Podcast Summary: "We Made It Weird #240" – You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes

Date: February 6, 2026
Hosts: Pete Holmes & Valerie
Theme:
A deeply funny, sometimes silly, often philosophical conversation about secret weirdness, regular life crises, sex, dead chickens, spiritual progress (or lack thereof), and the ways we try to make sense out of life, death, and our own deeply human brains.

1. Episode Overview

Pete and Valerie (Val) reunite for a favorite "We Made It Weird" installment—no guests, just freewheeling, vulnerable riffing between them. They touch on everything from the weirdness of sex and shame to spiritual epiphanies, the ethics of dead chickens, why ghost animals never visit, and the comic calamity of being human brains inhabiting quirky bodies. They mix deep spiritual wisdom with fresh-out-of-bed pettiness, making this episode a uniquely hilarious and honest check-in with life’s messiness.

2. Key Discussion Points & Insights

“Fake Yawns, Real Vulnerability, and Letting Yourself Be Sad”

• The episode opens with riffs about fake yawns always turning into real ones, likened to a David Copperfield magic trick.
• Pete and Val muse about pretending to know about things in conversation ("going along to get along"), admitting much of life is just bluffing so as not to slow things down.
• They then transition into the weight of emotional days:
  • Valerie: "I'm just in my feelings." (06:33)
  • Pete: "I'm gonna go inside. I'm gonna investigate the feeling. What is its source?" (06:53)
• Discussing how often feelings just want to be seen, not fixed:
  • Pete: "How often is the answer nothing? Just space." (07:04)

“Humor and Childhood Language”

• The couple gleefully riff about what they called farts as kids ("toots" or "poots"), spiraling into a tangent about the children’s show Blippi (“Blimpy/Blimpy”?) and its unnerving childless-adult-in-a-ballpit vibes.
• Pete distinguishes between people who work children’s parties in costume (Barney) and those who don’t, joking about how business attire, like dinosaur suits, is a kind of protective barrier against impropriety (09:20–12:07).

“Why Do We Make Sex Cute?”

• A laugh-out-loud riff about the weirdness of Playboy bunnies and Chippendales chipmunks:
  • Pete: “We’re trying to be like, ‘It’s cute!’” (13:36)
  • Valerie: “But sex shouldn’t be cute.” (14:13)
• They connect sex shame to the impulse to “innocentify” adult reality, relating it to how brands use cartoon mascots for food made from animals.

“Animal Death, Mystery, and Witchcraft”

• A chicken in their backyard dies mysteriously, alongside a cluster of dead butterflies—Val deliberates: should they bury the chicken as a pet, or “toss it over the fence” for the coyotes? (22:09)
• Pete reminisces about coming across a severed deer’s hoof in Maine and the knee-jerk assumption of “witchcraft” in weird rural mysteries.
  • Valerie: "We don't understand nature. So it's... and we fear people that kind of like, are like, I like, you know how you have WiFi. I have nature." (19:46)
• This segues into musings about animal ghosts and whether cows, dogs, or cats ever see “their own” spirits.

“Language, Words, and Their Limits”

• The hosts dive into how arbitrary language can be, riffing on words like "boo" vs. "moo," and how sometimes wordplay gives as much meaning as depth.
  • Pete: "It's so dumb how hard we believe in words." (24:35)

“The Philosophy Section: The Nature of Being”

The Unanswerable Mysteries and the Limits of Knowing

• Valerie finds herself obsessing over mundane mysteries (“I have to know!”) and links it to our existential craving for answers:
  • Valerie: “That is a weird feeling because we have that about the whole nature of existence... like, that's the big one...” (37:06)
• Pete: “The brain, the mind, doesn't get to ever really be fully satisfied. And that stinks.” (37:51)

Seeking, Spiritual Practice, and “Being Cake”

• Extended discussion of spiritual teachers (especially John Wheeler), non-duality, and the “Kimlin scale” as a way of rating how close things/people are to expectations.
• Pete shares the concept: you are what you’re seeking—likened to “being cake,” or being water that can’t write “I’m dry” in itself.
  • Pete: “You are, what you're looking for is really funny... You're looking for it. And you are it.” (39:56–40:00)
  • Valerie: “You are already doing it.” (41:18)
• Valerie highlights her own role as the practical-minded counterbalance to Pete’s spiritual bookishness—reiterating that sometimes, what helps most is just “letting feelings move through you” and not believing every story the mind produces.

“No Report Cards In Awareness”

• Pete grapples with not being present or aware every moment: "The brain can't handle that. It doesn't even like it." (65:50)
• Valerie points out how Western spirituality and education often build in “grading systems” that make us feel perpetually behind, versus simply accepting ourselves as we are.

“Admitting Pettiness and Accepting Humanity”

• They share petty, self-effacing stories:
  • Pete tells a story about undermining his own career’s duration ("I said I’d been doing comedy for 12 years...it's 22!")
  • They riff about overreacting to perceived slights (“Don’t get me started”).
• Valerie: “These are the things I love about you. It's fun to live with somebody… accept that you’re accepted… and even when you broke somebody's heart in high school or whatever—you’re in it." (78:19)

3. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Vulnerability & Emotional Honesty:
  • Valerie: "I'm just in my feelings." (06:33)
  • Pete: "Beautiful, beautiful sadness. The biggest sadness I've ever felt... I'm gonna let it wash through me. I'm not gonna get caught in the story." (06:38)
• On the Human Need for Mystery:
  • Valerie: “It feels really wrong...you're like, I have to know. And maybe it's because... that's a weird feeling because we have that about the whole nature of existence.” (36:46–37:06)
• On Seeking & Non-Duality:
  • Pete: "You are, what you're looking for is really funny... You're looking for it. And you are it." (39:56–40:00)
  • Valerie: “It is so accessible. You are already doing it. You are.” (41:14–41:18)
• On Self-Acceptance:
  • Valerie: “There’s no problem here. You’re not making any sort of mistakes. And like, we are here. Let's do the dang thing... sometimes you're a petty little.” (68:23–68:44)
  • Pete: “Accept that you're accepted. Even if I'm, like, depressed and angry and bitter and awful. Your cake.” (59:49)
• On Relativity of Shame and Progress:
  • Valerie: “Every cruel act comes from shame. I think everybody who is being awful, it's because they have not gotten right with themselves.” (69:38)
• On Language:
  • Pete: "It's so dumb how hard we believe in words. And that's why I'm always drawn to, like, a sadness. The word sadness is so many things." (24:35)

4. Segment Timestamps

• 00:45–02:35: Pete jokes about performing in various U.S. clubs, self-deprecates about Miami’s attractiveness, and expresses love for the podcast’s simplicity.
• 03:56–04:54: They riff about fake yawns, segueing to Copperfield and pretending in conversation.
• 06:28–07:07: Raw talk about feelings needing space rather than intervention.
• 08:13–09:51: Fart names, childhood innocence, and Blippi/Blimpy skepticism.
• 12:07–15:23: Sex is “cute-ified”; discussion on sex shame and animal mascots.
• 19:36–22:24: Dead chicken/butterfly/hoof mystery and rural superstition.
• 24:31–25:02: Language games (“boo” vs. “moo”) and philosophical musing on sadness.
• 36:46–41:18: Valerie’s obsession with solving small mysteries is linked to big existential questions; extended non-duality exploration.
• 46:15–56:02: Stepwise breakdown of observing your thoughts, spiritual progress, and suffering caused by clinging to thoughts.
• 65:46–66:36: Western “report card” mentality versus actual acceptance.
• 74:32–78:35: Pete tells a story about misreporting the length of his career in casual conversation.
• 81:39–82:28: Final summing up of the human adventure as a messy, dreamy "dance”—"just play it," as Val says.

5. Episode Tone & Takeaway

The tone swings from big-hearted silliness to spiritual self-inquiry with characteristic warmth and vulnerability. Pete and Val make listeners feel okay about their pettiness, shame, and confusion; they suggest that—despite our attempts at control and “improvement”—everyone is already “cake,” already in. The value isn’t in fixing, but in seeing, feeling, and laughing at what it means to be a weird, wonderful human.

6. For Those Who Haven’t Listened…

This episode is a cozy espresso shot of Pete and Val’s favorite themes: being present, not letting shame run the show, and embracing even the strangest parts of life and self. You’ll leave feeling a little more okay with your own secret weirdness—and more likely to laugh about it.

Key Takeaways:

• Feelings want to be seen, not fixed.
• The brain’s explanations are mostly stories—not reality.
• You can’t “lose” being; you’re already what you seek.
• Life’s mysteries—big and small—can be let go.
• Self-acceptance is the beginning and end of spiritual progress.

Final Quote:
Valerie: “Just play it. Keep it crispy.” (82:28)

End of Summary