Comedian Pete Holmes takes a gentler approach to hosting the DICE Awards

Immediately following his final stage rehearsal for the evening’s 2015 DICE Awards at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas last week, as colored spotlights swept the seating and sound system checks echoed in the background, comedian Pete Holmes met with GamesBeat to talk about his approach to the evening’s awards as well as his views on game-awards shows in general.

Holmes picks the comedian host torch back up for the DICE Awards following last year’s departure — gaming personalities Felicia Day and Freddie Wong hosted, breaking a streak that had comedians such as Jay Mohr and Chris Hardwick onstage for a number of years. But his approach to hosting the prestigious gaming industry event (put on by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences) is a bit different from that of his predecessors. He wants to blend some admiration into his comedy.