Pete Holmes – Spinning Platters

Sketchfest Review: You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes at Marines Memorial Theater, 1/23/2015

Rhea Butcher, Pete Holmes, Emo Philips, Cameron Esposito and Charlie Sanders after the show. (Photo from Pete Holmes' Instagram @peteholmes) — Rhea Butcher, Pete Holmes, Emo Philips, Cameron Esposito and Charlie Sanders after the show. (Photo from Pete Holmes’ Instagram @peteholmes)

You Made it Weird is a podcast where comedian host Pete Holmes talks at great length with his guest about love, sex and god, mixing in a lot about life in general. It can often get spiritual and deep which makes it a little more interesting and introspective than other comedian led interview style podcasts. But the live format is a little different, focusing more on the weird bits of life side than the deep talks about sex, love and spirituality. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. With five guests to get through in two hours and a theater full of people it is hard to get to the intimate places the podcast can get to, but it does allow for a lot more amazing jokes. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes at Marines Memorial Theater, 1/23/2015”

A Nerd’s Guide to Sketchfest 2015

Every year, the good folks at SF Sketchfest program three weeks of live comedy in the Bay Area. They program it so well that it can get exhausting to determine which shows to go to. Well, here at Spinning Platters, a forum for Bay Area music, film, and comedy nerds, we’ll be helping you determine which shows you should be going to. It wasn’t easy, but I think you’ll get sufficient enough chuckles for handling the post-holiday blues if you follow these guidelines.

Don’t like my suggestions? You can always pick for yourself! You can find the schedule here!

Continue reading “A Nerd’s Guide to Sketchfest 2015”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 7/10/14-7/16/14

The other phono del sol... — The other phono del sol…

Another weekend in July. Another excuse to hang out in some of the Bay Area’s under-appreciated parks. Last weekend’s Burger Boogaloo was amazing. This weekend brings us Phono del Sol. A one day event that brings the absolute best in indie rock to it’s natural habitat- The Mission. I’ve gone every year, and at $25, it’s a steal! For one price, you get Wye Oak, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, Nick Waterhouse, Tony Molina, Blackbird Blackbird, White Fence, Yalls, A Million Billion Dying Suns, The Tambo Rays, and Bill Baird. It’s going to be an epic time for all. Oh, and we’ve got other shows this week, too: Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 7/10/14-7/16/14”

SF Sketchfest Review: Billy Eichner and Friends at Cobb’s, 2/2/2013

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Confrontation comic Billy Eichner, the screamingest queen to ever brandish a microphone in a bewildered stranger’s face, curated a comedy showcase called Billy Eichner and Friends at Cobb’s on Saturday night as part of SF Sketchfest 2013. Eichner has been a rising star on the New York comedy scene for several years, building his uniquely abrasive brand through popular YouTube clips that gradually led to getting his own show, the Funny or Die production Billy on the Street, currently airing its second season on Fuse. The vast majority of the show’s content features Eichner and a cameraman running up to strangers on the streets of New York and screaming at them; sometimes it’s pop culture opinion/trivia, and occasionally it’s something absurdly basic that somehow proves challenging given the intense nature of the situation (he once famously stymied Rachel Dratch by asking her to name 20 white people; a clip he showed on Saturday showed a young woman failing to meet Eichner’s command to “name any woman”). He has become a talk show staple, and is turning into a regular on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live, on which his gay-leaning cultural obsessions seem to find the most receptive audience. So given all this, what kind of performance did Eichner have in mind for Sketchfest?

Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Billy Eichner and Friends at Cobb’s, 2/2/2013”

SF Sketchfest Review: You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes at Cobb’s Comedy Club, 2/2/13

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Pete Holmes’ podcast You Made it Weird is funny, deep and as the title suggests, weird. The greatest thing about it though is how the podcast can be so funny and so personal at the same time. Since all my favorite parts of the podcast are the little personal moments, I was a little apprehensive that the deep moments might be dropped for more humor with the live audience there. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes at Cobb’s Comedy Club, 2/2/13”