After last week’s episode taking place primarily at Pete’s parents’ house in Massachusetts, we’re back in NYC this week. It feels good to be back. Especially after seeing this episode and putting it in perspective, I found last week’s episode to be a bit less exciting than the rest of the episodes this season. Luckily, this one steers the ship back in the right direction.
The episode begins with Pete telling Kat he’s going out to Ali’s viewing party for her debut on Seth Meyers. Kat is telling him she’s way too tired to go and he makes it clear that’s totally fine as it’s a comedy thing anyways and he planned on going solo. Kat immediately goes on the defensive, feeling as if she’s not invited. Yikes. Pete does invite her and she eventually agrees to come (after making sure he wants her to come).
They head to the Comedy Cellar, where Ali is having this viewing party, somewhat reluctantly. Her friends convince her to celebrate herself. Chicken Wing shows up, immediately trying to land her as a client. His comments are hilarious. He’s such a great little character.
Pete and Kat arrive. Kat and Ali finally meet, and it’s off to a semi-awkward start. Kat is praising Ali a bit too much and also being what appears to be fake nice. Pete goes to say hi to Estee and Kat says her and Ali will just “hang out” in a semi sarcastic tone. “We’ll compare notes,” she says with some crazy eyes.
HBO
Pete says a very courteous hello to Estee and co., then talks to Ali for a bit. He makes her feel better about a few things and then goes to check on Kat, who’s talking to his fellow comedian friends. She’s sharing some revealing details about their love life and Pete wants her to come with him but she wants to stay and chat with his friends. He heads to the bar and encounters Leif there. Pete seems unhappy to see him, especially after he learns Jess is there too. So now his current girlfriend, his ex-girlfriend, and his ex-wife are all in the same building. He’s flustered to say the least. Leif has a way better take on it, telling Pete he should feel lucky three women he shared such special connections with are all in the same room.
HBO
Ali starts freaking out a bit after a couple comedians start telling her stories about how whatever a comedian does once they’re on television lives forever. She walks away to try and calm down, Pete sees she’s distressed and walks after her, and Kat catches this, who does not look pleased. Pete makes Ali feel better outside, who’s concerned she’ll just be another “good” comedian rather than a “great” one.
Inside, Kat meets Leif who gives him shit for ruining Pete’s marriage. “Does anyone buy your bullshit?” “I can’t be the judge of that,” Leif says. I love Leif. How can you not? He’s so ridiculous. Jess walks over and introduces herself. Kat has had it with them at this point and walks away.
Everyone is gathered around the TVs as Seth Meyers is starting when famous comedian Emo Philips walks into the Cellar. Some of the comedians in the group (aka most of them) start gawking and eventually ask Ali if she’d mind if they go to see if he does a set. It obviously seems to hurt her feelings a bit, but she says of course she wouldn’t mind. Pete tells her that he, Kat, Leif, Jess, and a couple more are there for her and don’t care about Emo Philips. I’m sure this is thrilling Kat even more…
Chicken Wing then leans into Ali: “I’m not here to see Emo Philips. I’m here to make you Emo Philips.” “Thank you Kevin, I appreciate that,” Ali says. One — I forget if we knew his name before this episode! If not, awesome. Two — Chicken Wing/Kevin is comedy gold during every scene he’s in this episode.
HBO
Anyways, Emo is doing stand up downstairs. Ali ends up checking it out as well since she got tired of waiting to come on the television. Afterwards, she tells Emo how great of a set he had. He thanks her for the compliment and they get to talking about comedy. She tells him about how she’ll be on late night for the first time shortly. He tells her how he got his first shot with late night too, on David Letterman back in the day. He gives her a few words of advice and it seems to calm her nerves a bit. She heads up to see the set as it’s about to start!
It’s off to a great start, and everyone is enjoying it. Kat makes a comment about liking Ali’s dress and Pete shooshes her. Kat low key freaks out and Pete says he’s sorry but that the set is almost over and they can chat about the dress/stuff after. Kat seems very annoyed. Then Ali starts making jokes about her recent ex-boyfriend and Kat starts asking Pete if those jokes are about him. If so, she thinks it’s really messed up. She says she thinks Ali is full of herself and downs the rest of her drink. This can’t be headed anywhere good.
HBO
Everyone congratulates Ali, even some of the comedians that don’t know her personally. Pete goes up to her and Ali seems extra excited — she asks him to be honest with her and tell her if it was good. Pete tells her it was amazing and that she’s a natural. She jumps on him and gives him a big hug as it’s such a happy moment for her and she trusts Pete. Kat walks up and congratulates Ali then asks to talk to Pete. She tells Pete she sees what’s going on…Pete is very confused and doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
Cut to the ladies bathroom. Ali is in front of the mirror tidying up as Kat comes out of a stall. Kat asks Ali if the soft dick joke was about Pete. Ali says it wasn’t, and Kat makes the comment “yeah it seemed like it was about Pete’s dick…with me, Pete’s dick is always hard. With me. Congratulations on your achievement.” Then she heads out of the bathroom. YIKES. Kat has gone full on crazy. Jealousy has hit and she is taking shots. Ali looks slightly frightened.
Pete and Kat end up outside the Cellar in an argument. Pete tells her she was being rude on a night that was really important for a friend of his, Ali. Kat says she’s his girlfriend and should be the person who matters. She goes on about how he should be upset Ali told a joke about his dick on national television. They go back and forth, Kat accuses Pete of cheating on her with Ali in New Jersey, which he obviously denies because it never happened. Then she scarily raises her voice a bit and says, “I have eyeballs and I can see everything that’s going on!” She starts making digs at Pete, telling him he’s a shitty boyfriend and an even shittier comic. She ends up storming away and leaving.
Pete goes back inside and talks to Ali about what just happened. She tells him about the bathroom situation. Pete is frazzled. He’s saying he didn’t know she was scary! Ali tries to make him feel a bit better but he seems to know he’s in over his head. They hug, part ways, and he walks alone through the city home.
Kat is in bed when he gets home. He asks if she’s ok and she just replies, “I’m funnier than that whore.” Very mature, Kat. Pete sits down on the couch, blown away by the night’s events. He gets a text and looks down at his phone to see a text from Ali. We see she’s actually texted him a few times recently, and it appears he hasn’t responded to any of them. Maybe she is missing Pete after all? And maybe he’s starting to realize he misses her a bit too? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
I loved this episode. We officially find out that Kat is bat shit crazy, bits of comedy sets at the Cellar are spliced in between the happenings of the episode, there’s a ton of plot development, most of our favorite characters are all together, we see Ali’s late night debut, Chicken Wing!!! There are hilarious moments, some touching moments, crazy moments. This episode has it all. I can’t wait to see where things head next week.
Join the AIPT Patreon
Want to take our relationship to the next level? Become a patron today to gain access to exclusive perks, such as:
- ❌ Remove all ads on the website
- 💬 Join our Discord community, where we chat about the latest news and releases from everything we cover on AIPT
- 📗 Access to our monthly book club
- 📦 Get a physical trade paperback shipped to you every month
- 💥 And more!
You must be logged in to post a comment.