Comedian Pete Holmes Tells Malia Obama to ‘Shut the F— Up’ for Whispering During His Stand-up Gig

Comedian Pete Homes recently had an awkward experience at a stand-up gig, where Malia Obama was seated in the front row. Holmes shared the story of his encounter with former President Barack Obama‘s daughter on Conan last week, and fans are still chuckling. Holmes himself is just glad the Secret Service did not step in.

Holmes talked about a slightly frustrating stand-up gig during his interview with Conan O’Brien last week. The show was at The Comedy Studio Cambridge, Massachusetts, right outside of Boston. Sadly for Holmes, he was not thinking about the fact that Malia attends Harvard in that town.

“I was watching the show before I went on — I went on last — and there were these two… young women in the front, that the whole show, they were whispering,” he said.

Holmes added that this was “worse than heckling” for a stand-up, describing it as a “Black Mirror nightmare” to see them leaning over to each other and speaking behind their hands.

“So, nobody’s mentioning it, and then I go on last,” he went on. “I tell a joke, they’re whispering, giggling, and I’m just like ‘What’s going on? I can see you!’ They were in the front row… Like, the spotlight was on them!”

After sternly asking the girls to stop talking, Holmes said that he went on with his set, but they kept whispering. His requests got more firm, until Holmes finally said “Shut the f— up!” He told O’Brien he had been “pushed too far” at this point.

“At a certain point, I take the curtain, and I go ‘I don’t care, enjoy the show however you want, I just don’t want to see you,’” Holmes said. “And I cover them with the curtain. I thought this would get a big laugh! Nothing. The whole audience turns on me. I’m like, ‘what is going on?’”

Finally, Holmes said he learned of the two whisperers identities after the show.

“It was Malia!” he bellowed.

“Who let you put a curtain around President Obama’s daughter?” O’Brien asked incredulously. “Why weren’t you shot?”

“I should have been shot!” Holmes agreed. “I’ve never gotten off stage and been like ‘why wasn’t I shot?’”

Holmes imagined that the Secret Service did not intervene because they approved of his bluntness. He did an impression of them kicking back and saying “I like this guy” elsewhere in the theater.

Holmes is the host of the You Made It Weird podcast, where he interviews other comedians. He also created and starred in the HBO comedy Crashing, which ended last year. The entire series is now streaming on HBO Go and HBO Now.