The Saturday Night Live funny-man spoke to the New York Magazine about his pay on the show
You’d think that, being the biggest television series in the United States, Saturday Night Live stars would bag a pretty penny for their stints on-screen.
Apparently, however, according to much-loved funny-man Pete Davidson, the cast get paid considerably less than you might think, to such an extent that he’s often been left disappointed by the value written on his pay cheque.
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Pete was first hired for the NBC series in 2014 (Will Heath/NBC via Getty Images)
Pete was hired by NBC to appear on the meme-worthy sketch show back in 2014 aged just 20, after having previously worked on comedy series like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Guy Code, and Wild ‘n Out.
In the eight years that followed, his level of fame would skyrocket, with several of his characters – specifically, laid-back pool boy Chad – becoming firm favourites with fans.
His time on the show also earned him a handful of viral moments, including he and Timothee Chalamet’s Rap Roundtable performance of ‘Yeet Yeet Skirt’, and his comedic rendition of ‘I’m Just Pete’, which served as a parody of Ryan Gosling’s already-hilarious Barbie number.
The huge-name stars that Pete dated publicly during his rise to fame pay have also paid a part in his colossal success.
In 2018, he and then-fiancé Ariana Grande hosted the show together, and in 2023, he and then-girlfriend Kim Kardashian performed an Aladdin-style sketch together, where they were seen locking lips on a magical carpet ride.
Davidson is one of the cast’s most successful stars (Rosalind O’Connor/NBC via Getty Images)
Despite taking a partial step back from the series in 2022 to take on other professional projects, Pete, now 31, is still widely considered one of SNL’s most successful castmates.
You can only imagine the shock from fans, therefore, when, speaking to press earlier this week, he alleged that he didn’t receive particularly impressive payments for the on-screen gig.
In a video round-up for New York magazine, he and his colleagues were each asked what their ‘biggest splurge’ was when they received their first pay cheque.
Repeating the question firstly, Pete revealed: “Do you guys know what they pay us? It’s, like, three grand an episode.”
As if to imply that this was some sort of small amount per episode, he jokingly added: “I think I got dinner.”
Being that each annual series of SNL tends to be around 18 to 22 episodes long, by Pete’s estimation, a cast member that appears in every single episode will bring home somewhere between $54,000 and $66,000 per year.
Several cast-mated were asked about their pay (Rosalind O’Connor/NBC via Getty Images)
And that’s on top of their other projects – not a bad wage, I’d say.
In the now-viral video, several other cast members went on to reveal what they’d purchased after first getting paid.
James Austin Johnson claimed he’d bought ‘the most uncomfortable West Elm couch of all time’ – adding ‘it’s, like, made of bricks’ – while Julia Louis-Dreyfus revealed she ‘bought a pair of shoes that were out of [her] budget’.Featured Image Credit: Dia Dipasupil/WireImage/NBC
Topics: Celebrity, Entertainment, Money, TV And Film, US News, Pete Davidson
Rhianna Benson
Updated 15:24 5 Dec 2024 GMTPublished 17:28 4 Dec 2024 GMT
Pete Davidson had brutal response after Ariana Grande revealed how big his manhood is
The US couple briefly got engaged in 2018 before splitting up months later
With Ariana Grande’s name once again in global headlines following the cinematic release of Wicked, fans of the singer/actress are being reminded of a comment she made in 2018 about ex-fiancé Pete Davidson’s nether-regions.
Saturday Night Live star Pete’s response to the remark also went viral in the weeks that followed – after the pair made the decision to call off their engagement.
Let’s remind ourselves of the X-rated carnage…
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A comment Ariana Grande made about Pete Davidson when they were dating has resurfaced (Bruce Glikas / Contributor)
The celebrity power couple went public with their romance earlier that year, with a totally starstruck Ariana, then 29, even going as far as to title a song from her Sweetener album after Pete.
Yep, literally. The song was called ‘Pete Davidson‘. Each to their own, I guess?
“He’s my fiancé,” she defended herself at the time. “This is my album. I’m an honest and emotional artist and human being and if my openness in my work isn’t for you, that’s OK.”
Their romance was plagued with several other viral moments – including when Pete got a tattoo of a bunny mask on his neck, an ode to Ariana’s Dangerous Woman album cover.
In turn, Ariana had the numbers ‘8418’ inked onto her foot – the badge number of Pete’s firefighter father, who died during the 9/11 attacks.
Pete was also understood to have dropped a staggering $94k on her engagement ring after just a few weeks of dating, later telling talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, ‘I feel like I won a contest, so sick’.
The couple dated in 2018 (Gotham/GC Images)
And who said romance was dead?
Another viral moment from their time together saw Ariana issue an unexpectedly explicit comment about her and Pete’s sex life.
The former Victorious star had been asked by a fan on Twitter (now X) ‘How long is Pete’ – in reference to the length of the track she’d dedicated to him.
Seemingly having noticed her mistake, the fan then quickly send a follow-up writing, emphasising: “OH AS IN THE INTERLUDE NOT AS IN….. ANYWAY.”
The ‘Side to Side’ singer then hilariously replied: “Like 10 inches? …. Oh f**k …. I mean … like a lil over a minute.”
And even though the couple’s relationship wasn’t to last much longer following the sensational internet moment, Pete’s response to the remark would go down in history as pretty downright iconic.
“I don’t like that she talked all that sh*t for my penis,” he said in his 2020 Netflix special, Alive from New York, before apparently referencing Ariana’s height of five-feet-three-inches.
“Everything is huge to her,” he added. “Why would she tell everyone that I have a huge penis? So that every girl who sees my d**k for the rest of my life is disappointed.”
Pete issued a pretty iconic response (Will Heath/NBC via Getty Images)
Even though their romance came to an end – with the pair calling off their engagement following the tragic passing of Ariana’s ex, Mac Miller – the rumour mill has been obsessed with the size of Pete’s penis ever since.
Years later, reality TV star Kim Kardashian added more fuel to the fire when she boasted about his so called ‘BDE’ (or big d**k energy) during their relationship.
The SKIMS founder, 42, gushed about Pete’s manhood and all the rumours surrounding it during an episode of The Kardashians when discussing how they met – and let’s just say it was lust at first sight.
“I wasn’t even thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’m gonna be in a relationship with him.’ I was just thinking like, ‘Heard about this BDE, need to get out there’,” she shared.
I mean, there are worse reputations to have, Pete…Featured Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Neil Mockford/WireImage
