Pete Davidson says he's outgrown Saturday Night Live: 'They think I'm f—ing dumb'

Rosy Cordero
·2 min read

Ahead of Pete Davidson‘s Netflix standup comedy special debut, he admits it may be time to shake things up with his career. Davidson, whose been part on the Saturday Night Live cast since 2014, says he’s outgrown the popular NBC sketch series for a variety of reasons.

“I have a lot of conversations with people, because it’s a hard thing to do,” Davidson told Charlamagne Tha God when asked in a new interview if he asks Adam Sandler for advice about when to leave SNL. “You don’t ever want to pull the trigger too early. Everybody’s always been like, ‘You’ll know when you know, and it’ll be alright.’ I personally think I should be done with that show because they make fun of me on it.”

He adds, “I’m like, cold open, political punchlines. I’m like, weekend update jokes. When I’m not there, they’ll be like, ‘Huh huh huh, Pete’s a f—ing jerk face.’ And you’re like, ‘Whose side are you on?'”

“I have a weird feeling in that building where I don’t know whose team they’re playing for really, if I’m the joke or I’m in on the joke,” Davidson revealed.

Will Heath/NBC
Will Heath/NBC

Davidson says he wanted 2019 to be his last year on SNL, but he has remained — calling the work environment “cutthroat” as every actor is “trying to be the next thing.” One bright spot for Davidson has been working with series creator Lorne Michaels, who he says “is like a father figure” to him.

Even with all his less than positive experiences, he’s grateful for his time on the show and all he’s learned. But feeling like he’s “just fodder now” he’s thinking, “Maybe I shouldn’t be there?”

“I literally was just like, ‘Picture what it’s like to be made fun of and then cut to immediately.'” He adds, “They think I’m f—ing dumb. I’m literally painted out to be this big dumb idiot.”

“So you’ve outgrown it?” Charlamagne asked him. “Yeah, I think everybody outgrows it,” Davidson replied.

After all is said and done, Davidson said he will continue working on the show until he wears out his welcome, saying he’s “happy to be there as long as Lorne likes me.”

“For what I can do on the show, which is just barely anything — and it’s just Weekend Update,” he said. “I feel like I’ve done 30 of those and I just feel like, yeah, I’ve done as much as I can over there.”

Related content: