Saturday Night Live Gives Pete Davidson His Own Version Of Barbie's Ken Song
In the final episode of "Saturday Night Live" season 47, longtime cast member Pete Davidson said farewell after almost nine years on the live comedy show. Now he's back, and he's pretty annoyed that none of you watched his TV show.
Davidson played host for the season 49 premiere of "SNL," which has experienced a longer summer hiatus than usual due to the last three episodes of season 48 being canceled amid the writers strike — including an episode that Davidson was set to to host. Though the SAG-AFTRA strike is still ongoing, the writers/performers of "Saturday Night Live" work under the Network Code agreement, which is not being struck by the union. And just because the show was on break during the Summer of "Barbie," that doesn't mean it can't join in the zeitgeist with its own version of Ryan Gosling's epic power ballad, "I'm Just Ken."
Putting his own spin on Ken's fashion choices, Davidson lampshades his own return to 30 Rockefeller Plaza when he hasn't actually been away that long, along with other topics including: the general lack of interest in his Peacock series "Bupkis," his very public feud with a certain rapper, his equally public love life, his "butthole eyes," his B.D.E. (Google it), and his unhealthy relationship with the internet.
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The unifying theme of "I'm Just Pete" flips the thesis of "I'm Just Ken" (that only in Barbieland could a guy who looks like Ryan Gosling struggle to get the girl of his dreams) on its head and marvels at Davidson's astonishing dating record despite not exactly looking like Ryan Gosling. Most recently reported to be dating model and actress Madelyn Cline, his list of exes includes model Emily Ratajkowski, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, actress Kate Beckinsale, and pop star Ariana Grande.
It's a bit of a challenge to create a parody of a song that was itself already a comical pastiche of '70s and '80s pop music videos and musicals. Still, the "Saturday Night Live" creative team did an impressive job of imitating the "Barbie" number (and costumes, and sets) with a much smaller budget and timescale.
And before you go feeling too bad for not watching "Bupkis," Davidson's show did get renewed for a second season on Peacock. The streaming service hasn't shared any viewership numbers, so maybe "Bupkis" was secretly a big hit. Or perhaps it's just the magic of Joe Pesci.