Pete Davidson teases SNL departure, says the show treats him like a "big dumb idiot"

Saturday Night Live better be careful, because it might not have big dumb idiot Pete Davidson to make fun of for much longer. Speaking with Charlamagne Tha God on YouTube (via Entertainment Weekly), Davidson noted that he’s been having “conversations with people” about how to know when it’s the right time to leave SNL, and he says now might be the right time (at least partially) because of how much they make fun of him on the show. He explains that he’s happy to be on the show and he’s grateful for what Lorne Michaels has done for him, but it sounds like he thinks he may have reached the limits of what he can do and what he’s willing to do.

“I have a weird feeling in that building where I don’t know whose team they’re playing for really,” he says, “If I’m the joke or I’m in on the joke.” He admits that he’s very self-deprecating when he shows up on Weekend Update, but also he doesn’t really have a choice because everyone else treats him like “this big dumb idiot” anyway. Charlamagne suggests in the interview that Davidson has just “outgrown” the show, which is certainly one theory, but you could also argue that Davidson’s real issue is that the show is lazily bringing up the same tired jokes over and over again—but enough about Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump impression. (Zing!)

Elsewhere in the chat, Davidson talks about this extremely secret stand-up act, which we talked about back in December when stories about his $1 million NDAs leaked out. Davidson tells Charlamagne that it wasn’t really as annoyingly self-important as it seemed (our words, not his), but he just didn’t want to ruin shows for future audiences or viewers of his Netflix special by letting the public hear jokes that weren’t quite finished yet. Of course, the NDA was only partially about posting his jokes online, as it also included a clause that barred people from offering “any opinions or critiques” on his set, but whatever.