Let’s not forget Pete’s star turn in The King of Staten Island, the semi-autobiographical story of a 24-year-old high school dropout who lives with his mother and younger sister after his firefighter dad dies during 9/11. Semi-autobiographical?
“I have never really been able to get over my dad passing,” Pete said about King, a film he co-wrote. “Telling that story — filming it and digging deep and being in uncomfortable areas that I have avoided for so long, I think that not only helped the movie, but it helped me as a person.”
Director Judd Apatow spent a long time making sure the Pete we see on film was authentically Pete. “We spent a lot of time talking about all the history and the emotions,” says Apatow. “When Pete wasn’t around, I would sit with our co-writer, Dave Sirus, who’s one of Pete’s best friends, and go, what was that moment like? In a situation like that, how might Pete react?”
But maybe not exactly exactly Pete? “We joke that this movie’s like if I was 5 percent more of an a__hole,” Davidson says. “But I thought it was like 70 to 80 percent more. You have to just make certain decisions that work best for the movie and not for you as a person.”
Let’s be clear: It’s not a criticism of Pete Davidson to say his best comedic role is Pete Davidson. Look no further than comedy legend Lucille Ball, who over the course of four decades played:
Lucy, a dizzy redhead married to a Cuban bandleader in I Love Lucy;
Lucy, a daffy widow raising two teen-age children in The Lucy Show;
Lucy, another dotty widow raising two teenage children (this time played by her actual children) in Here’s Lucy;
And of course, Lucy, the doting widowed grandmother in Life with Lucy.
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So go on, Pete — there are worse things to be called than the Lucille Ball of Stoners.
For more ComedyNerd, be sure to check out:
John Mulaney: What We Learned from His ‘Saturday Night Live’ Comeback
‘Saturday Night Live’: When Is It Time to Leave?
‘The Simpsons’: 13 Jokes That Sailed Over Our Heads
Top image: Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon