Pete Davidson is everywhere lately. He’s largely on everyone’s radar because he’s engaged to Ariana Grande, and is the inspiration for at least one of the tracks on Grande’s latest album, Sweetener.
But the SNL cast member is taking advantage of this groundswell of media exposure to remind the general populace that he is a very talented young comedian. His perceived maturity level might rub some people the wrong way, but he’s a living, breathing performer who has his own personal struggles that he’s been very open about.
He’s also very open about MOST things, as we’ve already seen many times over. But in a new profile at Variety, Davidson opened up about one of the most embarrassing moments in his professional career: when he was asked to be part of a Donald Trump impersonation train over at SNL.
Apparently, before settling on non-cast-member Alec Baldwin, every single male SNL cast member was asked to audition to play the recurring part of Donald Trump. (Never mind the fact that SNL already HAD arguably the best current Trump impression in house, in the form of Darrell Hammond.) According to Davidson, Pete Davidson playing Donald Trump went about as well as you would expect.
“It was bad,” recalls Davidson on a recent walk through downtown New York. “First of all, I’m 10 pounds, so I looked insane. They made us all get dressed up and tanned up. I sounded like Thunderlips from ‘Rocky III.’” He re-creates a hissing voice reminiscent of a villain on a morning cartoon. “It was a nightmare. If I could get my hands on this tape, it’s embarrassing as f—.”
Luckily, Davidson never had to play Trump in front of America at large, and his talents were able to be better utilized within his wheelhouse.
