NEED TO KNOW
Pete Davidson opened up about joining Saturday Night Live at 20 years old in a recent episode of The Breakfast Club
He explained that his age and lack of experience were “annoying” to his castmates, who had been in the industry for much longer
Davidson was on SNL for eight seasons before his departure in 2022
Pete Davidson is reflecting on his early days on Saturday Night Live.
While the comedian, 31, landed a role on the iconic sketch comedy series in 2014 at just 20 years old, he had little experience going into the gig. During an appearance on the Aug. 13 episode of The Breakfast Club, Davidson revealed that his quick success didn’t exactly make him likable to his cast members.
“You got to remember, everyone there did Second City, improv, worked so hard — so hard,” he noted. “I’m not saying I didn’t work hard, but I was only doing comedy for three, four years.”
“And a lot of what people liked about me was, ‘Oh, this was a kid from Staten Island that’s just talking s—,’” he continued. “So you gotta remember all of these people are 10, 15 years older than me and working so hard.”
Michael Loccisano/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Pete Davidson walks the red carpet at the SNL 40th Anniversary Special at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York, NY on February 15, 2015
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Davidson shared that many didn’t feel he earned his spot on the show.
He also said that many SNL cast members were not paid “great” for “five or six years,” which likely contributed to the presumed frustration of his peers.
“At the time, you weren’t allowed to do stuff outside of the show that was a payday,” he claimed. “It was like the Yankees — no beards. You gotta dress up to go to the afterparty and all this s—. So I think I did rub people the wrong way, and I think it was just annoying for the cast.”
On the other hand, Davidson speculated that “the show as a whole loved it because they were like, ‘People are talking about SNL.’”
“Not that they weren’t — I don’t want someone on YouTube to be like, ‘Motherf—– thinks he’s the reason,’” he added before explaining, “I brought a lot of pop culture into the show. I made it sort of a tabloid-y, trendy thing, unintentionally.”
Still, Davidson admitted that he was “embarrassed” to be seen as the newbie who wasn’t recognized for “any of the work I was doing.”
“They were like, ‘That’s the f— stick,’ and that hurt so much,” he said. “And I think after, like, a year or two, everyone saw how sad I was about it and embarrassed. Because I was never on Instagram flexing that lifestyle at all, I was very embarrassed by it. So I think after a while, they understood it. But at first they were like, ‘This kid’s just a loud — this has nothing to do with SNL.’”
He then clarified: “No one was outrightly mean, by any means.”
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Davidson left the long-running series in 2022 after an eight-season run.
During his final episode in the season 47 finale, he expressed his gratitude for the role it played in his career.
“I appreciate SNL always having my back and allowing me to work on myself and grow,” Davidson said at the time. “Thank you to Lorne [Michaels] for never giving up on me or judging me even when everyone else was and for believing in me and allowing me to have a place that I could call home with memories that will last a lifetime.”
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