It’s not easy having BDE.
While comedian Pete Davidson was a castmate on “Saturday Night Live,” he often found himself at the “Weekend Update” desk giving updates on — what else? — his love life.
But he wasn’t exactly in on the joke, the “Bodies Bodies Bodies” star confessed in a new interview, saying all that negative attention made him feel like a “f – – king loser.”
“When your own show [pokes fun at you],” Davidson, 29, began on Jon Berthnal’s “Real Ones” podcast on Patreon, “I’d be sitting in the back watching the cold open and — the cold open [is] topical, political humor, whatever’s in the culture. And then, making fun of you. Then you’ve gotta walk out and do a sketch next and hit your mark and the show just made fun of you. So, why are they gonna laugh at you? Like, they just dogged you in front of everyone … And you’re like, ‘I’m a f - - king loser, man.’”
The funnyman continued, “These are the people I’ve been with for almost a decade. I grew up in front of these people. They’ve watched me through the most difficult time in my life, and they’ve been there for me. And nobody ever showed more leeway and grace to me than Lorne Michaels, and I owe my life to that guy, but it was f - - king confusing cause the nature of entertainment is the nature of this business. At the end of the day, that’s what it is.”
“This was a really difficult thing to do. You feel small. You feel super insecure.”
Davidson joined “SNL” as a cast member in 2014 when he was 20 years old and left the show in May 2022.
During his time on the sketch comedy series, he was seen with Emily Ratajkowski, dated Cazzie David, was engaged to Ariana Grande and was in a very public relationship with Kim Kardashian, among others. He is currently linked to his “Bupkis” co-star Chase Sui Wonders.
“I’m in my 20s and I’ve dated people. And for some reason, that’s very crazy and interesting to people. I don’t think it’s interesting,” Davidson said. “I’ve been in show business for, like, half my life almost — for 14 or 15 years and on a national TV show. In 12 years I’ve dated 10 people. I don’t think that’s that crazy, but to some people, that’s very interesting. That became all anyone would talk about.”
He clarified that the people he’s dated in the past have been those he’s met through spending so much time at NBC.
“I’m not, like, flexing, you know what I mean? And these people that I’ve dated, I met them at work,” he added. “I wasn’t in anyone’s DMs, no one was in mine. I worked at one of the five Hollywood epicenters of where you meet people and that’s how it happened.”
Davidson’s hoping to gain control of his narrative with his upcoming comedy series “Bupkis” on Peacock — a dramatized version of his life — under Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video, the production company behind “SNL.”
“Suddenly you’re in this zeitgeist and that has nothing to do with the work,” Davidson said. “And that’s a really shitty feeling. I became more known before the work was there, but I was always working.”
He concluded, “I’m cool with the joke. I get the late-night jokes.”
“Bupkis” premieres on Peacock on May 4.