Pete Smack Gets the Last Laugh
The Raleigh comedian is turning a career change into a whole different punch line.
While some run a marathon or buy a sports car when they hit their midlife crisis, Raleigh comedian Pete McEntegart—better known as Pete Smack—picked up a microphone. Two and a half years later, he has an hour-long comedy special to show for it.
Last Man Standing, filmed at Theatre Raleigh and released by Comedy Dynamics Sept. 22, tackles life, death, aging and the absurdities in between, now streaming on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video and other platforms.
You took your serious shot at 53—what finally got you onstage? Technically, I did an open mic around 20 years ago in New York once. I actually tried to do one in 1997, but no one showed up, so they canceled it, leading me to “perform” for my two roommates that night in our apartment, using a ping-pong paddle as a microphone. At 53, I was looking to make one more big swing, take one more shot at something.
I was on a run on Christmas Day, 2022, and it just came to me. I’ve always been interested in stand-up, and there’s no time like the present, so why not try to approach it seriously this time and see where it goes. Within seven or eight months, I decided I wanted to figure out a way to do this as a career.
Peak “pinch-me” moment? I could search for it on Amazon, Apple TV and Spotify and see it come up with my name and my face. That has been a thrill.
Why self-produce Last Man Standing instead of waiting for someone else to come knocking? Because no one was going to hire me or pay me to do it. It was either I did it myself or not at all. I rented a theater in Raleigh and hired someone to film it. Once it was edited, I shopped it around. Ultimately, Comedy Dynamics acquired it.
What’s behind the title? So it has two meanings. The more literal one is, I do “last man standing” running events, where they continue until there’s only one person still going, and I talked about that within my special. And then more figuratively, when I moved to the Triangle in 2018, both my parents and all three of my siblings lived here. But now my dad passed away, I guess two years ago now, and my siblings have all moved away. It’s just me and my mom in Raleigh now, so in our family I am the last man standing.
What’s so funny about life, death and getting older? It’s not so funny when I look at it written, but I definitely pull most of my stand-up from my life. I’m in my 50s. I’ve lived a lot of life, you know, parents getting older and, in my case, passing away. Comedy is wherever you find it, so there are serious topics—like after my dad passed, we were trying to change his cell phone bill, but they wanted a copy of his death certificate. My mom had me call AT&T and pretend I was my dad… that’s a weird situation.
Raleigh comedy scene—what’s it given you? A sense of community. The great thing about stand-up is that it’s just you on the stage. But the downside is that it’s just you on the stage, and it can be pretty isolating. Having other comedians around that you can share experiences with is important.
Career No. 6 sticking around? So the other five: I was an investment banker for Goldman Sachs, a sportswriter for Sports Illustrated, a comedy writer for TV/film, Co-Founder/COO of a tech startup, and the founding editor of a tech startup publication here in the Triangle (GrepBeat). So yes, comedy is going to be the one. Performing is something you can do forever, and I intend to do it forever.