Pete Davidson Got Emotional Watching His Old “Saturday Night Live” Audition

Pete Davidson never expected to get sentimental over his Saturday Night Live audition — but watching it again hit him harder than he thought.

During a February 6 interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers, the 31-year-old comedian admitted that he got a little choked up seeing his 20-year-old self auditioning for SNL in a new Peacock docuseries, SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night.

“I teared up a little bit because, you know, I’m like 20 there, so it’s before all the bad stuff happened,” Pete said. 

When the audience responded with sympathy, he quickly added that his statement was supposed to be a joke, but laughed anyway.

Looking back, Pete described his audition as a nerve-wracking experience. He struggled with whether to do impressions or stand-up, so he called a friend for advice. “…I was like, ‘Should I do impressions?’ He’s like, ‘Can you?’ I was like, ‘No.’ He’s like, ‘Well then you should do stand-up.'”

Pete recalled only getting “two laughs in six minutes” and being convinced he had no shot. But somehow, he made it — and his journey on SNL began.

Even after landing a spot in Season 40, his confidence didn’t grow overnight. “After my first year I actually called for a meeting with Lorne [Michaels] and I was like, ‘Please fire me,’ and he’s like, ‘Why?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t belong here. Everybody’s so talented and they don’t want to be my friend,'” he stated.

Lorne, the show’s legendary creator, gave him some blunt but valuable advice: “You don’t figure it out ’til your third or fourth year… It’s just gonna suck for three or four years.”

Pete stuck with it, and after eight years on SNL, he said goodbye in 2022 with a heartfelt message. During his final Weekend Update appearance, he thanked Lorne for always believing in him, even when others didn’t.

“I appreciate SNL always having my back and allowing me to work on myself and grow,” he said.