CLEVELAND, Ohio - As raw and raunchy as the comedy sometimes gets on "Crashing," there's something incredibly endearing and downright sweet about this new HBO series. That something is the performance of the immensely likable Pete Holmes.
REVIEW Crashing
What: The premiere of executive producer Judd Apatow's comedy about a comedian (Pete Holmes) whose wife leaves him for a boxer.
When: 10:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 1.
Where: HBO
Stand-up comedian Holmes plays Pete, an aspiring stand-up comedian whose life is about to come crashing down in a pile of pain. Pete is happily married, or so he thinks. You'd get a different opinion from his wife, Jessica (Lauren Lapkus), a teacher at an elementary school.
His life begins to spiral out of control when he finds his wife in bed with the third-grade art teacher. His career is going nowhere. He has no job prospects. He has no income. His marriage is falling apart. Can things get any worse?
Hilariously, they do. By the end of the first episode, Pete is taking advice from comedian Artie Lange, who wonders why anyone would take advice from him. He's also sleeping on Artie's couch.
It's the first of many couches were Pete will crash during the run of "Crashing," which premieres at 10:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19. It's the way he survives day by day in New York City. It's the way he tries to reevaluate his so-called life.
Judd Apatow ("Freaks and Geeks") is the executive producer in charge of this surprisingly charming HBO newcomer, with all the scripts written or co-written by Holmes. Like Louis C.K.'s FX series, "Louie," "Crashing" often digs deep into terribly painful areas for the source of its comedic inspiration.
And if not as intensely and consistently brilliant as "Louie," "Crashing" does keep you laughing and keep you rooting for its lead character. Well, you just can't help rooting for the hapless, hard-luck Pete.
Although trying to make it as a comedian in New York, Pete is more than a little unworldly and naive. He's something of a wide-eyed puppy dog lost in the big city.
Series with comedians playing comedians typically have a hard and brittle center. Think of "Seinfeld," "Louie," Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and Garry Shandling's "The Larry Sanders Show."
"Crashing" reverses that formula. Everything around Pete is hard and brittle. He's the gooey, soft center at the heart of this show.
He cares about right and wrong. He responds with genuine gratitude to kindness and with surprise to meanness. He listens to Christian radio stations and tells disbelieving comedians about his beliefs.
And despite everything that has gone wrong and all the hard lessons he must learn, Pete believes he's going to find a way to succeed. That way is lined with the living-room couches of such comedians as T.J. Miller and Sarah Silverman. Also appearing as exaggerated versions of themselves are Dave Attell, Hannibal Burress, Jim Norton and Rachael Ray.
We don't know if Pete has the right stuff to soar as a comedian, but we suspect we'll have a good time finding out where the trail of couches will lead him. And, yes, we're cheering him on, hoping that his optimism isn't crushed in "Crashing."
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