Our inaugural selection is Impregnated with Wonder, the debut album from Pete Holmes, and my favorite comedy release of 2011.
What immediately stands out in Holmes' comedic sensibility is his willingness to simply be goofy. Opening with a bit about laughing out loud alone, he frequently revels in his own ridiculousness. While his enthusiastic style sometimes leans a bit on the "yelling guy" device for emphasis, it really never becomes grating, and repeat listenings soften the rough edges of Holmes' energetic performance. In the end, it becomes impossible not to appreciate how well-written and clearly-honed Holmes' observational riffs and flights of fancy are.
For interested listeners, Holmes is also the host of the You Made it Weird podcast, in which he gets incredibly personal with fellow funny people on his favorite off-mic subjects: Comedy, God, and sex. Holmes sometimes refers to the show as What the Heck with Pete Holmes, as it's very clearly inspired by Marc Maron's seminal WTF show. Fans of the latter will definitely enjoy this one too.
(Impregnated with Wonder is available on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify)
