HBO renews Pete Holmes comedy “Crashing” for season 2

PanARMENIAN.Net - HBO is staying in the Pete Holmes business.

The pay cabler has renewed the stand-up comedian's series Crashing for a second season, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Executive produced by Holmes and Judd Apatow, the semi-autobiographical half-hour centers on Pete, a struggling stand-up comedian whose world falls apart when he learns his wife is cheating on him. Pete subsequently dives deeper into the world of stand-up comedy as he couch surfs with various friends and comedians including Artie Lange and T.J. Miller, among others, playing fictional versions of themselves.

The episode count is not yet known for season two. Season one consists of eight episodes.

Despite the series' small viewership, Crashing has drawn critical acclaim, scoring a 93 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Pete and Judd have proven to be the ultimate ambassadors for the stand-up comedy world,” HBO programming executive vp Amy Gravitt said Wednesday in a statement. “I’m delighted by the response to the show and am thrilled to welcome them back for a second season.”

The idea for Crashing originated during the run of Holmes' TBS late-night show, The Pete Holmes Show, when Apatow appeared as a guest in 2014.

"I told him about growing up religious [Christian], and then my wife left me and then I got kicked into the deep end of the New York comedy scene. He was like, "That’s far too sad, [people] won’t want to watch that,'" Holmes told THR earlier this year.

However, he convinced Apatow otherwise. "He was just like, 'Well, write it.' So, I wrote and sent him five episodes. He would read one and he'd say, 'This is great, write another!' and then I'd do another and then he'd read the next one and he'd say, 'This is great, do another,'" Holmes continued. "Honestly, I jumped at the opportunity to impress him, but it really ended up fleshing out the show."

The renewal comes as HBO prepares to say goodbye to its other current Sunday night comedy, Girls, which is in the midst of its sixth and final season and which is also executive produced by Apatow. In addition to Holmes and Apatow, Crashing's team also consists of co-exec producer Judah Miller and producers Oren Brimer, Josh Church, Igor Srubshchik and Dave Rath.

HBO's comedy slate also includes Veep, Silicon Valley, Insecure, Divorce, Ballers, Vice Principals, Tracey Ullman's Show, High Maintenance and the upcoming revival of Curb Your Enthusiasm.