Pete Davidson got candid about why he thought some of his Saturday Night Live costars found his success “annoying” before he left the show.
“You got to remember [that] everyone there did Second City improv, [they] worked so hard — so hard,” Davidson, 31, said during the Wednesday, August 13, episode of Power 105.1 FM’s The Breakfast Club radio show. “I’m not saying I didn’t work hard, but I was only doing comedy three [or] four years [prior].”
Davidson found that being green helped him stand out, adding, “A lot of what people liked about me was, ‘Oh, this was a kid from Staten Island that’s just talking s***.’ So you gotta remember all of these people are 10 [to] 15 years older than me and working so hard.”
According to Davidson, SNL didn’t “pay great” until “five to six years into” your contract.
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“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***.”
The comedian wasn’t surprised that he wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, noting, “I think I did rub people the wrong way and I think it was just annoying for the cast. I think the show as a whole loved it, because they were like, ‘People are talking about SNL.’”
After getting his start doing stand-up, Davidson joined Saturday Night Live in 2014 during the show’s 40th season. He was the first cast member to be born in the ’90s and one of the youngest cast members in SNL history.
“I brought a lot of pop culture into the show. I made it sort of a trendy thing unintentionally and also I was embarrassed by it,” Davidson admitted on Wednesday. “Because no one — now it has started to change about it — but no one was talking about any work I was doing.”
He continued: “They were like, ‘That’s the f*** stick that hurt so much,’ and I think after, like, a year or two, everyone saw how sad I was and embarrassed by it. No one was outrightly mean, by any means.”
Davidson ultimately exited SNL in 2022 after eight seasons. “I appreciate SNL always having my back and allowing me to work on myself and grow,” he said during his “Weekend Update” appearance during the season 47 finale. “Thank you to Lorne 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. So, thank you guys.”
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Earlier this year, Davidson revealed that SNL producer Lorne Michaels helped him not give up on his career.
“After my first year, I actually called for a meeting with Lorne and I was like, ‘Please fire me,’” Davidson shared in Peacock’s SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night docuseries. “And he was like, ‘Why?’ I was like, ‘I don’t belong here. Everybody here’s so talented, and they don’t want to be my friend.’”
Davidson admitted he was acting like “a child,” adding, “I was like, ‘Nobody wants to be my friend.’ And he said, ‘You don’t figure it out until your third or fourth year. … It’s just gonna suck for three or four years.’ I was like, ‘All right,’ and he was right.”
