Howard "Buckshot" Holmes

"Greetings, gore sport fans! It's a beautiful evening on Jefferson Island, just perfect weather for our unwilling contestants to compete in the Varrigan City DeathWatch. My name is Howard "Buckshot" Holmes, and along with my co-commentator Kreese Kreely, I'll be giving you a slay-by-slay account of tonight's bloodbath. With access to the more than ten thousand cameras in this city, you can be sure not to miss a single disembowelment or brutal ass-shanking."

- Howard Holmes

Howard "Buckshot" Holmes is one of the two commentators for DeathWatch during the events of MadWorld, the other being Kreese Kreely. As such, it is his job to provide a play-by-play breakdown of the events for the show's audience.

Howard is voiced by Greg Proops.

Background
When Howard was still in school, he apparently was one of the smarter students, but also one of the weaker who got bullied and beaten up a lot.

At some time after that, Howard was married to a wife who cheated on him on every occasion with multiple partners, never keeping it a secret or even trying to do so. However, Howard was also disrespecting and abusing her, beating her multiple times. After eight years, she filed for divorce which resulted in a great financial loss for Howard.

Howard has at least one child, as he mentions that he dodges child-support payments. It is unlikely though that this child is with his ex-wife. It is probably the result of one of Howard's many sexual encounters.

Howard is also a severe alcoholic and will state multiple times that he needs a drink. His favorite drinks are apparently martinis, but he also enjoys scotch.

Personality
Being a commentator for a show where people are gruesomely killed, Howard does not seem to care much for human life. But unlike Kreese, Howard is not a brainless brute. Instead, he is an educated person, often using smart words or appreciating art, as well as composing poems like haikus on his own. However, his intellect often makes him the target of Kreese's depreciative insults, who thinks that intellectuals are pussies.

He also has some childish tendencies, as he sometimes begins reciting schoolyard rhymes. He also tries to sound like the cool kids, as evident when he was trying to correctly use the slang word "pwnd", despite not being entirely sure what it means. This leads to further insults by Kreese, who states that Howard is too old for this kind of things.

Howard's most defining traits however, are his enormous sexual appetite and his penchant for perverted kinks, which are numerously referenced during the commentary, effectively making Howard a pansexual. His fetishes go far enough to disgust even his brutish colleague, whom he sometimes even hits on.

Sexual encounters
As stated, Howard has an enormous sexual appetite and a long list of fetishes. He also appears to frequently make use of roofies. His long list of sexual partners include, but are not limited to: Interestingly, it is never stated that he had sex with his ex-wife, and further implied that he never had, as all her sexual encounters mentioned in the game were with other men.
 * Himself
 * Lots of prostitutes
 * A donkey and a dwarf
 * An onion
 * An alien (likely a Gray)

Involvement in DeathWatch
Howard currently works as commentator for Deathwatch's broadcast on ShockTV. His commentary can be heard throughout the entire game (except cut-scenes), as well as during the end credits.

He has also apparently been a commentator for DeathWatch for as long as 2007, given how he mentions that he remembers his co-commentator Kreese fighting Frank back in the '07 games.

Quotes (selection)

 * "Are you saying, I flog the sausage too much?"
 * "Obviously, you never fucked an onion."
 * "Yeah... It's always better bareback.
 * "Stay off the drugs kids. Drink booze like I do."
 * "Jack's got him undressed. Now he just has to convince him that unprotected anal sex is okay."
 * "Ha-ha! Jack's getting beat up by a chick... Lucky guy..."
 * "You should visit my dungeon after the match. I'll show you an impressive orgy."

Trivia

 * Greg Proops and John DiMaggio, who had previously worked together on animated films such as Asterix and the Vikings and Kaena: The Prophecy, were both contacted by the voice cast director Jack Fletcher to play the parts of the announcers for the North American release. While most of their lines were already scripted, the two were allowed to ad-lib during recording, with some lines being retained in the final game.
 * Howard's character is not the first time Greg Proops plays the role of a sports commentator. He also voiced the character Fode from Star Wars, who is also one part of a duo of sports commentators.
 * It is unknown how Howard earned his nickname of "Buckshot".
 * During the Courtyard level of Mad Castle, Howard states that he once went as a princess for Halloween.
 * Howard is terrified of bats and occasionally panics when Elise summons them to attack Jack.