Pete Davidson opened up about why it might be time for him to leave Saturday Night Live when he appeared as a guest on Monday’s episode of Live Your Truth: An Honest Conversation With Charlamagne Tha God.
When Charlamagne Tha God asked Davidson if he’s ever asked Adam Sandler for advice, the comedian revealed that he’s spoken to Sandler about when he’ll know that it’s the right time to leave SNL. “I have a lot of conversations with people, because it’s a hard thing to do,” said Davidson.
“You don’t ever want to pull the trigger too early. Everybody’s always been like, ‘You’ll know when you know, and it’ll be all right,'” he continued. “I personally think I should be done with that show because they make fun of me on it.”
He added that he’s treated as a punchline on the show. “I’m like, cold open, political punchlines. I’m like, Weekend Update jokes,” said Davidson. “When I’m not there, they’ll be like, ‘Huh huh huh, Pete’s a fucking jerk face.’ And you’re like, ‘Whose side are you on?'”
“I have a weird feeling in that building where I don’t know whose team they’re playing for really,” Davidson revealed. “If I’m the joke or I’m in on the joke.”
He then said that he wanted to leave the show last season, though he stuck around.
The comedian added that Lorne Michaels has been nothing but kind to him. “He’s the best and has treated me with nothing but love and he’s like a father figure to me,” Davidson said. “As far as everyone else, it’s a cutthroat fucking show. Everyone’s trying to get their shit on. Everyone wants to be the next thing.”
Davidson went on to explain that everyone competes against each other to get their sketches on the show and he spent his first three years as a castmember terrified that he would be fired.
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Despite being ready to leave the show, Davidson credited SNL for improving his skills as a comedian. “Being able to perform live and have to not fuck up, even though I laugh and fuck up half the time, it’s definitely made me, I feel like, smarter,” he said. “Everybody there is so smart and I feel like the unfunniest one there.”
The comedian spoke to the SNL team about how he feels unwelcome on the show. “I literally was just like, ‘Picture what it’s like to be made fun of and then cut to immediately,'” he said. “They think I’m fucking dumb. I’m literally painted out to be this big dumb idiot.”
When the host asked if Davidson has outgrown SNL, he responded, “Yeah, I think everybody outgrows it.”
Davidson added that while he feels ready to leave the show, he’s “happy to be there as long as Lorne likes me.”
“For what I can do on the show, which is just barely anything — and it’s just Weekend Update,” he said. “I feel like I’ve done 30 of those and I just feel like, yeah, I’ve done as much as I can over there.”
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Watch the full interview below.
