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Pete Davidson’s Best Sci-fi 'Saturday Night Live' Sketches - Just in Time For His New Peacock Series Bupkis
Get your Pete Davidson fix with these sci-fi SNL sketches, and his new Peacock show Bupkis, until the writers' strike is over.
The current Hollywood writers' strike led to the cancellation of this weekend's Saturday Night Live, where Pete Davidson was set to make his hosting debut. But thankfully, there are plenty of sketches from Davidson's eight-season run as a cast member on the show to hold us over.
With his new TV series Bupkis now available on Peacock, which is partially based on his life, we've rounded up some of Davidson's best sci-fi sketches from his time on SNL. They range from raps about Game of Thrones (or not), to being hailed as a hero by Elon Musk while on a Mars mission, and even a starring role in a film based on a YA dystopian novel. So, sit back and get your fix of Davidson with these clips and his new Peacock series until SNL and its writers are up and running again.
Chad goes to Mars
Chad is probably the most famous character Davidson played on SNL, where he portrayed the apathetic, goofy young guy across multiple episodes over the years. When Elon Musk hosted the sketch comedy show in 2021, Chad got the chance to play out the role of a hero on Mars. The sketch begins with Musk entering a tense situation at SpaceX headquarters. "I came as soon as I could," Musk says. "What's the situation on Mars? He's told that a solar storm has caused damage to the colony on the planet and that life support systems are down and the people there are running out of air with oxygen levels dropping. Musk explains that there's a backup O2 circulator outside the habitat that just needs to be turned on.
Chad volunteers for the mission, even though he's guaranteed to die since the radiation levels outside the habitat are too high. When he's told he'll surely die, he gives the signature Chad response of, "OK!" Musk explains, "To save your fellow colonists, you'll have to make the ultimate sacrifice." Chad's only reply is a Beavis and Butt-Head-style laugh, as he says the word "sack." Miley Cyrus, playing an astronaut, pours her heart out to Chad before he sets out on his mission, telling him he's the father of her unborn child. "No thank you," he says, taking the news as his cue to exit. Chad manages to restore the oxygen levels — but then quickly dies when he decides to remove his space helmet.
Pete Davidson attempts to rap about Game of Thrones
You know nothing, Pete Davidson. Game of Thrones remains HBO’s most-watched series ever, but that doesn’t mean everyone has seen it. And that includes Davidson. When the epic fantasy series wrapped in May of 2019, Davidson attempted to say goodbye with a tribute rap. But things took a turn.
“Game of Thrones, eight seasons, can’t believe it’s coming to an end,” he begins. “It’s like my favorite-ist show ever.” Kenan Thompson then shows up and says that he didn’t know his fellow cast member liked the show, since he’s never mentioned it before. “I don’t really like to talk about my personal life, man,” Davidson responds, raising eyebrows. Jacob Anderson, the actor who played Grey Worm on GoT, then shows up and he and Thompson call Davidson out for clearly never having seen the series. Davidson then proceeds to rap out what he claims is his actual favorite show: the Netflix comedy Grace and Frankie, which starred Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. DJ Khaled and Paul Rudd then also make cameos to rap about their favorite show: yup, Grace and Frankie.
David Harbour finds Pete Davidson in the Upside Down
When Davidson missed the first two episodes of SNL's 45th season due to work on other projects, host David Harbour helped track him down in the third episode. Harbour, who plays Jim Hopper on Stranger Things, stepped away from his opening monologue for a walk around the studio and came across a portal to the Upside Down, the creepy alternate dimension that's the cause of most of the drama on the Netflix sci-fi horror show.
After entering the Upside Down, he finds Aidy Bryant trapped in there and mistakes her for Barb, the character who vanished and was killed by the Demogorgon in Season 1. He then runs into Beck Bennett, who starts to tell a long, boring story about how he got his start in high school theater before being dragged away by a Demogorgon. Harbour eventually discovers a long-lost SNL player. "No, it can't be! Pete Davidson!," Harbour says. "Is this where you've been? In the Upside Down?" Davidson doesn't seem to mind it. "Yeah, dude, it's lit, right?," he says. Harbour invites him back to the SNL set to do the show with him. "Uhhh, maybe," Davidson said. Harbour gives up and walks away, finding SNL creator Lorne Michaels working a page. Stranger things have happened.
The Group Hopper
In a 2014 parody of dystopian YA novels and films that mocks projects like The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Giver, Davidson finds himself the unlikely hero in a film called The Group Hopper. People are sorted into different groups in the post-apocalyptic world, but Davidson finds he can jump between groups. The voice-over in the trailer for the film boasts that The Group Hopper is "adapted from a YA novel written entirely in the comments section of a Hunger Games trailer."
Davidson meets someone who explains to him that people are sorted into groups like "the emotionals, the foodies, the Hasidics and Gryffindor." He responds, "When I grow up, I want to be a freelander." He discovers that a necklace he finds himself wearing is a "zoomerang" that can be used to hurl at an enemy animal and he's eventually celebrated by his peers. "Meet The Group Hopper," the voice-over says. "Put him in a group — and he'll hop his ass right out."
Zombie Apocalypse High School
As we've learned from The Walking Dead and The Last of Us, it's tough when loved ones turn into zombies and not easy to accept that it's happened. That's also the case in this 2014 high-school set sketch starring Jim Carrey. The actor and comedian plays a dad during a zombie apocalypse who seems to have been bit, but is denying it. He tells four students hiding out at the local high school that his son went to school with them, and then brings him out.
The son, played by Davidson, is held away at the other end of a pole from Carrey, who beats him with a bat when he growls. Kenan Thompson points out that their former classmate is now a zombie, but the dad refuses to acknowledge it, saying that he's suffering from a classic case of ADHD. Carrey must ultimately choose between taking shelter at the school and admitting his son's a zombie, or being turned away. So, he makes his choice, then goes in for one last hug with his son, and we all know how that ends.
Watch Pete Davidson's new series, Bupkis, now streaming on Peacock.
