HBO would not be bringing the charming half-hour comedy back for a fourth season.
This was unexpected to say the least, and admittedly threw me for a loop.
But if the showhadto end abruptly, you might’t do much better than the Season 3 finale episode.
Check out the full interview below, which does containspoilersfor the series finale episode, Mulaney.
PETE HOLMES: What if I didn’t know?
What if you just told me?
Image via HBO
(Laughs)
Luckily I saw your tweets beforehand!
HOLMES: Yeah, I don’t think niche is a bad word.
If not entirely niche.
Image via HBO
So did you guys already have some plans in mind for Season 4?
Obviously, I think that’s most eerie between maybe the first and second season.
I think people maybe expect me to be.
Image via HBO
But I really do feel that there’s something lovely about the way that it ends.
That’s why it was calledCrashing, and as I’ve joked many times, it wasn’t calledFlourishing.
So there’s something kind of fitting about how it ends.
Image via HBO
Think about where he was in the first season.
Frankly, “What do you think is gonna happen?”
is how most comedians feel for most of our lives.
Image via HBO
I have to be honest.
I finished the final episode, and then I went to Google to check that I hadnt missed something.
I was like, “Did they announce that they were only doing three seasons?”
Image via HBO
Because it does feel like an ending.
It feels like a nice sweet moment.
It would’ve been such a bummer if this season ended on a down note.
Image via HBO
HOLMES: Oh, I really appreciate it.
I mean, it’s a triple win.
I mean, he goes up after Mulaney.
Image via HBO
A lot of times onCrashing, we do things both ways.
We’d shoot maybe me doing well, and me doing poorly.
Let’s say the script said that I do poorly.
Image via HBO
It was always scripted that Pete goes up and does well after Mulaney.
That set that I do there is something that Judd and I beated out.
We didn’t even consider it.
Image via HBO
We were like, “He goes up after Mulaney.
The table is set for it to be a disaster, and then he does really well.”
And then he wins at the Cellar, obviously.
Image via HBO
Which, the whole season, it was one of the more orchestrated seasons that we ever did.
It’s something that we don’t normally do.
I mean like more than 10 times.
How’s it going to feel in those last moments?
Immediately, I was filled with the relief that I was like, “Oh, my God.
I mean, there could be a movie or something, we’re certainly open to that.
But if this were it, it would just be like, “Oh, wow.
Thank you for that.”
I loved the introduction of Kat.
Even just the structure of the season, I thought, just played out really perfectly.
So if you have to go out unexpectedly, I’m glad it went out this way.
HOLMES: You know, you’re really just mirroring my own feelings.
We’d get there, and there’d be no audience.
Kumail was like, “Yeah.
Now it can’t go badly.”
I was like, “Oh, that’s it!
You’re right.”
So there’s sort of this feeling that the third season, we hit a stride.
I think ofTogetherness, for example, which was another HBO show that was short-lived.
Well this season found Pete wearing a lot of different hats, both literally and figuratively.
HOLMES: (Laughs) Yeah!
He’s trying to figure out where he fits in.
How did you guys go about crafting that specific arc for the season?
He just wanted to be given a platform to do the thing that he really loved to do.
You’ll see that throughout movies and TV shows.
So Pete is really playing a game of what’s expected of him, and what you want.
The feeling of what’s expected of you versus what you really want.
They say that many, many times, and Pete is also figuring that out.
We had to cut it for time, which is unfortunate.
He did a joke about something that was frustrating to him, and something that’s kind of ugly.
Ugly in the loose sense.
You and Judd have both mentioned a potentialCrashingmovie.
Like what they did withHello Ladies.
It would have to be a standalone.
How can we tell a unique story?”
So I would look at itand this is just me today.
I don’t know, but it would be something more like that.
Or at least, that’s what it would do for me.
But, a little glimpse into our process, that’s not the final word.
This show was so much Judd and my show, and the writers and the producers.
Listen, I’m fine with that.
Those jokes are funny.
Judd would steer me away from two things: anything that was overtly a little bit too indulgent.
Like, literally indulgent, like too many jerk off scenes.
Or he was also very good at almost like trimming a bonsai tree.
Well, you’ve sold me.
I can’t wait to read it.
I wanted to ask about Mulaney.
Number one, is he a dick?
And number two, how do you go about crafting that persona onscreen?
Because it’s so good.
I think that finale may be one of your best episodes.
Whitney Cummings, Sarah Silverman, Bill [Burr], anybody.
But the idea ofCrashingis that comedian friends do help each other.
Mix up your group, right?"
As much as we want to make it alone, you might’t make it alone.
So Mulaney obviously is not a dick.
Like, a more friendly comedian, a sweeter guy, just like Mulaney is.
They just flare up in the morning when they’re eating their waffle.
They’re just kind of passive.
That’s not their identity, but they still have those thoughts.
Also, it’s just really funny.
I mean, Mulaney as a dick is one of my greatest achievements.
The whole But they dont know Im a dick thing.
HOLMES: You know what?
He was riffing so much in that.
Everybody in that scene is riffing.
He’s just like a running comedy faucet.
So when we go, “Okay, Pete is about to open for you.
So he riffs the thing about, “My parents are here.
You have to be dirty, so I look clean.”
I mean, on digital, who cares?
It’s 100% riffing.
If you look closely, you’re able to tell I’m trying very hard not to laugh.
What went into crafting that character and her relationship with Pete?
HOLMES: Well, it’s very close to my heart, and my real experience.
Who seems really great, and is really greatto be honest, she’s greatbut has some blind spots.
Or just has a mean side.
But if you actually watch Madeline, Madeline is such an amazing actress that she changes how she looks.
She changed how she looked somehow!
That’s not makeup!
She was contorting her face, and her eyes were basically black, like, it was crazy.
When shooting that scene with such a talented person, it was not hard for me to flounder.
A lot of that was improvised as well.
Don’t tell her the truth.
Pete is such a …
I got a pit in my stomach.
It was rough to watch.
HOLMES: I appreciate that, because it was rough to live things like that.
It can be very psychologically difficult for me to do it as well.
Because one of the biggest things that I aim or strive to provide is that wonderful feeling of solidarity.
And you go, “Oh, it’s happening to millions of us.
We’re all kind of going through similar steps, and fumbling over similar obstacles.”
That’s a great joy in my life.
Well, I want to say thank you for being so personal, because it comes across.
So thank you for doing that.
HOLMES: I appreciate that.
I think it’s really fascinating, and I’ve experienced this on my podcast.
The more specific you are, and the more niche you are, the more people relate.
This will be for the people that are thinking about getting into standup.
You end up relating to atheists.
You end up relating to all these different types of backgrounds.
But I think it’s fascinating that the more specific you are, the more universal things can be.
HOLMES: Well, that’s part of the reason why I’m happy to talk to you.
What I would say is what we’ve been saying.
It’s a real privilege to be a part of one of those shows.
So I really just feel grateful to them.
I feel sorry for the fans that wanted to keep going, obviously, that wanted to see more.
I know that feeling really well, to fall in love with a show.
It’s a relationship.
It’s in your house.
It’s on at Sunday.
Especially a show that airs week by week, it becomes a routine.
They became real friends and family to me, so there’s some sadness there.
I’ve been joking with my friends.
I look forward to a future where the show can live on in that regard.
It stays up, and I look forward to new people finding it for hopefully years to come.
So you’re going to have new fans coming up.
HOLMES: Isn’t that fun?
People are always dying on the show.
I feel that way about TV sometimes.
It’s an entire college experience ago!
I assume many people will be wondering about Pete and Ali at the end.
That’s been a really great core relationship to the series.
Is there anything you want to speak to, in terms of their future?
Because this is where the show is wrapping up.
Like, Ali has a lot more integrity.
She has a lot more artistic feel about standup.
(laughs)
Yeah that sounds about right.
Because, frankly, that is how it ends.
How it ends in your imagination is how it ends.
We had it for this, and now it’s yours.”
All three seasons ofCrashingare currently available on HBO Go, HBO Now, and HBO On Demand.
