Pete Davidson has become both a star and a caricature on Saturday Night Live, which is a shame because there’s a lot going on below the surface for Davidson. He gets to showcase that now in movies, including the semi-autobiographical King of Staten Island he stars in on the big-screen thanks to Judd Apatow.
But his stand-up?
As I wrote when his Netflix special dropped in February, this felt like a dress rehearsal for a show that could be so much more. Perhaps it will someday.
After all of this, Davidson is still just 26 years old.
He also lives back on Staten Island, where he grew up, in the basement of a home where his mom and sister live upstairs. Of course, Davidson could buy this particular home to provide for his family, so he chose that basement lifestyle. And he recorded this special just before going back into rehab to adjust his medications he takes for a variety of ailments, from the physical (Crohn’s disease) to the psychological (bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, PTSD). He only talks indirectly about the PTSD in his act, reminding audiences that his dad was a New York firefighter who died on 9/11, when Pete was just 7. And you’ll have to not let Netflix credits scroll and jump past you before hearing one more story about Davidson’s dad.
But there’s so much left unsaid here.
Even if he did say some things about one of his exes.