‘Crashing’ Star Pete Holmes Clarifies Artie Lange in Season 2
The nature of HBO and Judd Apatow’s Crashing leaves plenty of room for notable comedians to wander in and out. That said, the recent legal trouble of Artie Lange brought some odd back-and-forth for Season 2, which star Pete Holmes now settles after last night’s finale.
It was close to a month ago that Lange was arrested for possession of cocaine, heroin, and drug paraphernalia, but subsequently released. The Crashing star suggested over Twitter that HBO might fire him, subsequently telling Len Berman & Todd Schnitt in the Morning that this was indeed the case, though both HBO and Apatow denied they’d taken any punitive action.
Now, Holmes tells Entertainment Weekly that Lange is indeed invited to return for Season 2:
Yeah, absolutely. That’s the plan. I know Artie was having some legal trouble, and we hope he’s doing well. I’m hoping that he will be and planning that he will be. I look forward to it.
The semi-autobiographical Crashing follows Pete Holmes as “a sheltered suburbanite who married his childhood sweetheart and dreams of making it as a stand-up comedian. But when he finds out his wife is cheating on him, Pete’s world unravels, forcing him to reevaluate his priorities and plunging him into the deep end of the rough-and-tumble New York comedy scene.” Also starring as themselves are Dave Attell, Hannibal Burress, T.J. Miller, Jim Norton, Rachael Ray and Sarah Silverman.
Holmes also clarified that star George Basil was likely to return for Season 2, which itself will continue its focus on Pete’s divorce:
I think that the first season, in my mind, is about denying his divorce, because he doesn’t believe it. I think second season is going to be Pete accepting it, and maybe even grieving it. And maybe even acting out a little bit, because it’s going to be real to him now. It’s not going to be a trial divorce, it’s going to be the real thing. He’s going to have to find a way to live. He’s going to have to find a new place to stay. And if he doesn’t get better [at comedy], he won’t have a spouse to fall back on, so his ass is even more on the line, which is where we find a lot of the comedy.
Crashing Season 2 will likely arrive in 2018, so stay tuned for the latest, and check out the featurette below.