Pete Davidson Seems To Be Leaving Saturday Night Live After This Season
Pete Davidson has become one of the fan-favorite cast members on "Saturday Night Live" despite not having a large repertoire of memorable characters or a penchant for sketch comedy. But the young comedian does have a flair for comedic hip-hop and Weekend Update segments, with a little bit of Adam Sandler charm thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, if a report from Variety turns out to be accurate, it sounds like Davidson will be leaving "SNL" after the current 47th season comes to an end this weekend.
Davidson has been absent for a good chunk of the latter half of this season because he's been off shooting a role in "The Home," a Miramax horror movie from "The Purge" filmmaker James DeMonaco. In fact, he's been absent for the past seven episodes, which has prompted many fans to wonder where he's been. Perhaps this prolonged absence inspired Davidson to finally leave the show, especially since he also has a Peacock series called "Bupkis" in the works, inspired by his own life. Then again, he's been on the show since 2014, and that's a long time to do anything in your life.
Okay...
No matter the reason for Davidson's departure, the comedian's profile seems to have become more of a distraction than an asset. With so many concerned about Davidson's dating life, especially since he started seeing Kim Kardashian, his presence on the show has become more of a tabloid sideshow than anything. Plus, Davidson clearly has a career blossoming outside of the halls of Studio 8H anyway. Even though "The King of Staten Island" wasn't a runaway hit, it was also released at home during the first wave of the pandemic. Davidson has seen more projects come his way since then, and his presence on "SNL" hasn't necessarily resulted in much more success for the series. So there's no better time for him to move on.
Though Davidson has taken his licks in the press, you can't deny that he's got a sharp wit. Despite the fact that his only consistently recurring character was that of the careless and aloof Chad in a series of pre-recorded sketches (seen above), almost every time Davidson made an appearance as himself at the Weekend Update desk, it was a great bit that was worthy of a stand-up special. But at "SNL," you've gotta deliver more than that if you want to be a valued cast member who goes the distance. The main reason Davidson stuck around for longer than he probably intended was likely thanks to creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels taking the comedian under his wing and helping him through real-life mental issues and substance abuse.
If Variety's report is accurate, Davidson's last show will be this weekend when "Russian Doll" star Natasha Lyonne hosts the season 47 finale. Whether or not we'll see any other cast members follow him out the exit door remains to be seen.