NEW YORK — Comedian Pete Davidson kicked off the 49th season of “Saturday Night Live” with a sobering, poignant cold open that focused on the war in the Middle East between Israel and the Hamas militant group.
Davidson, 29, who appeared in the longtime show in 165 episodes from 2014 to 2022, returned to host the show on Saturday night, delivered a sobering and poignant view about the conflict, The New York Times reported.
“This week we saw the horrible images and stories from Israel and Gaza. And I know what you’re thinking: ‘Who better to comment on it than Pete Davidson,’” said Davidson, whose father, firefighter Scott Davidson, died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack at the World Trade Center in New York City. “Well, in a lot of ways, I am a good person to talk about it because when I was 7 years old, my dad was killed in a terrorist attack. So I know something about what that’s like.
“I saw so many terrible pictures this week of children suffering, Israeli children and Palestinian children. And it took me back to a really horrible, horrible place. No one in this world deserves to suffer like that, especially not kids.”
— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) October 15, 2023
Davidson spoke about the key role comedy played in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 tragedy, Entertainment Weekly reported. He added that the turning point came when his mother tried to cheer him up by purchasing what she believed was a Disney movie -- but instead, it was the raunchy Eddie Murphy standup special, “Delirious,” according to the Times.
“We played it in the car on the way home and when she heard the things that Eddie Murphy was saying, she tried to take it away,” Davidson said. “But then she noticed something, for the first time in a long time I was laughing again.
“I don’t understand it. I really don’t. I never will. But sometimes comedy is really the only way forward from tragedy.”
In the past, “SNL” has delayed the host’s monologue and replaced it with a serious cold open when events dictated a more somber mood, Entertainment Weekly reported.
Recent examples included the aftermath of the Route 91 Harvest shooting in Las Vegas in 2017 by Jason Aldean and in 2015 by “SNL” cast member Cecily Strong after the Paris terrorist attacks that left 129 people dead -- including 89 at the Bataclan music venue in the city, the entertainment news outlet reported.
“My heart is with everyone whose lives have been destroyed this week,” Davidson said Saturday. “But tonight, I’m going to do what I’ve always done in the face of tragedy, and that’s try to be funny.
“Remember, I said ‘Try.’”
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