With the news that Pete Davidson is leaving “Saturday Night Live,” the show is losing one of its buzziest stars ever. Starting his tenure on the show as an unassuming, slouchy young comedian in 2014, Davidson quickly became one of the biggest standups in the world, a tabloid fixture and a movie star, toplining a Judd Apatow vehicle and a forthcoming semi-autobiographical TV show. Although Davidson was always most comfortable doing standup on the show, he had his share of wacky characters, memorable pre-taped segments and “Weekend Update” segments that elevated him into a true team player. Watch some of Davidson’s best sketches below:
“Chad”
“Is he even acting?” is a frequent question about one of Davidson’s most indelible personas, the scruffy, monosyllabic Chad. From Chad’s debut appearance as Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ pool boy to the Mars colonist who volunteers to save Elon Musk’s SpaceX habitat (spoiler: he doesn’t make it), this character effectively channeled Davidson’s extremely laid-back personality in just about any setting the writers came up with.
“Rap Roundtable”
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Davidson embodied a SoundCloud rapper named Guaplord all too well alongside host Timothée Chalamet in this December 2020 sketch. Exclaiming adlibs like “yeet” and “skrrt” between almost every (incomprehensible) word, Davidson and Chalamet compliment Questlove on his “Yo Gabba Gabba” appearance 10 years ago and try to explain how they got into the rap game. They then perform their hit song “Yeet,” with Davidson singing “You never loved me mom/ But I needed you, woah.” Chalamet hilariously covers his face to keep from laughing, and Questlove comes over to literally slap some sense into them.
“Short-Ass Movies”
One of Davidson’s final appearances was a rap video with Gunna, Chris Redd and Dirt Nasty (aka Simon Rex) about the eternal struggle of finding something to watch Netflix. Although the crew can see the merit in long movies, they are less likely to pee their pants or fall asleep if the film stays at the 90-minute mark. Ergo, the “Ernest” series is better than “Heat” or “Amadeus.” It’s just math!
“Weekend Update: Pete Davidson & John Mulaney Review Clint Eastwood’s The Mule”
“Jasmine and Aladdin”
This now-famous sketch served as a real-life meet cute for Davidson and Kim Kardashian, whose relationship is now daily tabloid fodder. Davidson’s Aladdin complains about being unable to “physically handle” Kardashian’s Jasmine. “If we go all the way, you might like break me,” he says, staying true to his insecure-outsider “SNL” shtick. Once he uses his third Genie wish to make him “like Pinocchio down there,” he gains the confidence to smooch Jasmine in a kiss seen ’round the world. Davidson would go on to gift the costumes and props to Kardashian for Valentine’s Day.
“Weekend Update: Pete Davidson on Staten Island”
Fun fact: Both Davidson and Jost are from Staten Island. However, their reception by the people who actually live there is… quite different.
“Weekend Update: Three Guys Who Just Bought a Boat”
Davidson elevated the “Guy Who Just Bought a Boat” sketch from “Weekend Update” thanks to his own personal news that he had, quite literally, bought a Staten Island Ferry with Jost.
