Pete Davidson is back, and so is Saturday Night Live, with its 49th season. After the scriptwriters’ strike that took Hollywood in recent times, the show born in 1975, is back on American screens. Pete also returned to the show that made him famous, but this time as host.
At the beginning of the show, Davidson gave a touching introduction that touched on sensitive issues, framing comedy as a way to counteract the tragedy. In that vein, he mentioned the conflict in Palestine and Israel:
“This week we saw horrible images and stories from Israel and Gaza. And I know what you’re thinking, who better to comment on it than Pete Davidson (laughter)? Well, in many ways I’m a good person to talk about it because when I was seven years old, my father was killed in a terrorist attack. So, I know something about what that’s like.”
“This week, I saw so many terrible pictures of Israeli and Palestinian children suffering that took me to a really horrible, horrible place. No one in this world deserves to suffer, especially children. After my dad died, my mom did everything she could to cheer me up.
“I remember one day when I was eight, she got me what I thought was a Disney movie, but it was actually the Eddie Murphy special, ‘Delirious.’ We played it in the car on the way home and when she heard the things Eddie Murphy was saying, she tried to take it away. But then she noticed something, and for the first time in a long time, I laughed again.””I don’t get it. I really don’t. I never will. But sometimes comedy really is the only way out of tragedy. My heart goes out to all those whose lives have been destroyed this week. But tonight, I’m going to do what I’ve always done in the face of tragedy and that is try to be funny. Remember, I said try. And live from New York, it’s Saturday night.”
As we all know, Davidson continually resorts to self-pity to wring the best laughs out of his audience, the paradox of being a total “Idiot,” who, at the least expected moment, throws out the right words to transform absurdity into tenderness. And so it was in the sketch “It’s Just Pete” where he never tires of badmouthing himself, even calling himself “anus eyes.”
But the pepper in Davidson’s jokes obviously has to do with the fact that a goofball, anus eyes and all, is tremendously popular with the ladies, and let’s not forget that this has earned him a fierce feud with Kanye West, the ex-husband of his ex-girlfriend, Kim Kardashian.
Well, Pete didn’t miss the opportunity to use Kanye in one of his jokes, insinuating that mentioning his name was an illegal action. The above is undoubtedly the best gag of the sketch, especially for the face Pete makes when mentioning the Lord Voldemort of rap.
Without further ado, we leave you with the sketch so you can judge for yourselves if it is a good return of the famous SNL, or if they are recycling old jokes and trends that you did not manage to get on before, due to the strike.
@nbcsnl he’s just pete
This story was written in Spanish by Carmen Guerrero in Cultura Colectiva
