Pete Davidson begged Lorne Michaels to “fire” him from ‘Saturday Night Live’.
Pete Davidson wanted to be fired from Saturday Night Live
The 31-year-old comic landed a job on the long-running sketch series when he was just 20 years old and he recalled feeling like he “didn’t belong” in the cast, but the showrunner told him to stick it out because it always took a long time to “figure it out”.
Speaking on new Peacock docuseries ‘SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night’, Pete said: “After my first year I actually called for a meeting with Lorne and I was like, ‘Please fire me,’ and he’s like, ‘Why?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t belong here. Everybody’s so talented and they don’t want to be my friend.’
“Because I was a child. I was like, ‘Nobody wants to be my friend.’ And he said, ‘You don’t figure it out ’til your third or fourth year… It’s just gonna suck for three or four years.’ And he was right.”
The ‘Bupkis’ star – who quit ‘SNL’ in 2022 after eight years but has returned multiple times for guest stints and cameo appearances – was stunned to be cast after a “terrible” audition.
Watching back his audition tape in the first episode of the series, he said: “It’s wild to see the hope in one’s eye.”
Pete recalled how he “didn’t know whether to do impressions or stand up” for his audition.
He added: “And then I called my buddy and I was like, ‘Should I do impressions?’ He’s like, ‘Can you?’ I was like, ‘No.’ He’s like, ‘Well then you should do stand up.’ “
And once he finally tried out for the show, the ‘King of Staten Island’ star was convinced he had bombed.
He recalled: “Two times in six minutes someone went, ‘Ha!’ and I was like, ‘That was terrible, there’s no way I’m getting it.’ “
Pete previously thanked Lorne for always having faith in him.
Speaking on his final episode of ‘SNL’, he said: “I appreciate ‘SNL’ always having my back and allowing me to work on myself and grow.
“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.”
