Where does Batman hug the Joker? Ask Pete Holmes
The comedian Pete Holmes grew up a dedicated Christian, and his spirituality is something he draws on often in his standup material and his HBO show, “Crashing,” which was recently renewed for a third season. He’s also writing a book about his experience with faith.
So it’s not surprising that at Holmes’ house in East Los Angeles, the walls emphasize both his spiritual and cerebral worldview. There is a photograph of the eminent writer on mythology Joseph Campbell, who died in 1987, and who, Holmes said, “redefined God for me.”
He commissioned a print of lyrics to the Avett Brothers’ “Salvation Song,” and a quotation from Ram Dass, the spiritual leader, about self-judgment. It reads in part, “When you go out into the woods and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens. … And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are.”
There is also a wooden topographic map of San Francisco. “I enjoy seeing things from above,” Holmes said in a phone interview.
Holmes dabbles in painting. Four years ago, he painted Batman hugging his nemesis, the Joker. Holmes is also a cartoonist, and several of his works have appeared in The New Yorker.
Batman is of some importance to him — he played the Caped Crusader in 10 parody sketches when he hosted “The Pete Holmes Show” on TBS. The scene of the Batman and Joker détente holds a prime position in Holmes’ garage.
These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
Q: Why did you pick that Avett Brothers song for a customized print?
A: It kind of sounds like a mission statement for life. When I’m feeling in that good flow that we can all get in, that song makes so much sense to me. I really like the part: “If it compromises truth, then we will go.” It’s the idea that what we’re pursuing isn’t fame and it’s not just money. It’s actually about excavating your soul, sharing and creating.
Q: The Ram Dass quotation is interesting. Why did that speak to you?
A: It’s the sort of thing that when you’re having dinner with your family and you are tempted to be driven crazy, and you just want to remember that everyone is doing the best they can. Everyone is doing what is natural to them. The idea of trees bending in a certain way because that’s how they got light is another way of saying that people act a certain way because that’s how they get love. Everybody wants the same fundamental things. They want to feel safe. They want to feel seen, and they want to feel loved. So when Ram Dass reminds me to look at people just like other things, it helps me have a bit more compassion.
Q: Did you learn how to paint on your own?
A: It’s not as hard as it looks. I don’t really paint. If you look at it, I draw with paint. People who paint blend colors and they’re mimicking something, like a landscape. I’m just drawing on a canvas with a Sharpie and then I’m painting it in. The fanciest thing I’m doing is painting it yellow, letting it dry, and then painting it yellow.
Q: You have more than a passing interest in comic book heroes, correct?
A: I love Batman. He keeps the same hours as a comedian. I think Gotham is so obviously supposed to be New York. So when I was handing out flyers or when I was going to do shows that started at 1 a.m. — talk about metaphors, I literally leaned on the image of Batman to give me strength.
Even more than that, I wanted to do a series about reconciliation. So I wanted to do a series of paintings — I still might — of notorious enemies hugging. I wanted to do Lex Luthor and Superman. I wanted to do Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker playing catch in a park like father and son. I love the idea of Batman, who represents right and wrong, and the Joker, who represents death, finding a way to love each other.