Pete Davidson Reflects on Saturday Night Live Roasting Him While Still a Cast Member, “I’m a F–ing Loser”

Pete Davidson was only 21 when he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2014. The comedian stayed on the iconic sketch series for eight seasons, leaving in 2022. Davidson has some exciting projects in the works ranging from his upcoming semi-autobiographical comedy series called Bupkis for Peacock and the highly-anticipated new Transformers movie, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which sees him voicing the Autobot, Mirage. Recently, Davidson spoke with The Punisher star Jon Bernthal on his Real Ones podcast (via PEOPLE), and opened up about getting made fun of by SNL while he was on the show. 

“Suddenly you’re in this zeitgeist and that has nothing to do with the work,” Davidson explained. “And that’s a really shitty feeling. I became more known before the work was there, but I was always working. I’m cool with the joke. I get the late-night jokes.” He continued, “When your own show [pokes fun at you] … I’d be sitting in the back watching the cold open and – the cold open [is] topical, political humor, whatever’s in the culture. And then, making fun of you. Then you’ve gotta walk out and do a sketch next and hit your mark and the show just made fun of you. So, why are they gonna laugh at you? Like, they just dogged you in front of everyone…And you’re like, ‘I’m a f*cking loser, man.’”

Davidson added, “These are the people I’ve been with for almost a decade. I grew up in front of these people. They’ve watched me through the most difficult time in my life, and they’ve been there for me. And nobody ever showed more leeway and grace to me than Lorne Michaels, and I owe my life to that guy, but it was f*cking confusing cause the nature of entertainment is the nature of this business. At the end of the day, that’s what it is. This was a really difficult thing to do. You feel small. You feel super insecure.”

Who Is Joe Pesci Playing in Bupkis? 

It was revealed last year that Goodfellas and Home Alone star Joe Pesci will be playing Davidson’s grandfather in Bupkis. Pesci is signed on as a series regular, marking the actor’s second television series since he starred in Half Nelson, which ran for one season in 1985. Bupkis will be the iconic star’s first role since appearing as Russell Bufalino in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman in 2019. 

“Pete Davidson is one of the most sought-after comedians today with his smart, one-of-a-kind humor and honest point of view,” Susan Rovner, chairman of entertainment content at NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, previously said in a statement. “Bupkis will showcase Pete’s funny, surprising and unfiltered brand of comedy audiences have come to love as we continue to bolster our Peacock comedy slate. We can’t wait to dive in with Lorne Michaels, Broadway Video, and our partners at Universal Television.”

Bupkis debuts on Peacock on May 4th.