Pete Davidson has confirmed he is leaving ‘Saturday Night Live’ after eight seasons. “It’s crazy to think that today I’m going to do my last,” Davidson wrote on Instagram ahead of Saturday’s season finale.
Davidson doesn’t have his own Instagram account, but he posted via Dave Sirius, who writes for “Saturday Night Live.” The post was accompanied by a video of Davidson hugging Jerrod Carmichael.
“When I got the show I was 20 and had no idea what I was doing,” Davidson wrote. “I still don’t, but especially back then. I wasn’t really a sketch artist, I was just a stand-up. I knew I could never keep up or go along with a Kenan Thompson or a Kate McKinnon, so I was super scared of what I could possibly bring or do to such a historic and respected show and platform.”
Davidson first joined “Saturday Night Live” in 2014 at the age of 20, becoming one of the youngest cast members in the show’s history.
In a 2020 interview with “CBS Sunday Morning,” Davidson said he didn’t even know SNL was still on the air when he was asked to audition. But the comedian and actor credited the variety show for making his career.
“I started being taken seriously as a comedian,” Davidson said. “It really changed my life.”
On Saturday, Davidson wrote that he owes “Lorne Michaels and everyone at SNL my life. I’m so grateful and wouldn’t be here without them. was not the popular opinion.”
Davidson also opened up about his impending departure during Saturday’s Weekend Update segment, the skit he debuted on. He again thanked the series and its creator Lorne Michaels for “memories that will last a lifetime”. Davidson also joked about Michaels’ reaction to his quick but brief engagement with singer Ariana Grande.
Davidson met his current girlfriend, aspiring lawyer and mogul Kim Kardashian, when she hosted the long-running sketch show in 2021, according to the latest season of “The Kardashians.”
In addition to his role on SNL, Davidson has also starred in several feature films, including “Set It Off,” “The King of Staten Island” and the A24 horror film “Bodies, Bodies, Bodies.”
Davidson is still set to produce and star in a new Peacock streaming show called “Bupkis,” which a spokesperson for the streaming service described as “an augmented, fictionalized version of real-life Pete Davidson” that combines “storytelling grounded with absurdist elements of the unfiltered, completely original worldview for which Pete is well known.”
