‘Crashing’: Pete Holmes Teases ‘Jealousy and Emotion’ for Pete, Ali & Kat

Madeline Wise, Pete Holmes, and Judd Apatow in Crashing
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CRAIG BLANKENHORN/HBO

For tonight’s episode of his loosely autobiographical HBO series, creator and star Pete Holmes digs deep. “I don’t want to say it’s Shakespearean,” he says, “but there’s a lot of jealousy and emotion.”

In Crashing’s third season, his character, sweetly innocent up-and-coming comic Pete, has become a little more of a bad boy thanks to unpredictable new girlfriend Kat (Madeline Wise). And this installment — directed by executive producer Judd Apatow — puts Kat in the same room as Pete’s ex, comedian Ali (Jamie Lee), who’s hosting a viewing party for her Late Night With Seth Meyers appearance.

“Pete thinks he’s going to be able to slip out and go by himself. And at the last minute, Kat says, ‘Let me come with you,'” Apatow reveals.

Holmes notes that his own postdivorce dating life followed a similar trajectory from comic to noncomic: “You go, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize how easy it is [when] you’re dating someone who has the same addiction.'”

Crashing, Sundays, 10:15/9:15c, HBO