Writer-director-producer Judd Apatow has just given his blessing to another budding comedian. The 40-Year-Old Virgin director will produce and direct the pilot for up-and-coming comedian Pete Holmes’ new hopeful show, Crashing.
According to Deadline, Crashing is a single-camera semi-autobiographical comedy written by and starring Holmes. The pilot, which has been green-lit by HBO, follows a wholesome comedian (played by Holmes) who begins sleeping on his fellow New York comedians’ couches after his wife leaves him.
Apatow has previously buddied up with Holmes a few times now, appearing as a guest on the latter’s podcast as well as appearing onscreen in a segment on TBS’ The Pete Holmes Show. Ironically, the skit (which you can view below) features Holmes awkwardly and uncomfortably pitching a movie of his post-divorce life to an unconvinced Apatow.
Apatow has been on comedic fire for the last decade or so, producing, writing and directing a number of hit films including Knocked Up, Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Bridesmaids and the pair of Anchorman films, to name a few. He is a writer and exec producer on Lena Dunham’s HBO show Girls and more recently directed the Amy Schumer big screen hit Trainwreck. Next year will see the release of his series Love, starring Gillian Jacobs, and the film Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, both set to debut on Netflix.
William Fanelli is contributor to Flickering Myth – You can follow him on Twitter