Pete Davidson says his SNL audition to play Donald Trump was "embarrassing as fuck"
Pete “Big Dick Energy” Davidson’s become something of a meme since getting engaged to pop star Ariana Grande, so you’d be forgiven for forgetting that he’s also a comedian who’s entering into his fourth season on Saturday Night Live. Davidson’s slowly been carving out a place for himself on the sketch series, which hasn’t been easy considering he lacks in one very important area: Impressions.
It turns out that before Alec Baldwin was hired to mug and hoarsely bark as the show’s resident Donald Trump, the show tasked each of its male cast members with auditioning for the role of our current president. Unsurprisingly, the droll, feather-light Davidson wasn’t a good fit.
“It was bad,” he told Variety in a new profile. “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 added, “It was a nightmare. If I could get my hands on this tape, it’s embarrassing as fuck.”
Davidson did eventually introduce an impression, this time as another political contender in Republican Marco Rubio, though he’s not too pleased with that one, either. “It’s not going well with me and impersonations,” he admitted. “That shit is a whole ’nother sport.”
He also dished a bit more on Trump’s ill-fated 2016 hosting gig. Previously, Davidson shared a tale of Trump faking a phone call at the table read. Here, he admits it “wasn’t the most fun week ever.”
“He doesn’t get jokes. He doesn’t get tone. He doesn’t get punch lines. He’ll say words differently. He’s just a dweeb,” Davidson said. “Dude, any president that is taking pictures of himself on a private plane eating Kentucky Fried Chicken is a fucking psycho. What are you? A fucking Kardashian?”
Head here for the full profile, which finds the comedian reflecting on his troubled upbringing, mental health, and his relationship with Grande, who he describes as the “fucking coolest, hottest, nicest person I’ve ever met.” Seriously, we think those kids are gonna make it.