The lead-up to Pete Davidson’s return to Saturday Night Live on Saturday, May 6, will be practically a vacation for the long-running NBC series’ cast and crew, according to veteran SNL star Kenan Thompson.
Davidson is set to return to Studio 8H on May 6 as host, with rapper Lil Uzi Vert joining the show as musical guest.
And at the New York City premiere of Bupkis, Davidson’s new Peacock series, on Thursday, April 27, Thompson told Entertainment Tonight that he’s glad when an SNL alum returns to host the sketch-comedy show.
“It’s like a week off for us, because they know how to do the show … so we don’t have to hand walk them through every single part of it,” he explained. “And, you know, Usually they come with ideas too, so, like, a quarter of the show is almost already done. You know, it’s just a fun, easy week for us.”
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Thompson, being a “classics fan,” said he would “fill the [May 6] show up with all of [Davidson’s] old characters,” citing the simple-minded, always-agreeable pool boy Chad as an example.
“But it’s also fun to explore the new,” he added.
Davidson joined SNL as a featured player in 2014 when he was just 20 years old, and he got bumped up to repertory status in 2016. He left SNL in 2022, bidding his colleagues a fond farewell on Instagram at the time.
“I got to share so much with this audience and literally grow up in front of your eyes,” he wrote in that goodbye post. “We were together through the good and the bad, the happiest and the darkest of times. I owe [producer] Lorne Michaels and everyone at SNL my life. I’m so grateful, and I wouldn’t be here without them. … SNL is my home.”