For the last time on Saturday night, Pete Davidson stopped by the “Weekend Update” desk to say goodbye and talk about how improbable it was that he ever became one of SNL’s most famous cast members.
“Hello, Colin and Che and millions of people only watching to see if I bring up Kanye,” Davidson began, referring to his very public feud with girlfriend Kim Kardashian’s ex.
“I never imagined this would be my life,” he said, describing the 20-year-old who joined the show in 2014 as being “a skinny kid and no one knew what race I was.” He then joked, “Now everyone knows I’m white because I became hugely successful while barely showing up to work.”
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Noting how much has changed during his seven seasons in the cast, Davidson said, “In three years, Fox News went from calling me a monster for making fun of congressman Dan Crenshaw’s eye patch to also making fun of his eye patch.”
“Tucker Carlson called him ‘eyepatch McCain,’” he explained. “That’s two veterans in one insult! Jeez, Colin, your dad’s a dick.”
“In fairness to what I said, because clearly it still bothers me, I was simply making a joke about someone’s appearance without realizing the medical condition behind it was a sensitive issue, which is a SNL alumni tradition,” as the photo of Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars popped up behind him drew groans from the crowd. “On one hand, I don’t like that people think they can just run up on stage and hit a comedian. But on the other, it’s how I know all my shows will now be sold out.”
Davidson explained that when he first auditioned for SNL, producer Lorne Michaels told him, “I don’t think you’re right for this show, so let’s screw this up together.”
“And that’s exactly what we did,” Davidson said. “And that’s why people who don’t think I deserve the job shouldn’t hate me, since we have so much in common. If anything, I should inspire hope that literally anyone can be on Saturday Night Live. Seriously, you see a guy bumming cigarettes outside a 7-Eleven at 2 a.m., that’s not some meth head, ‘That’s the next Pete Davidson!’”
He got visibly emotional as he closed things out by thanking SNL for “always having my back and allowing me to work on myself and grow.”
“And thank you to Lorne for never giving up on me and never judging me, even when everyone else was,” Davidson continued. “And for believing in me and allowing me to have a place that I could call home with memories that can last a lifetime.”
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