Janesville native/stand-up comedian reflects on losing his home in L.A. wildfires
Pete Lee says he lost everything in the fire - except his sense of humor
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (WMTV) - A Janesville native is reflecting on losing his home in the Los Angeles wildfires nearly three months after the fast-moving flames consumed thousands of acres.
“It’s a weird grief you deal with,” said Pete Lee. “That neighborhood was my happiest place on earth, and I loved that home.”
Lee graduated from Janesville Craig High School in 1995 and attended the University of Minnesota. After college, Lee pursued his dream of making it in Hollywood.
In early January of 2025 Lee was living and working in Los Angeles as a successful stand-up comedian. At the time of the wildfires, he was in New York City preparing for an appearance on “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon.
“On TV, they had the news about the Palisades fire and what not and then all of the sudden this reporter was just standing in front of my neighborhood,” said Lee.
He watched from nearly 3,000 miles away as everything burned to the ground.
“My house and car burned for two days,” he said.
Despite dealing with the trauma of losing everything, Lee decided to stay in New York City and continue on with his scheduled appearance with Fallon.
“Jimmy kind of stopped me in the hallway and said ‘Pete, you’re so brave, I can’t believe you showed up’ and I said, ‘I don’t have anywhere to go, Jimmy.”
When the flames were out and it was safe, Lee made an emotional return to this neighborhood.
“There’s so much destruction and awfulness,” he said in a video he recorded and posted to Instagram. “But through the charred rubble, there’s been so much beauty.”
Lee became particularly moved after he discovered something he loved survived the fire. A trio of Adirondack chairs overlooking the Pacific Ocean were untouched. Lee and his neighbors often sat in those chairs to share a morning sip coffee or a late-night whiskey.
“These chairs were saved,” he said through tears in the Instagram video. “They are still f****** there. How?”
In the aftermath of losing everything, Lee has leaned on what he knows best.
“Humor is a coping mechanism,” he said. “The role of humor in society is taking something that is really hard and you make fun out of it. You take manure, you mix with it the soil, and you plant a seed, and you grow a flower. That’s what humor is.”
Lee has been performing since losing his home. He often tells jokes about what he’s experienced. Some people, Lee says, don’t agree with his choice to joke about losing his home. But the jokes are helping him process his grief. Because as we all know, often times, laughter is the best medicine.
“Comedy feels really healing for me right now,” he said.
Currently, Lee is living in New York City. Since losing his home in the fire, he’s also been able to re-connect and travel back home to Wisconsin more to visit family.
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