Pete Davidson

Davidson was born on November 16, 1993, on Staten Island, New York, the son of Amy (née Waters) and Scott Matthew Davidson.[2][6] His father was a New York City firefighter who died in service during the September 11 attacks.[7][8] He was last seen running up the stairs of the Marriott World Trade Center, just before it collapsed. His Requiem Mass was held at St. Clare's Roman Catholic Church in Great Kills, Staten Island.

Davidson, then 7 years old, was profoundly affected by the loss. He told The New York Times that it was "overwhelming" and that he later acted out in school as a result of the trauma. At one point, he ripped his hair out until he was bald.[9] In October 2016, Davidson revealed on The Breakfast Club morning radio show that he struggled with suicidal thoughts when he was younger and that the music of artist Kid Cudi saved his life.[10]

Davidson's father was predominantly of Jewish ancestry,[11] with some Italian. His mother is of Irish heritage and he has a younger sister named Casey.[12][13] Both were raised as Catholics.[9][14] His mother works as the school nurse at Xaverian High School in Brooklyn.

Davidson attended St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School, then Tottenville High School before transferring to Brooklyn's Xaverian High School, where he graduated in 2011. Following high school, he enrolled at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights.[6] After one semester, Davidson dropped out to work on his career in comedy.[5][15]

Davidson first tried stand-up comedy at age 16 in a Staten Island bowling alley, where a group of friends, knowing of his comedy aspirations, dared him to take to the stage. He did so, however, only after smoking marijuana.[16]

Davidson has been candid about his smoking of marijuana. He explained, "I can perform when I'm not high, but it wouldn't be that much fun for me."[17]

Davidson's earliest onscreen appearance was in the third episode of the MTV comedy series Failosophy, which premiered February 28, 2013.[18] The following month, he appeared in "PDA and Moms," a third-season episode of the MTV2 reality TV comedy series Guy Code, the first of four episodes in which he was featured.[3] That June, his first televised standup aired as part of a second-season episode of the Comedy Central program Gotham Comedy Live, which showcases standup comedians at the Gotham Comedy Club in New York City. The following month, he returned to MTV2 with an appearance on Nick Cannon Presents: Wild 'N Out, his first of six appearances on that show.

Davidson in 2013

Davidson subsequently made standup appearances on television and appeared in Brooklyn Nine-Nine.[19] In 2014, he acquired a role in a Fox comedy pilot, Sober Companion,[20] but it ultimately did not make it to series.[21]

Davidson joined the cast of Saturday Night Live with the show's 40th-season premiere, which debuted on September 27, 2014. At age 20, he was the first SNL cast member to be born in the 1990s and one of the youngest cast members ever.[15][22] The first new addition to the cast that season,[5] Davidson was given a chance to audition for the show through regular Bill Hader, whom he had met while filming a small part in the 2015 Judd Apatow feature film comedy Trainwreck.[23] Hader subsequently told producer Lorne Michaels about him. His debut garnered positive critical notice,[23][24] with his most noted skits during the season including an Indiana Jones-style sketch in which he and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, after being pelted with poison darts, were forced to mutually suck poison out of each other's various body parts,[16][25] an endeavor that eventually found them entangled in the "69" position.[26] Another involved Davidson being shot in the chest with an arrow by Norman Reedus.[16]

In March 2015, Davidson was a roaster on the Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber, and his set was praised as one of the best of the show.[27] Among his bolder jokes was one at the expense of fellow roaster Snoop Dogg, host Kevin Hart, and their 2004 film Soul Plane. Davidson, whose firefighter father died responding to the September 11 attacks, called that film "the worst experience of my life involving a plane."[16]

In 2016, Davidson was on the Forbes 30 under 30 list.[28] In April of that year, Comedy Central filmed Davidson's first stand-up special Pete Davidson: SMD, in New York City.[29]

In January 2019, it was announced that Davidson would be touring with John Mulaney in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts for a limited series of comedy shows titled, "Sundays with Pete & John." Mulaney and Davidson have become close appearing together on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Saturday Night Live.[30] That May, after the 44th-season finale of SNL, Travis M. Andrews of The Washington Post credited Davidson with being the most memorable performer that season and its breakout star, which Andrews attributed to Davidson's mining of his personal struggles and his admission of his comedic missteps, which Andrews felt gave the season a mixture of comedy and pathos.[31]

Davidson collaborated with Machine Gun Kelly to write the sketch, "A Message from the Count" for Kelly's album Hotel Diablo.

In 2019 he starred in Jason Orley's Big Time Adolescence, and had supporting roles in Adam Shankman's What Men Want, Jeff Tremaine's The Dirt, Thurop Van Orman's The Angry Birds Movie 2, and John Turturro's The Big Lebowski spin-off The Jesus Rolls.

In February 2020, Davidson released his stand up special Alive from New York on Netflix.[32]

In May 2020, The King of Staten Island was released, which Davidson both starred in and co-wrote with Judd Apatow, who also directed.

Davidson has been praised for basing his comedy on his own life and employing aspects of his life that have been likened to "a series of brutal truths and vulgar confessions," which make him relatable to audiences. He touches upon topics such as marijuana, sex, and relationships. He talks about incidents from his awkward high school experiences to living in a dormitory during his brief stint at St. Francis College.[15] Davidson jokes about highly sensitive subjects, including the loss of his father during the September 11 attacks. He says he finds that it empowers him to address the feeling of powerlessness that experiencing such tragedy at a young age inflicted upon him.[9] He is a fan of the Harry Potter franchise and has incorporated that material into his comedy work as well.[15][23]

In October 2015, Davidson lived in Brooklyn Heights, New York.[9] As of April 2019, he lives in Staten Island, New York, with his mother in a home they purchased together.[50][51][52] His father, Scott Matthew Davidson, was a firefighter and first-responder who died as a result of the September 11 attacks. Davidson has his father's badge number, 8418, tattooed on his left arm.[9]

Davidson supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and on December 5, 2017, he stated on his Instagram account that he got a tattoo on his leg of Clinton, whom he called his "hero", a "badass", and "one of the strongest people in the universe." Clinton herself thanked Davidson for the compliment, joking, "This makes it significantly less awkward that I've had a Pete Davidson tattoo for years."[53] He supported Joe Biden in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.[54]

By August 2018, Davidson had over 40 tattoos on his arms, legs, chest, hands, and neck.[55]

He was diagnosed with Crohn's disease at age 17 or 18,[17] for which he receives intravenous treatment,[9] and uses medical marijuana for pain management and recreationally.[17] On March 6, 2017, Davidson announced on his Instagram account that he had quit drugs and was sober for the first time in eight years.[10] During an interview on comedian Marc Maron's podcast, Davidson clarified that the only drug he used was marijuana and, while he has since cut back on its use considerably, the personal and emotional problems he initially assumed were the result of his daily marijuana use were actually caused by his newly diagnosed borderline personality disorder, for which he has since been undergoing treatment.[56][57]

On Saturday, December 15, 2018, Davidson shared a candid Instagram post in which he expressed thoughts of suicide, before deleting his account on the social media platform entirely.[58] Concern from his friends, internet users and Ariana Grande, his former fiancé - their engagement having just been called off in October 2018 - resulted in the New York Police Department conducting a wellness check on Davidson, who was found safe at the Saturday Night Live studios.[59]

Davidson only appeared live once on that night's episode, when he introduced the musical performance by Miley Cyrus, Mark Ronson and Sean Lennon.[60] Davidson returned to SNL after the annual holiday hiatus and was in the first episode for 2019 on January 19. He appeared on the Weekend Update segment alongside comedian and former SNL writer John Mulaney where they made a reference to his Instagram post.[61]

• List of people diagnosed with Crohn's disease

• Pete Davidson at IMDb