Pete Davidson to Skip Saturday Night Live? Scoop Inside

Comedian and actor Pete Davidson has been an inevitable part of ‘Saturday Night Live’ but, looks like that situation is going to change as it is reported that the star won’t be live on the show from New York due to his other work commitments. With Davidson, this is the latest member of the NBC show who has taken a leave of absence from the show due to other projects. This is part of a recent overhaul by executive producer Lorne Michaels.

The cast member has been cleared to work on the production of ‘The Home’, the Miramax horror movie being directed by James DeMonaco, according to two people familiar with the matter, reports variety.com. A spokesperson for the show could not be reached for immediate comment. Cast and crew just completed the show’s regular dress rehearsal in Studio 8H in NBC’s New York headquarters, part of the series’ much-followed broadcast ritual.

In decades past, cast members kept close to the show in most instances. Since last season, however, Michaels has granted the cast, several of whom have been with him for multiple cycles, new leeway to tackle other pursuits — many of them under the aegis of his Broadway Video production company.

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Cecily Strong, for example, was given leave last season to take part in Apple’s ‘Schmigadoon’, while Aidy Bryant was able to take some weeks to help finish a new cycle of ‘Shrill’, both produced under Michaels’ auspices. Kate McKinnon was absent for most of the first half of the current season of SNL to take part in a movie but has since returned. Strong also recently appeared in an off-Broadway revival of “The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe”, a one-person show originally built around Lily Tomlin.

Pete Davidson is one of the most scrutinised members of the current ‘SNL’ cast. Since joining ‘SNL’ in 2014 he has developed his range on the show, moving from appearances on ‘Weekend Update’ to doing multiple taped sketches and playing figures like former New York governor Andrew Cuomo.

As more TV viewers migrate to streaming services to watch their favourite scripted dramas and comedies on demand, ‘SNL’ has taken on new importance for NBC. Once relegated to airing after the late local news in a time slot network executives didn’t consider paramount, the programme now runs live across the U.S. all at once, meaning that it runs in primetime in certain parts of the country. The show in the 2020-2021 season was the most-watched entertainment program on TV among viewers between 18 and 49, the demographic most preferred by advertisers.

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In ‘The Home’, Pete Davidson plays Max, a troubled worker at a retirement home who discovers terrible secrets about the facility. Production on the movie was scheduled to start in January. DeMonaco was also director of ‘The Purge’. This week’s broadcast is expected to be hosted by comedian John Mulaney, marking his fifth turn in that role since 2018. Mulaney was a writer at the show for four seasons.

You can watch the show now on Hulu.

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