How Jim Carrey Once Saved Pete Davidson on SNL

Pete Davidson’s SNL legacy includes plenty of standout moments, but his first real sketch wasn’t one of them. In fact, he says it was such a disaster that comedy legend and “Sonic the Hedgehog” franchise actor Jim Carrey had to step in with a NERF bat, literally, to try and salvage it.

While promoting his new film “The Pickup” co-starring Eddie Murphy, the 31-year-old comedian opened up during his appearance on “Hot Ones” this week. According to People, there he revisited the nerve-wracking moment from Season 40 of “Saturday Night Live”. That 2014 episode, hosted by Carrey with musical guest Iggy Azalea, featured a sketch called “Zombie Apocalypse High School,” which marked Davidson’s first major scene.

Pete Davidson Says Jim Carrey Tried Saving The Sketch With Prop Comedy

“My first real sketch, Jim Carrey was hosting. I was so excited because he’s Jim Carrey, one of the legends,” Davidson explained. “We wrote this sketch where it’s like a zombie apocalypse. I’m playing his zombie son, and he’s not a zombie.”

It didn’t go over as planned.

“The sketch bombed to high heavens,” Davidson admitted. “And it’s a long one, like it’s six minutes. I’m eating d***.”

The only thing that got a laugh? One brief moment when Carrey hit Davidson with a foam bat.

“Jim is a comic so he knows if that works… so the rest of the sketch he just keeps wailing on me with this NERF bat, and then it started to hurt,” Davidson recalled. “At one point, as a zombie, I went ‘Argh, no more.’”

Pete Davidson Reflects On The Cringe And His Return To “SNL”

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Despite the rough start, Davidson remained a regular cast member on “SNL” for eight seasons before leaving the show in 2022. He recently returned for the show’s 50th anniversary special earlier this year, reprising his beloved “Chad” character in a digital short with original cast member Laraine Newman.

Earlier this year, while promoting his horror film “The Home,” Davidson appeared on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and shared how emotional it was to look back on his audition for the Peacock docuseries “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night.”

“I teared up a little bit because, you know, I’m like 20 there, so it’s before all the bad stuff happened,” he said.

Since that early stumble, Pete Davidson has gone on to carve out a wildly successful career. He starred in and co-wrote the critically acclaimed film “The King of Staten Island,” led the coming-of-age comedy “Big Time Adolescence,” voiced the title character in the animated feature “Marmaduke,” and appeared in major studio projects like “Suicide Squad” and “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.” He also created and starred in the Peacock series “Bupkis,” and recently premiered his latest horror film, “The Home,” proving his range well beyond comedy.