Saturday Night Live alum Pete Davidson is set to return to the show that helped launch his career, although he seems uncertain of the status of his gig.
The actor and comedian recently stopped by The Tonight Show to visit with his friend, fellow SNL alum Jimmy Fallon.
During their chat, Davidson gifted Fallon a humorous gift from Manscaped and spoke about his upcoming projects.
That includes the Peacock series Bupkis, which Davidson stars in alongside award-winning actors Edie Falco and Joe Pesci.
He also spoke about getting the call from SNL boss Lorne Michaels to return to host the sketch comedy show and revealed it was a much different feeling to be there compared to his previous time there.
Additionally, Davidson indicated he was going to be waiting until next week to find out the status of his hosting the show based on a potential writers’ strike.
Pete Davidson on return to host SNL: ‘That show is hard’
While Saturday Night Live was a rerun on the night of April 29, it’s expected to be a brand new episode on May 6, when Pete Davidson returns to host his former show.
Davidson appeared as a cast member on the sketch comedy show from 2014 through 2022, appearing regularly during SNL’s Weekend Update and popping up in other skits. One of his most notable characters was the simplistic and goofy Chad on SNL.
Toward the end of his SNL career, Davidson gained additional fame and attention when he started dating Kim Kardashian, who was dealing with the fallout of her divorce from rapper Kanye West. That relationship has since ended, and based on previous comments from Davidson, he won’t have jokes about Kim K during his SNL hosting gig.
After officially retiring last year, he’s now returning to host an upcoming episode with Lil Uzi Vert as the musical guest. During Davidson’s recent Tonight Show appearance (below), he talked about Lorne Michaels’ call to him to join the cast years ago.
Davidson said when Michaels originally called him to join the SNL cast years ago, he told him, “I’m not really sure what to do with you, but I believe in you, and let’s figure it out.”
He said Michaels’ call to him to come to host the show was very similar.
“I want you back to host, and you know, you’ve done it before, and the cast will help, so,” Davidson said, describing Michaels’ recent call to him.
Davidson also told Fallon that hosting made him realize the show is “hard” compared to what he did when he was previously there.
“I had a weird little gig there because I would just do my thing once in a while, and they would like, let me do whatever,” Davidson shared, adding, “But I was like, ‘This show. You guys work really hard. This is a lot of work.'”
He also said he was “terrified” when he arrived to prepare for his hosting gig, as many people are new at the show compared to when he was there. He said he could tell there was a lot of excitement since they were just starting out. Davidson said after being there for a while, you feel that initial buzz calm down considerably.
Davidson indicated his SNL episode’s status is up in the air
“It’s really funny, Lorne told me a couple months ago, but then, this week, they’re like- You know, a writers strike might happen,” Davidson shared.
“So I’ve been working on this like two or three months, and they’re like, ‘Yeah, well, we’ll know Monday if it’s happening or not,'” he said.
Davidson said that feeds into the weird idea he’s got in his mind that “of course that would happen to me.”
He said they don’t know if the show will happen, but he’s “super excited” to host if it does.
Davidson, the SNL cast, and viewers should know the fate of his upcoming hosting gig on May 1, as that’s when it’s expected there will be news regarding the situation with the writers’ strike.
As of this report, Deadline indicated things are getting down to the wire for the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers to reach an agreement on the guild’s expiring contract.
Should the sides be unable to come to an agreement, a strike could begin on Tuesday, May 2, which would cause late-night shows to shut down immediately.