THE
VOLUME 90 | ISSUE XVIII
ANCHOR
© The Anchor 2017
MONDAY, MARCH 20, 2017
Honestly hilarious; a millennial’s brand of raw humor
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Gianna Rocchio Anchor Editor
I’m never getting invited back to this college,” Pete Davidson, youngest Saturday Night Live actor, said repeatedly last Thursday night, the howling laughter of the crowd seemed to tell a different story. The very uncensored comedy of Davidson clearly resonated with the whooping, giggling audience at Rhode Island College. At 23 years old, Saturday Night Live’s “resident young person,” Pete Davidson knew how to tune into his crowd, hilariously acknowledging if one of his jokes bombed, a trait that only seemed to delight the audience more. The Anchor, along with Anchor TV and 90.7 WXIN, had the chance to chat with Davidson before his set. Not too far from his stage presence, Davidson was honest, goofy and humble to a fault.
Welcoming us into his dressing room, Davidson pulled up some stools and introduced us to his friends, who were his opening acts. Intrigued by the saran wrap and gauze going down the length of each of his arms, Davidson showed off the newest additions to his already well-inked arms. “Oh yeah,” he said, “I got seven tattoos today,” sounding like he had simply run some errands. What really got Davidson talking was when we started discussing music. He grew up listening to Kid Cudi and was influenced heavily by his music and the message he sends. Dealing with depression and anxiety, Davidson found solace in Cudi’s music. Kid
Cudi’s
recently
made public statements about dealing with severe depression and subsequently going to rehab, and Davidson spoke on how this affected him and if it influenced his recent lifestyle changes. Earlier this month, Davidson also publicly announced on social media that he “quit drugs and [was] happy and sober for the first time in eight years.”
This came as a shock tp many fans, considering his not-so-secret love for pot and alcohol. His standup routines often include material drawn from this high lifestyle, which he didn’t choose just for fun. Living with Crohn’s Disease, a chronic illness that affects your stomach and digestive system, since age 17, Davidson found that pot and drugs allowed him eat without pain and also relieved his stage fright when performing. But recently, he realized that he had traded the daily suffering of Crohn’s for another kind of pain-addiction.
honest. He discussed the cycle that became his life when substance abuse takes over, and how difficult it is to identify it. For people struggling with the possibility of addiction, he said you can never allow substance use rule your life, when drugs becomes something you so heavily rely on to get through your daily life, that’s where trouble begins.
For Davidson, the change in his own lifestyle has been well worth the time and money spent to get sober. He talked about the support he receives from his family, girlfriend and fans which
make him “a lucky man.”
When asked him how life is different now that he’s clean, and he knew his answer pretty quickly and ryely answered, “I’m fucking bored,” with a laugh. With his new-found boredom, he’s spending more time with his friends and reading the newspaper, a healthy exchange for a life free from addiction.
Though he is always appreciative and grateful for his success, Davidson is still getting used to his fame, he has accepted his small but present notoriety but he
doesn’t really understand it, he explained. “Look at me! If I can do it, so can you,” he told one student.
From the moment he asked the stagehands to bring up the house lights so he could see his crowd at the beginning of his set we knew we were in for an honest and hilarious night. After his show, Davidson kept saying, “I’m nobody,” to the crowd of student eager to take selfies with him but considering the various cardboard cutouts of him in the lobby and around campus, he probably was the biggest nobody on campus.
When asked about his choice to become clean, Davidson was timid but
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