Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we're diving
into someone whose life seems almost tailor -made
for public consumption. Peter Michael Davidson.
Yeah, Pete Davidson. Comedian, actor, writer,
and just this massive public figure. It's quite
a mix. It really is. And his fame isn't just
from his comedy, right? It's this blend of really...
personal, almost raw stand up and these incredibly
high profile relationships. Exactly. That's what
makes him such a fascinating subject for this
kind of analysis. He's built this career being
incredibly open while living a life that's constantly
under the media microscope. So our goal here.
for you listening is to kind of peel back those
layers, go beyond the headlines. The gossip bill
will touch on it, obviously. That we don't have
to. Right. But we want to understand the core
elements, his life, his career, that unique comedic
voice he has. We've got a lot to work with. We're
pulling together info on everything, his Staten
Island roots, the whole Saturday Night Live era,
his health battles, which he's been very open
about. And now this shift into movies, even producing,
it's quite an arc. It really paints a picture
of maybe the modern celebrity, someone who uses
vulnerability as their brand. He feels accessible,
relatable, even when he's, you know, dating Kim
Kardashian or whoever. He makes chaos seem normal
somehow. Or at least comfortable. Yeah. OK, so
let's start at the beginning. Staten Island.
Born November 16th, 1993. And you really can't
talk about his beginnings without talking about
the defining trauma of his childhood. Yeah, the
loss of his father. Absolutely central. His dad,
Scott Matthew Davidson, was a New York City firefighter,
Ladder 118. And he died in service during the
9 -11 attacks. That's right. The sources mention
he and his unit were last seen going into the
Marriott World Trade Center right before it collapsed.
Just devastating. And Pete was only seven years
old. The impact of that. It's hard to fathom.
especially something so public. He's called it
overwhelming. And you see the fallout almost
immediately in his childhood. It wasn't just
sadness. It manifested in really concerning ways.
Like how he acted out in school. Yeah, acting
out, but also physically. He talked about ripping
his own hair out. Until he was bald. Wow. It's
such a clear, heartbreaking sign of just intense
anxiety, trauma response kicking in at a really
young age. And it feels like that inability to
process that powerlessness he must have felt.
That becomes the engine for his comedy later
on. It really does. He weaponizes it in a way.
But before comedy, he had this fairly typical
New York upbringing in some ways, raised Catholic.
But a mix of backgrounds, right? Jewish, German,
Irish, Italian. Yeah, a real melting pot. And
his school life reflected that early chaos, too.
He went to a few different high schools. Finally
graduated from Zaverian High in 2011, then a
brief stint in college. Very brief. One semester
at St. Francis College, then he dropped out.
It seems pretty clear that the traditional path
just wasn't going to work for him. Because he'd
already found something else. Comedy. And the
story of how he started is kind of perfect, Pete
Davidson. Bowling alley dare. Exactly. 16 years
old, Staten Island bowling alley. Friends dared
him to get up on stage. One of those friends,
interestingly, was Matthew Festa, who went on
to play Major League Baseball. Ah, no way. So
just pure impulse. Seems like it. Low stakes,
high challenge. And that was it. And things moved
pretty fast after that. Yeah. By 2013, 2014,
he's already getting TV gigs. Yeah, mostly on
MTV at first. Shows like Philosophy, Guy Code.
Wasn't he on Wild and Out too? He was multiple
times. Six appearances, the sources say. Which
is great training, right? Improv, working on
camera. Definitely. And he did some scripted
stuff too, like Brooklyn Nine -Nine. And even
an unaired pilot for Fox, Sober Companion, back
in 2014. So he was building this resume, getting
noticed. Setting himself up for the big one.
The absolute game changer. Saturday Night Live.
Okay, let's shift gears then. Talk about the
SNL breakthrough and how that shaped his whole
comedic approach. Joining SNL in September 2014
for season 40. I mean, that's huge for any comedian.
He was so young. 20 years old. Yeah, one of the
youngest ever cast members. And significantly
the first one born in the 1990s. He was literally
the new generation walking in. But how he got
the audition. It wasn't exactly walking in off
the street. No, not at all. It was a connection.
Bill Hader. Ah, right. From the movie Trainwreck.
Exactly. Davidson had a small part in it, filmed
in 2014, released 2015. Hader was in it too.
Saw something in Davidson, that raw kind of awkward
energy, the talent beneath it. And Hader just
called Lorne Michaels? Pretty much. Recommended
him directly. That's a massive endorsement. It's
that classic right place, right time, plus talent
story. And once he was on the show, his style
was noticeable right away. Yeah. playing with
that youth that almost indifference sometimes
you nailed it with indifference look at chad
oh chad the ultimate slacker character right
just okay to absolutely everything no matter
how insane the situation it was so minimal But
it hit a nerve, especially with younger viewers.
That kind of Gen Z apathy personified. And he
wasn't afraid to get weird or uncomfortable either,
like that sketch with The Rock. Oh, yeah, the
Indiana Jones poison -sucking sketch. That definitely
pushed some buttons. It started like a classic
adventure movie parody. And then just descended
into this bizarre, homoerotic, mutual poison
-sucking thing, ending in, well, a 69 position.
It was a signal, wasn't it? That he and maybe
that newer cast were willing to go to some strange
places for a laugh. make people squirm a bit
definitely he stayed for eight seasons which
is a long run but towards the end season 47 he
was missing quite a bit yeah there were noticeable
absences and then the official announcement came
just before the season finale in may 2022 but
those eight years really forged his public image
and cemented that comedy style we keep talking
about the brutal honesty yeah let's dig into
that philosophy because it really is what sets
him apart it's built on just radical self -exposure
isn't it using his own life, warts and all, as
the material. Totally. It's observational, it's
dark, sometimes surreal, but the core is confession.
Critics have called it like a series of brutal
truths and vulgar confessions. And then the topics.
Awkwardness, drugs, sex, his mental health. Nothing
seems off limits. Nothing. Especially, and this
is the really unique part, the death of his father.
Which is just incredibly sensitive territory.
Most comics might allude to trauma, but he tackles
it head on. Puts it in punchlines. He does. And
he's actually explained why. He said that loss
made him feel powerless as a kid and making jokes
about it, turning that tragedy into comedy. It's
his way of taking the power back. It's catharsis
for him. A very public form of catharsis. Extremely
public. And you could argue monetized catharsis.
That's the tension, isn't it? Is it therapy or
is it commerce? Or both? I think for the audience,
it reads as authenticity. That's the key. When
he's that vulnerable. It kind of gives permission
for everyone else to laugh at their own uncomfortable
truths. It's relatable, even at its snorkest.
And that approach led to stand -up specials.
Three main ones we should mention. Pete Davidson,
SMD back in 2016, then Alive from New York in
2020, and Turbo Fonzarelli just this year, 2024.
But maybe the moment that really defined his
nothing -is -off -limits approach was the Justin
Bieber roast. Oh, the 2015 Comedy Central roast,
yes. That set was legendarily edgy. Because of
that joke. The Soul Plane joke, yeah. Aimed at
Snoop Dogg and Kevin Hart, who are in the movie.
Remind us of the line. He said, referring to
the movie Soul Plane, that it was the worst experience
of my life involving a plane, and then directly
connected it to his father dying on 9 -11. It's
just breathtakingly dark. But it works, because
he's the one saying it about his trauma. Precisely.
He owns the pain, so he gets to make the joke.
It signals nothing is sacred. And people noticed.
He landed on the Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2016.
The recognition came fast. That commitment to
putting everything out there. It becomes even
more complex when you layer in his actual health
struggles. Yeah. Which are deeply tied to his
comedy. Absolutely critical context. And he's
been incredibly open here, too. First, physically,
he was diagnosed with Crohn's disease when he
was about 17 or 18. Which is a serious chronic
inflammatory bowel condition. Painful requires
ongoing management. Right. He gets intravenous
biologic therapy for it. And he initially used
marijuana, partly for pain management with the
Crohn's, partly recreationally. Then came the
sobriety announcement in 2017. March 2017. He
said he was sober for the first time in eight
years, quit drugs. But then he kind of revised
that story later, didn't he? On Marc Maron's
podcast. He did. And this is really important.
He went on WTF and basically said, look, I thought
my problems, the emotional stuff, the impulsivity
were because of the weed. But it wasn't just
the marijuana. No. He revealed he'd been newly
diagnosed with borderline personality disorder,
BPD. And he realized that was the underlying
cause of a lot of the issues he'd blamed on pot.
Wow. That's a huge thing to share publicly. BPD
carries a lot of stigma. It involves intense
mood swings, trouble with relationships, impulsivity.
It maps pretty closely to his public persona,
honestly. And he said he's been in treatment
for it since the diagnosis. And being so open
about BPD? It further cemented that brand of
radical honesty, didn't it? Made him seem even
more relatable battling these real demons. Definitely.
It normalized talking about a really complex
mental health condition for a huge audience.
But that vulnerability also comes with periods
of real public crisis. Like in December 2018.
Yeah, that was scary. He posted some really concerning
stuff on Instagram, hinting at suicidal thoughts,
then deleted his account. And the police got
involved. NYPD did a wellness check because people
were genuinely worried. It became this big public
event. Even Ariana Grande, his recent ex -fiancee
at the time, expressed concern online. Yet almost
immediately, he filters that experience through
comedy, too. It's his default setting. Just a
few weeks later, January 2019, he's on Weekend
Update with John Mulaney making jokes about the
incident, turning the scary into satire. It's
a pattern. Process trauma through performance.
Exactly. And now we're seeing this maybe desire
for a change, a clean slate reflected even in
his appearance, the tattoos. Right. He had so
many. Hundreds. Around 200, the sources say.
Often very specific marking moments or relationships.
Kind of a walking diary. And now he's getting
them removed. Most of them. By 2025, aiming to
keep just a couple, he said it himself. He wants
a clean slate. He's trying to be an adult. Removing
the visual record of the chaos. That's a powerful
symbolic move. It really is. A statement about
wanting to move into a different phase. But of
course, the public focus rarely stays on his
tattoos or his psyche for long. It snaps right
back to his relationships. Which is, let's be
honest, the engine driving a huge amount of the
media attention around him. It's undeniable.
His gating life is a spectacle. He often dates
women who are vastly more famous, at least initially.
Which just catapults his own fame. It started
more within his world comedian Carly Aquilino
than Kazzy David, Larry David's daughter, from
2016 to 2018. And then came the explosion. Ariana
Grande. 2018. That was the relationship that
took him from SNL guy to global tabloid fixture.
It was incredibly fast and intense. He started
dating in May, engaged by June. Yeah, a whirlwind
engagement. The scrutiny was unbelievable, and
then it ended just as quickly in October 2018.
And the context around the breakup was so heavy,
too, with Mac Miller's tragic death happening
shortly before. Right. That added this layer
of public grief and pressure onto an already
hyper -visible split. It became more than just
celebrity gossip. But the cultural impact lingered.
She wrote songs about him. Yeah, the track literally
titled Pete Davidson. And of course, the massive
hit, Thank You, Next. Even almost got married.
And for Pete, I'm so thankful. That line was
everywhere. It was remarkably gracious. And beyond
the music, that relationship is largely credited
with popularizing the term. Big Dick Energy,
BDE. That's right. B -D -E. Which became this
weird cultural shorthand for his specific brand
of laid -back, confident charm that didn't fit
the usual Hollywood mold. It totally set the
stage for what came next. A series of very public,
often shorter -term romances. Kept him constantly
in the headlines. Kate Beckinsale was a big one.
Mostly because of the age gap. She's 20 years
older, right? And he actually used the media
frenzy about that on SNL. He did. Turned it right
back around. He basically said, why is everyone
freaking out about my age gap? When older guys
date much younger women all the time. Exactly.
He called out Leonardo DiCaprio, Larry King,
even Donald Trump by name. Classic Davidson move.
Absorb the hit, then deflect with an observation
about media hypocrisy. Who else was in that phase?
Margaret Qualley. Yep. Briefly. Yeah. Then model
Kaya Gerber and Phoebe Dynevor from Bridgerton.
That ended apparently due to distance. And then
came Kim, Kim Kardashian, which brought a whole
new level of chaos. Unprecedented levels. It
started after she hosted SNL in October 2021.
They did that sketch together. The Aladdin and
Jasmine kiss. Right. And they started dating
officially in November 2021. But the story of
their relationship is almost inseparable from
the conflict with her ex, Kanye West. Oh, man,
that was intense and very public. It was relentless.
Kanye targeted Davidson constantly on social
media, calling him names. Skeet dickhead and
that bizarre Hillary Clinton's ex -boyfriend
insult. Because Pete has that Hillary tattoo.
It's just layers of surreal celebrity feud. And
Kanye put it in his music, too. The track Easy
had the line about wanting to beat Pete Davidson's
ass. In the music video, the claymation figure
of Pete being buried alive. That was disturbing.
Deeply disturbing. It was like a public digital
harassment campaign. How did Pete handle it?
He seemed pretty quiet through most of it. Mostly
silent, yeah. Which weirdly worked in his favor.
By not engaging much publicly, he almost came
across as the more mature one in the situation.
The chaos swirled around him, but he didn't seem
to add to it. And that relationship lasted about
nine months. They split in August 2022. Correct.
Since then, the pace has maybe slowed slightly,
but the pattern continues. He dated Chase Suey
Wonders. Who he met on a film set, Bodies, Bodies,
Bodies. And she was in his show, Bupkis, too.
Right. Then actress Madeline Klein for a while.
This brings us right up to the present and maybe
the biggest shift yet in his personal life, Elsie
Hewitt. Model and actress Elsie Hewitt. They
started dating around March 2025, made their
red carpet debut in May, moved in together. Things
moved quickly. But the really big news dropped
in July 2025. Yeah. Hewitt announced on Instagram
they're expecting their first child. Wow. That
changed everything. Fatherhood for Pete Davidson.
It's a massive turning point. The guy whose persona
is built on this kind of arrested development,
this chaotic energy, now facing the reality of
being a dad. You have to wonder how that reshapes
the comedian, the confessor. We'll definitely
circle back to that. But first, let's talk about
how he actually leveraged that SNL fame and persona
into a legitimate movie career. pretty successful.
Surprisingly robust, yeah. And often the roles
feel like extensions of him. The absolute key
project here is The King of Staten Island. The
2020 film with Judd Apatow directing. That was
semi -autobiographical, right? Deeply. He co
-wrote it, starred as Scott Carlin, a character
grappling with the exact same core trauma. Firefighter
father lost on 9 -11, struggles with motivation,
mental health. It felt like therapy on screen.
It really did, like a two -plus -hour processing
session. But it worked critically, got him award
nominations. It showed his personal story had
weight, could carry a major film. And beyond
that personal project, he's popped up in some
huge franchises, usually in smaller, specific
kinds of roles. Yeah, it's interesting how he's
used often the lovable screw -up, the comic relief,
sometimes the guy who gets killed off quickly,
like Blackard in The Suicide Squad. Right. Dies
almost immediately. And 2023 was huge for cameos.
He was Flektik in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.
3, Bowie in Fast X, the voice of Mirage in Transformers,
Rise of the Beasts. He's suddenly everywhere
in these blockbusters. Yeah. Shows real mainstream
reach beyond comedy fans. He even voiced Marmaduke
the Dog in 2020. Marmaduke. Okay. But when he
tried to translate his life directly into a TV
series again with Bupkis, the reaction was more
mixed. Bupkis, yeah. The Peacock series from
2023, he starred, co -wrote, heavily fictionalized
version of his life again. And critics found
it a bit derivative. Some did. The Guardian called
it messy, compared it to shows like Louis, Atlanta,
even Entourage, which are tough comparisons.
So the idea of a messy comedian dealing with
fame. Maybe felt less fresh in that format. Potentially.
While his life is unique, the structure of that
show wasn't groundbreaking. And it's telling
that even though it got renewed for season two.
Lock away. He chose not to move forward, which
again seems to fit this narrative he's building
about wanting control, maybe wanting that clean
slate, not just being locked into retelling the
same stories. It feels like a conscious choice
to manage his own narrative more carefully now.
Absolutely. And speaking of unconventional choices
and blurred lines, some of his off -screen ventures
are pretty wild. Okay, you have to start with
the ferry, the Staten Island Ferry. It's peak
absurdity, isn't it? He and Colin Jost, his SNL
buddy, actually bought a decommissioned Staten
Island ferry boat in 2023. What were they planning
to do with it? A comedy club? That was the rumor.
Or maybe an art space. Vague clans. But then
it actually got used in a horror movie called
Screamboat. Of course it did. It's just perfect
Pete Davidson logic. Buy a ferry, it ends up
in a horror movie. It exemplifies that kind of
casual, almost accidental engagement with massive,
weird projects. And he almost went to space.
Almost. He was scheduled to be an honorary guest
on a Blue Origin flight, NS20, in March 2022.
What happened? The flight got rescheduled and
then the announcement came that he was no longer
able to join. He missed becoming astronaut Pete
by that much. Which would have just been another
level of strange fame. Totally. And then there
are moments where the impulsivity has real world
impacts, like the car crash in March 2023. Right.
He crashed into a house. Right. Late at night.
No one hurt, thankfully. Full injuries, thankfully.
But he was charged with misdemeanor reckless
driving. And he had consequences for that. Yeah.
He ended up agreeing to community service 50
hours and 12 hours of traffic school. So, you
know, public actions, public accountability.
Life isn't just material. Well, speaking of testing
boundaries and accountability, his comedy is
definitely cross -line sometimes. Let's talk
controversies. It's inevitable with his style,
right? Insult comedy, black comedy, it pushes
buttons. One of the biggest backlashes was over
the R. Kelly joke in 2019. On SNL, comparing
the Catholic Church to supporting R. Kelly. Specifically,
he said, I don't really see the difference, except
for one's music is significantly better. Oof,
and the timing was crucial there. Extremely.
It came right after the Diocese of Brooklyn had
settled major sex abuse cases for millions, $27
.5 million in 2018. So the church was understandably
outraged. The diocese called it disgraceful,
demanded an apology. It hit a very raw nerve,
connecting satire to real profound suffering
and institutional failure. Then there was the
Dan Crenshaw incident, mocking a politician's
war wound. That was 2018 Weekend Update again.
He went after Dan Crenshaw, who was then a Republican
candidate for Congress. Crenshaw wears an eye
patch from an injury in Afghanistan. And Davidson
compared him to... A hitman in a porno movie.
And then added that dismissive line, I'm sorry,
I know he lost his eye in war or whatever. That
whatever really landed badly. Terribly. The backlash
was instant and bipartisan. You just don't mock
a veteran's combat injury like that. But the
way they handled it was... Kind of remarkable.
It was masterful, really. The next week on SNL,
Davidson didn't just give a statement. He brought
Dan Crenshaw out with him. Right, on the show.
Crenshaw accepted the apology, got in a few jokes
at Pete's expense, but then pivoted. He used
the moment to talk about veterans, about unity,
about remembering sacrifice. It turned this really
ugly moment into something surprisingly constructive.
And let Pete take responsibility in a very public
way. Exactly. It showed a capacity for handling
criticism when he genuinely crossed a line. And
it's worth noting his own politics are pretty
clear. Liberal. Yeah. Supported Hillary Clinton
got the tattoo. Supported Biden. Right. So the
Crenshaw apology was notable because it showed
he could engage respectfully even across that
political divide when the issue warranted it.
OK, so we've covered a lot. The trauma, the comedy,
the health, the relationships, the career moves,
the controversies. Let's try to synthesize this.
What's the core takeaway about Pete Davidson?
I think it comes back to that transparency. His
willingness to put everything out there, the
grief over his dad, the BPD, the Crohn's, the
messy relationships that is the brand. He connects
because of the flaws, not despite them. Precisely.
He's the ultimate confessional comedian. He turns
his personal struggles into relatable, funny,
sometimes shocking content. And it works. And
he's managed to build a serious, multifaceted
career out of it. From youngest SNL guy to movie
star producer. And now soon to be father. That's
the big unknown variable. Right. Because everything
we know about him. suggests this constant drive
towards a clean slate now. Removing tattoos,
quitting bupkas, settling down, having a kid.
It seems like a genuine desire for maturity,
for stability, which feels almost... antithetical
to the chaotic energy that fueled his rise. So
that really is the big question for him and maybe
for you listening to consider. Can he maintain
that confessional style, that vulnerability that
people connect with, if his life genuinely becomes
more stable? Or does the chaos just shift? Will
fatherhood, with all its inherent messiness and
challenges, simply become the new raw material
for his comedy? Will we get routines about changing
diapers and sleep deprivation instead of dating
drama? It's entirely possible. It will be fascinating
to see how this guy who built a career on processing
past trauma and current chaos navigates this
next phase. Balancing a desire for a quiet life
with a public persona built on exposure. That
evolution from the kid joking about his dad's
death to a man about to become a dad himself.
That's the next chapter we'll all be watching.
No doubt. It's the most significant turn in the
Pete Davidson story yet. And that concludes our
deep dive for today. Hopefully this gives you
a much richer picture of the person behind all
those headlines.