Pete Davidson Reveals Why He 'Teared Up' Watching HisSaturday Night LiveAudition 11 Years Later

Mar. 15, 2025

Pete Davidson during an interview with host Seth Meyers on February 6, 2025.Photo:Lloyd Bishop/NBC via Getty

Lloyd Bishop/NBC via Getty

Pete Davidsonwas more emotional than he anticipated looking back on hisSaturday Night Liveaudition.

The 31-year-old comedian was only 20 years old when he auditioned for the late-night sketch comedy show, and during a Feb. 6 interview onLate Night with Seth Meyers, Davidson revealed what it was like to watch his audition back.

He was “forced” to watch it for Peacock’sSNL50: Beyond Saturday Nightdocuseries, and he admitted, “I teared up a little bit because, you know, I’m like 20 there, so it’s before all the bad stuff happened.”

When the audience cooed at that, Davidson said the quip was “supposed to be a joke,” but he laughed anyway.

Pete Davidson during his SNL audition.Late Night with Seth Meyers/Youtube

Late Night with Seth Meyers/Youtube

In the docuseries, Davidson said it was “wild to see the hope in [his] eye” after he watched his audition back.

“Two times in six minutes someone went, ‘Ha!’ and I was like, ‘That was terrible, there’s no way I’m getting it,'” he recalled of the response to his audition.

He’d been debating in the lead-up whether to do “impressions or stand up,” he said. “And then I called my buddy and I was like, ‘Should I do impressions?’ He’s like, ‘Can you?’ I was like, ‘No.’ He’s like, ‘Well then you should do stand-up.'”

His nerves didn’t go away even after landing a role on the show in season 40. “After my first year I actually called for a meeting withLorne [Michaels]and I was like, ‘Please fire me,' and he’s like, ‘Why?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t belong here. Everybody’s so talented and they don’t want to be my friend.'”

Describing himself as a “child,” Davidson revealed what Michaels' response was: “He said, ‘You don’t figure it out ‘til your third or fourth year… It’s just gonna suck for three or four years.’ And he was right.”

Pete Davidson on ‘Late Night with Seth Meyers’ on February 6, 2025.Lloyd Bishop/NBC via Getty

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“I appreciateSNLalways having my back and allowing me to work on myself and grow,” he said during Weekend Update on his final episode. “Thank you to Lorne for never giving up on me or judging me even when everyone else was and for believing in me and allowing me to have a place that I could call home with memories that will last a lifetime.”

source: people.com