Pete Holmes Quotes

Drama can feel like therapy whereas comedy feels like there's been a pressure and a weight lifted off of you. You come to work and you laugh all day, you go home and you feel light and there's a certain feeling when you're sitting with the audience and they leave after 90 minutes and it's just pure escapism and they're happy.

Music is escapism, it's entertainment.

Part of doing stand-up is to get things off your chest. It's a bit like being in a psychiatrist's chair - but more enjoyable.

Comedy is free therapy. And if it's done well, the audience and the comic take turns being the doctor as well as the patient.

I hate comics who look at comedy as therapy. But at least it gets things out of my system in a funny way.

Comedians are therapists. People honestly think we're doing it for ourselves. No. If we wanted to do stand-up for ourselves, we would perform in front of a mirror and never go to a club. We are giving this away. Some people are going through so much in their lives, they want to hear something else that's going on in the world and laugh.

There's something about doing stand-up that's cathartic.

Even in times of great sadness, there are always moments where we crack up.

When I'm on stage, I'm trying to do one thing: bring people joy. Just like church does. People don't go to church to find trouble, they go there to lose it.

I sing my life. It's like I'm having group therapy 350 days a year, and the people who come to the show get that, and they're there for that - whether it's to be lifted up, or to be lifted out, or just entertained or inspired, or to feel not so alone.

I think that some laughter comes from escaped horror, doesn't it?

Laughter relieves us of superfluous energy, which, if it remained unused, might become negative, that is, poison. Laughter is the antidote.

Just performing is where I'm happiest, and gets me rid of my troubles and worries.

I like for people to have fun and that comes out in the music.

Our shows are packed with laughter and light-hearted songs to lift the listener from their everyday life. We encourage the audience to participate in any way.

The more pain that's referenced or implied, the deeper the laugh can be because the laughter heals the pain. So you've got to have the pain, and then you have the laugh.

I sang in church, but growing up in the neighborhood, music was more of an expression of relief or entertainment.

I do comedy to give people an ephemeral escape from the tragedy that permeates everyday life.

Comedy's my outlet for my ridiculous emotions.

As entertainment, fiction may offer momentary relief from the stresses of reality.

When I was doing stand-up, there were a lot of things I talked about that seemed very silly but were therapeutic.

This country wants to laugh. We want to, and we need to. I'm happy to oblige.

You need music that is compelling and intellectual, but you also need music that just feels good and you can laugh about and dance to, and I think I'm trying to marry the two in some way.

I love creating music that makes people dance, smile and have a good time.

It was extraordinary to experience 'Mamma Mia!' What an injection of good spirit and heart it was.