Truth, they say, is stranger than fiction. Just look at Pete Davidson. The comic performer has one of the most interesting lives in showbiz. On SNL he mostly either talks about or plays versions of himself. He’s a sex magnet who’s dated everyone. He so enraged Kanye West (by dating his ex-wife) that the rapper made a deeply troubling video about him (that Davidson loved). It only makes sense for that life to become the stuff of fiction.
That’s one way of saying that he’s getting a comedy series where he plays a fictionalized version of himself. As per Deadline, SNL honcho Lorne Michaels is producing a show tentatively called Bupkis, about a Pete Davidson-like human played by Pete Davidson himself. It’s being compared to Curb Your Enthusiasm, but it also sounds quite a bit darker. Deadline says it’s been described as a “raw, unflinching, fictionalized version of Pete Davidson’s real life,” which will “include a mixture of grounded storytelling with absurd elements depicting an unfiltered view through Pete’s eyes.”
Davidson’s life, of course, isn’t always lighthearted. There’s tragedy amidst the comedy. His father, a firefighter, died in service during the September 11 attacks, when he was only seven. He’s struggled with mental illness. That pain has fueled his comedy, and his monologues often find him trying to find the humor in his sometimes difficult existence. He’s also played a fictionalized version of himself, in Judd Apatow’s The King of Staten Island. That said, how much more strange could a fictionalized version of Davidon’s life be when the real deal’s already bizarre But if anyone can find a way to make his life even weirder, it’s Pete Davidson.