is brought to us by our friends at Roosevelt. That's rsv. Lts the makers of the best, most fun, best feeling, best fitting, best looking shirts and clothes that I have ever owned. And I'm not just saying that. I resist wearing a nice dressy or, you know, just a collared button shirt. That's what I consider dressy. But Roosevelt's not only makes it fun with patterns from things like Star Wars, Disney, Nickelodeon, the Office, Jurassic park, and just some classic fun patterns which I really enjoy. But they also make it feel amazing. I'm talking light, soft, stretchy, and it fits so damn nice. They are moisture wicking. They are breathable. Perfect. Now it's still pretty warm. I know it's the fall, but it's still pretty warm here in California. So I love a breathable shirt. They have stuff for everyone. We're talking toddler youth, men, women, and they use Kunaflex, which is a four way stretch material. But like I'm saying, this is a great gift for people, you know, that might love the Office, might love Star wars, might love all those different things. Get that wallflower thing out of your system. Wear something fun out, get people chatting, get people knowing what you're into before you've even said a word. It won't shrink, it won't wrinkle after washing. They look fantastic. I wear it on late night shows. I wear it on red carpets and I also just wear it out on a date with Val when I want to look good, but also feel fantastic. They are best based, excuse me, out of Hoboken, New Jersey. Hoboken. Hoboken, New Jersey. They have clothing for the bold and the fun and for those who dare mighty things, just like their namesake Teddy Roosevelt once said. So if you want to get your hands on some of these amazing, amazing items, visit roosevelts.com that's R S V, L, T S. Who has time for vowels? RSVLTS.com or check them out on Instagram @RSVLTS. Incredible. Lovely stuff. Not just saying that, not just reading copy. I love these guys. And if you're looking for some new clothes, give them a try. The show is sponsored by Better Help. This month is all about gratitude. And it should come as no surprise that one of the people I am most grateful to is Dr. Gary Penn, whose book is available now. That's the joke we always make. Dr. Gary Penn was my therapist. He's still my friend. He changed my life. Talk therapy changed my life. And this month is all about gratitude. And along with that person, Dr. Gary Penn, there's another person we don't get to thank enough, and that's ourselves. It's sometimes hard to remind, to remember, to remind ourselves. You could just say remember or remind ourselves that we are trying our best to make the sense of everything. To make sense. It's tricky out there. It's confusing. It's weird. Well, woke up in a conundrum that none of us asked for. And in this crazy world, that isn't easy to remember ourselves. But here's that reminder. Send some love to the people in your life, including yourself. I have benefited so much from talk therapy. It has been a game changer. And better help makes it so, so, so easy. You gotta get into it. You gotta give it a try. It couldn't be more simple. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give better help a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapists at any time for no additional charge. Let the gratitude flow with better help. Visit betterhelp.com weirdo today for 10 off your first month. That's betterhelp. H E L p.com weirdo all right, everybody, back to the show. And we're back.
Valerie
And we're back.
Pete Holmes
Yeah. When we drove to Largo, we had some such Good.
Valerie
Laughs it was such an unexpected thing too, because you were tense. You were tense. You were in a mood.
Pete Holmes
I was in a mood and I. Oh, can I say my thing?
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
So Tatiana, my friend Tatiana, who is on the path of the non dual understanding. What?
Valerie
This flew off and just hit me in the throat.
Pete Holmes
Oh, my God.
Valerie
I'm sorry.
Pete Holmes
You girls with your water bottles, they're dangerous. I've always said this. Jk. So Tatiana, we love Rupert. She sent me a clip and it was about feelings. And when I was having my mood, which was exacerbated by the fact that I had a show, I was like, man, I've been doing stand up for over 20 years and still it's there. Like there's a tension. My joke about it that night was like, what do boxers deal with if you know that night someone's going to be punching you in the face?
Valerie
I know.
Pete Holmes
What's your lunch like?
Valerie
I know.
Pete Holmes
What's your sleep like? Like, is Logan Paul or whichever one of the Paul's is doing that with Mike Tyson.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
Are they gonna sleep the night before the fight?
Valerie
I know you got. What do they do?
Pete Holmes
And even if you're not being punched, you're still like, I'm punching someone tonight at 8. I think that's such a weird thing to have on the calendar. Get punched and punch.
Valerie
I wonder if they only feel right when they are doing that.
Pete Holmes
I think when they're in the. In the ring. Yeah, they're loving it. They're present. The fear, all of it.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
I'm sure there's times when you're not loving it, but I. I don't think that's the problem. The problem is, and I've never heard anyone. I've seen every boxing movie. I've never seen one scene where Creed is a little on edge when his musician girlfriend keeps going, like, do you want melon or no melon? He's like, will you just shut the fuck up? I'm gonna get punched tonight. I would love that scene. It's all jump rope and ice baths.
Valerie
It's gotta be in one of the Rockies.
Pete Holmes
The only. The closest I've seen. And you're gonna. I mean, we do it. Withholding from sex is not part of my show routine, but just part of my regular. Just part of my regular life. I just. I just like to keep you guessing. No, in the first Rocky, he won't have sex with Adrian because he doesn't want. He wants to hold on to his chi, essentially, before the fight. So she's Trying to seduce him. He's like, adrian, you know, I can't. You know, I got.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
So that I was like, ah, I. I see. But I've never seen. Not in any of the Creed movies, them addressing the tension and the stress. I'm sorry. I'm having a hard time listening to your story because I'm gonna get punched in the fucking face tonight. Win, loser, draw. I'm getting a few to the face. There's no situation where I don't get a few to the face tonight.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
So you're not holding my attention. I would love that.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
So Tatiana, on the day, one of the. One of the burdens of kind of feeling like, I need to be a golden boy and always be happy, always be sweet, always be kind. I don't mind that. That's a nice goal to have, especially as a father and a husband. I like that. But then there are times when I'm just feeling stressed. It's in my body.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And I notice that I'm a little short, and I'm just a little distracted, and that can be really hard. She sent. So Tatiana sent me this clip where they were like, those feelings. I forget who the teacher was, but those feelings. We've talked about this before. Are like visitors, but specifically, they're like your children. They're like your kids, and they're coming in the room. And the attitude of, what are you still doing here? Is, like, the opposite of the correct attitude. Like.
Valerie
Oh, absolutely.
Pete Holmes
Tension. I've been doing comedy for 20 years. Why is tension still here?
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And then I get disappointed. Why is disappointment still here? Shouldn't I be over this? All I seem to do is mostly, like, a lot of spiritual work, a lot of psychological work. What are you still doing here? And the teacher, which I really appreciate, goes, these feelings don't want to be healed. They want to be held.
Valerie
Yes.
Pete Holmes
And I needed that sort of turn of phrase. So in real time, when I was having it go like, no, come on in. Yeah, come on in. It's okay. I'm not trying to get rid of you.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And I know we talk about that a lot, but I was like, I'm gonna hold you.
Valerie
The other one is to tend and befriend the feeling.
Pete Holmes
Tend and befriend.
Valerie
And, like, when I really specifically like the word tend, like. And I always. I never can do it right away.
Pete Holmes
Yeah.
Valerie
But if I get, you know, if I'm in a season of despair or going through something, the first initial feeling is usually, for me, it's Like, I don't want to feel this way, you know, which is my version of like, you're. You're here again, you know? But if I think of tending to it. Yeah, we're like, oh, I just need a little extra love. Like, I need a little extra care. And this part of me needs an.
Pete Holmes
Extra care, and it is a little extra care. In my internal family systems therapy this week. Shocked. We've discovered this character we call the man in the bar. And he's drinking from this dirty glass. He's emaciated. So many of my inner characters are just starving to death, and they're in dark places. And he's drinking from this dirty glass in a bar. And he doesn't seem happy about it. It's just all he knows. And the glass is achievement and validation from specifically my father, like, getting that. And he's. And it's just that. It's this addiction. So easy when you step away to go, like, yeah, it's just like training a dog. It's like you reward one thing, you punish. You know, you don't reward or punish another thing. A groove is made. And I have this groove that I'm like, this is it. This is it. I gotta do this. And every once in a while, the sky glows red and there's like an alarm that goes off. The easiest example of this is if my father texts me. I feel an intense urgency that I have to reply to him. It's not chill at all. And it takes a lot of effort. It's not very natural. It's not very. It's not easy. There's no flow to it. It's really, like, very fawny and calculated and a lot of tension. So this is. Poor guy drinking this. This booze, but he doesn't know what else to do. It's his. It's the only strategy that, when we were kids, made sense, was fun. We saw my. My family as like. Everybody was very isolated. It was like three ball. Like metal balls, almost like UFOs. And there's no merging, right? There's no connecting. They're just in the same space. But. And the way that little Pete learned to literally puncture them. So there's a little violence almost to it or aggression, like puncturing. To get light to shine out from them was to achieve. So the first thing. And I'll just share this sort of stuff as often as I can because I find it so helpful, the first thing is acknowledging to the man at the bar what a brilliant strategy that was like, holy shit. You needed light. You needed some light on you. And you found a way to, like, stop these orbs and demand what you need by achieving being special, being shiny, whatever it is. And then that led to sort of like a doting and like a beholding and a little bit of a codependence and all this sort of stuff. And that's the alcohol. So it got toxic. It stopped working. Just like alcohol addiction. It was working.
Valerie
Yes.
Pete Holmes
And then it stopped working. But then it's kind of all, you know. And when I tell you I had two sessions where we talked to the man at the bar and I sit next to him and it always goes like this. You say, by the way, if anyone's really confused, you just go into your mind and let your unconscious, your subconscious, communicate to you the way it does, which is with symbols. So it will. I never go like, all right, let's make something up. I just go like, who's protecting me? It's that guy.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
He shows up. It's never fake. It's never false. It's never effortful.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And you just sit with him. You tell him how brilliant he was. I always cry. I'm just crying. And I go, I'm so proud of you. I understand.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And I really do. Like, I'm not just saying it. I'm like, I really understand and appreciate that strategy. And you're brilliant and you're brave and you're strong. And then you're just like, would you like some help? And then it's beautiful. All we do is invite them into my life. Would you like to see? Like, there's other stuff to drink. Let me get you a big meal. That's. That's what. I invited him into our house here, and we have chickens and I got him eggs, and I made them a big omelet, the same omelette I make Leela. Just eating it. And it was so. The effort was minimal. That's what. That's what brought on this huge monologue. Forgive me, but it didn't take a lot of.
Valerie
Right.
Pete Holmes
Hey, do you trust me? Can we talk? As soon as I was like, would you like to get out of this bar and stop answering the blinking red sky? Would you like to. Would you like to eat the meal of your daughter's love and your wife's love and your own love and your own self sufficiency and your own autonomy and your own sovereignty? And it's not because I have a special. I do have a special, beautiful, abundant life, but it's just basic reality.
Valerie
Yes.
Pete Holmes
It's just basic reality. You're not a child anymore. That, that applies to anyone who's not a child anymore. You can claim that and go like that's not happening. Or you don't need to get light from an orb. Yes, you don't need to get light from an orb.
Valerie
That's right. And that's, that's where I can hear my therapist voice go. And that's freedom. It's. We've, we talked about that this week too, my therapist and I, that like autonomy, like realizing, like realizing we were talking about it in terms of realizing that you don't need anything from your parents. But it's also part by part being like, what does this part think it needs to survive?
Pete Holmes
Yeah.
Valerie
And then very gently loving it and providing it with like good nourishment until it really sees that it doesn't need any. Like it. Everything that it could need is provided within your system. Yeah, that's freedom. And we were talking about it as in terms of justice too. So there are things, we all have things that were unjust, you know, that we went through in our past.
Pete Holmes
He wants that honored. That's huge. Yeah.
Valerie
There's a part, your part, multiple parts probably, but there's always going to be a part heart that wants justice above everything. And so I was sort of talking to that part of me and, and my therapist helped guide me into seeing that my autonomy, not needing anything, being able to provide everything I need myself is justice.
Pete Holmes
Yeah.
Valerie
It's sort of the only, it's sort of the only justice because anything else I'm putting in someone else's hands and that's just, even just doing that isn't fair to myself.
Pete Holmes
I was just watching the Anna Nicole Smith documentary on Netflix and there's a part where she reconnects with her birth father. And no spoilers here, but it's a nightmare. And what's brutal and darling about it is you're like, there she is. She pulled herself to where she wanted to be and then she, at that peak moment, she's like playmate of the year and she's in a movie. So she gets her dad to visit and she picks him up in, in the airport in a limo with like, I'm not trying to be funny or disrespectful, but like with very infantile pigtails. Like, like little girl pigtails.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And out comes Anna Nicole Smith. Like a very grown up and big. I'm not physically, but like that's like a star, like comes out this giant Presence.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
Like being like a little kid instantly hugging her brother, long lost brother, and her father. And like, it was one of the most strange things I've ever seen. There's a crew there filming it and I'm like, both of these men know who this person is. How fucking weird.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
It's dark, but I'm like, you just found out your long lost daughter is the, like the biggest sex symbol in the world.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And you're watching these two men being like, oh, whoops, a doodle maybe. And then like, that's a. That's a gross. A grotesque joke or observation, but that is how it feels. But then you're watching it and I'm getting so incited. I was like, don't reach out, don't fold it, don't try. And of course it doesn't work. It goes horribly. And she's literally going, this is my daddy. This is my daddy. And I'm like. But then I realized that it's not my repulsion is how familiar that is.
Valerie
Right?
Pete Holmes
That's me.
Valerie
Yes.
Pete Holmes
Remember when my parents visited us out here and I sent a car service. Oh, my God. I just broke my own heart.
Valerie
I know this.
Pete Holmes
This is like. I was now years old when I realized that scene was difficult for me because when my parents came, I sent them a car service.
Valerie
Absolutely.
Pete Holmes
And I had pigtails.
Valerie
I know you. Yeah.
Pete Holmes
I'm just kidding.
Valerie
Well, no, that's why it's so inciting, is that our child selves will always want to do that. And if we let them run the show, they will do it. And here's the darling thing about children and why they need to be protected. And also why we as adults need to protect our child self is that when it comes to parents, children will just make that mistake again and again and again and again. That's why codependency is such a common reaction to childhood wounds. But because the codependent creed is like, this time it's different. If you're living with an addict, it's like, well, this time they'll get sober. Okay, they did fall off the wagon. But this is why that's different. And there will always be a new story of why it's different this time. Even like, you know, people get abused.
Pete Holmes
For both me and Anna Nicole. It's like, we're both so shiny.
Valerie
Look, this must be different.
Pete Holmes
I'm the Playmate of the year.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And you're gonna come. And she's like, you're gonna come to the Playboy Mansion. You're gonna meet Hugh Hefner.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
Intercut that with me being like, we're gonna go to a party. Judd Apatow's gonna be there.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And it didn't. It doesn't work. It really didn't work with Anna Nicole, but it's in our case. People that listen to the show know my parents couldn't find the car service. The airport in Santa Barbara is the size of a postage stamp. Somehow, they couldn't find a person with a sign that said homes. And they called a cab.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
So, like, talk about going to the hardware store for milk. I was trying because I couldn't be there to pick them up myself, but I was trying. Like, I wanted that guy in the black suit to, like, show them a nice ride, and they couldn't find it.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
This is the pain of family.
Valerie
Literal.
Pete Holmes
It's the giant chopsticks, and we're starving. We're trying to get it to our mouths, and we're also trying to feed others, and they're not looking.
Valerie
Yeah. A hundred percent. And what is so, you know, vulnerable about that Ana Nicole scene is that puts. I didn't see it, but you explained it to me. It puts everything in context. You. That's probably the truest moment you say see, of her whole life. Where you go, that is what this is all about.
Pete Holmes
Yeah. Yeah.
Valerie
Is getting your dad's approval and.
Pete Holmes
And letting you need that figure and you want to be a child. Michael Jackson stuff, too.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And the. The 90s and the 2000s were just so obvious. It's. It's drugs, it's alcohol, and it's like these undiagnosed issues. We just didn't even know what they were yet. They weren't cliche yet.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And now they're cliche. Who knows what cliches we're reenacting now? But, yeah, my. So we've talked about my bear. So the protector that comes up when I'm watching Anna Nicole pick up her father at the airport is my bear. He's like, no. Devour them.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
Kill them.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
I don't mean that literally. I mean, like, get them away. There's only pain there. And what I'm trying. And believe it or not, this actually applies to how I approach. Stand up, anybody. That was at the Largo show this month. It was such a magical, special show. And it's. Because when we were driving down. We're back to our topic. I was in a mood, and we laughed, and I softened, and then I remembered. And I had talked about this in therapy, like, I want to engage my life with openness and curiosity and generosity and playfulness and creativity. Like, that's really what a good set for me is. It's not really even the bits working or not working. It's. Can I stay in a mode of playful connection and generosity and creativity? And the problem is that you get so tight, you. You reenact an old pattern. I'm going to puncture this orb for light. I'm going to puncture this audience for approval. It's like a. Yeah, but there's a better way to do it. And the show this month was so good because I did go out going, like I said it backstage. I go, this is my life. I don't want to be worried about the show. Yeah, I'm gonna wake up. That'll be my whole life was worrying about shows. Done this hundreds of times. Do it a hundred times more.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
Can I just dance with this? And in a perfect world, I'd be able to, like, dance and flow with my parents. But sometimes you just go and, well, have a different strategy.
Valerie
That's right. And. And of course, you. Even as you were saying that, I went on my own journey of wishing that for myself too. And really, your folks. Yeah. And really, the. The mood is, you know, it's just the most original entanglements. So it's. It's okay that that might not be possible and you find other answers. But the key really is to protect your child. Self. Well, that's why be the adult that is protecting at Largo.
Pete Holmes
That's a safe place to drop my guard and flow and be porous and to dance and to play and be generous and creative, and it just is what it is. There's a lot of places where you go and it's like, no, you can't really be that naked. Yeah, it's just a cold climate. Put on a jacket. Yeah, it's not a mean jacket. Yeah, just put on a jacket.
Valerie
That's okay. Well, that's the thing. I mean, that's what we will see. We're starting to enter the next plane of development with Leela. So she's, you know, it's this sort of idea that you're in the garden for the first seven years of your life. You're in this. It's such a precious time. And, you know, it's so unfortunate that people don't get those precious years protected. But it's like, as parents, we really want to protect this very pure, innocent time. And she is, you know, wanting to be naked everywhere. She's boundaryless. Her. Her friend was eating, and she just picked him up and pulled him out and said, chase me. And then, like, they're wrestling. She's so primal. She's so present. She just. She, you know, is, like, elated when she gets what she wants, and she is throwing a total fit when she gets. When she doesn't get what she wants. Like, she is living on the surface in this very, very true and pure way. And if she's doing that when she's 25, we have a problem.
Pete Holmes
Yeah.
Valerie
You know, it's just. It can't be. It can't. It's not sustainable. We want to keep that part of ourselves. We want to make what she has right now. Eventually, if it. If it happens appropriately, I think that becomes a part. And then we get all these other parts. These parts that learn how to be in this circumstance and then learn how to be in this circumstance, you know, so if we're always. It's just impossible to expect that we will always be free and clear and flowing and pure creativity and pure presence. And, like, we. We develop these protectors that really let us know if this is a safe environment to do that.
Pete Holmes
Right.
Valerie
Or not.
Pete Holmes
No. I love my bears so much, and I have a trip to Boston coming up, and I'm gonna welcome all of them to. To be appropriate. And it's not. It's not the time to just be like, what. What's this?
Valerie
Yeah, what's this? I. I used to.
Pete Holmes
Oh, hey.
Valerie
I. Actually, my therapist used to help me think of a place to sit, send my child self.
Pete Holmes
That's what we do every time when.
Valerie
But, like, when I would go visit. Yeah.
Pete Holmes
Oh, I like that.
Valerie
And it was boogie boarding with my brother on the beach, and I. It helped me to be in, like, a hard moment of a visit and be like, thank God little Valerie's just boogie boarding on a beach right now.
Pete Holmes
Yeah, mine's fun spot on the arcade.
Valerie
Cute. Of course, I love it.
Pete Holmes
You know, this might be a little weird, but when you're talking about, like, so Anna Nicole did kind of have a very unfortunate upbringing.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And then, you know, then as an adult, kind of like Michael Jackson, too. It's like, well, now I'm gonna be a kid. So she was a little infantilized with her. Her dad, and also with Hugh Hefner. There's always that, like, daddy kind of thing going on. And you tell me if this is too weird, but even the nakedness. Nakedness seems so grown up. Like, obviously it's for arousal but there is also something that's like, look, I'm finally getting to be free and just kind of walking around nude.
Valerie
Yes, absolutely.
Pete Holmes
I think that, like, that wasn't my life. And now it is. Look, I'm in a room full of people and I'm naked. That must be reparenting in some way.
Valerie
I think there is. I think there is a connection to that. Like, it. Because it is. You know, these are the people who's. Who didn't get protected in those tender first seven years, probably. And think of Leela now. Like a part of her being in this pure, innocent state is that she wants to be naked all the time.
Pete Holmes
Yeah.
Valerie
And they like, didn't get that. And I'm getting it now.
Pete Holmes
I actually thought that this morning I was like. Cuz she went in the hot tub this morning naked. And. And I was like, we're going like, you know how Europe is for alcohol. We're doing that for nudity.
Valerie
Oh, for sure.
Pete Holmes
Like, she's going to be like, there was always a bottle of wine.
Valerie
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
On the table.
Valerie
Yeah. But she'll just.
Pete Holmes
My butt.
Valerie
Yeah. She's like, we were just always showing each other our butts and there's a.
Pete Holmes
Lot of mooning in our house.
Valerie
I really hope. I hope that's right. Yeah. I mean, that's gonna be the one. One of them. If like, we. If she's like, that was really up that you guys were like, naked in front of me past the age of three.
Pete Holmes
Well, I know people. There are people that feel that way.
Valerie
We. We would be. I feel like I would instantly be like, I'm so ashamed. Like, yeah, that's a really embarrassing one. I guess if she's like, you know, you never. You didn't have me drink electrolytes or something and be like, all right, well, we didn't really know. Whatever.
Pete Holmes
But.
Valerie
But if it's a naked one, you're like, I'm a Disgusting.
Pete Holmes
Yeah. No, it's. It's easy to. That's an easy one to find shame.
Valerie
Yeah. But I don't know, it just seems like. Yeah, it. It seems like the people. What, what we are coming. The place that we're coming from is the perversions and the issues that come from repression. Yeah.
Pete Holmes
So body shame. Well, again, it's a wave. It's a wave. It is. It's in the middle. Yeah, it's in the middle. I'm sure I'm more careful certainly than. Than you are.
Valerie
Right. Which I think is rightful. I would be. If she. Yeah.
Pete Holmes
Yeah. My Mom, I used to be like, yeah. Oh, just at breakfast. Oh, Jesus Christ.
Valerie
But also, I think we should follow the kid's lead. And, like, the second that she's like, I don't. I don't know about that.
Pete Holmes
Of course, I went into this with my eyes open. Based on our friends who have kids that are older and how they approached it. And I really do think the closest comparison is alcohol and Europe.
Valerie
Yeah, it's like.
Pete Holmes
It's not all the. It's not everywhere, but sometimes you see a little Pinot noir.
Valerie
It's more of a sauvignon blanc. I don't know.
Pete Holmes
My ding dong is a blend. It's a cab franc. Cab franc is the dick name.
Valerie
Cab Frog.
Pete Holmes
You want to see my cab franc?
Valerie
Ew. Frank.
Pete Holmes
Well, we didn't remember what we laughed at, but.
Valerie
No, it's all right.
Pete Holmes
I couldn't. I. I'm not up to the task. I don't remember it, but it was.
Valerie
Just a really good 2. 2 hours and 15.
Pete Holmes
I remember one of them.
Valerie
I remember one of them, too, but I. I. That's what I was thinking in the bathroom.
Pete Holmes
I was like, volcano.
Valerie
No, I don't think any of them are probably very shareable.
Pete Holmes
Volcano, I think, is. Is. It's. It's. I think it's okay, but just to. I don't want you to be like, was that okay? So we won't. It's not worth it. We won't. We won't talk about it. But there was one laugh about a restaurant called Volcano. Yeah, like a walk. That's a volcano. That's it. All right, everybody. Thank you for being here. We missed you these past couple weeks. I loved doing this.
Valerie
Thanks for chatting with me, too. Thanks for chatting with me, and thank you all for listening. And just go ahead and keep it crispy.
In this special "We Made It Weird" episode, Pete Holmes and his wife Valerie return after a short hiatus for a wide-ranging, candid, and often hilarious conversation about 80s and 90s sitcom tropes, the evolution of nerd culture, cycles in society and personal growth, food nostalgia, emotional healing, parenting, and their own weirdness. True to the show's spirit, they toggle between sharp cultural critique, deeply personal insights, and lighthearted banter.
Pete and Val blend lighthearted, self-deprecating comedy with unexpected depth, using pop culture, food memories, and their personal stories as jumping-off points for broader observations on psychological growth, cycles in society, and compassion toward oneself. With their trademark warmth and weirdness, they offer listeners both laughs and hard-earned wisdom.
Keep it crispy!