Was Saturday Night Live's "Riverdale" sketch the best we've seen from Pete Davidson? Usually SNL shows Davidson breaking character in the background, cracking jokes at Weekend Update, or doing his "okay" thing as Chad. But this sketch from the February 10 episode actually showcased Davidson 1) fully committing to a role, 2) not breaking character, and 3) creating a unique new character in corpse actor Lionel Rogers. He even did an accent. Check it out:
I'm not always down with Pete Davidson, and I don't think it's cute when he laughs through SNL sketches. But props to him for this.
When you see a sketch about The CW show Riverdale, you might naturally think it'll focus on Jughead (Beck Bennett) or Betty (host/musical guest Halsey) but instead the focus took a bizarre left turn to be all about the actor on set playing the corpse.
The scene was set at a morgue, with Betty meant to identify her cousin's body. But the corpse kept making noises and movements in the background, ruining each take.
The role gave Pete Davidson a chance to speak earnestly -- with a grandiose accent -- about corpse gases, "groans," "toots," and other realistic details in playing a fresh dead body. It went on for almost 4 minutes of insanity. He owned the whole thing. It wasn't quite on the level of Adam Driver's "Career Day" sketch, but it seemed to aim for that level of commitment. (He did play Adam Driver's son in that sketch, so maybe he learned from his dad.)
Pete Davidson has dominated headlines recently for his personal life, but this shows that he can do other things if given a role he's willing to crush.
Most recently, Pete Davidson reviewed The Mule with John Mulaney on SNL, making a brief reference to his own Instagram post suggesting he was suicidal. Before that, he made headlines for his Dan Crenshaw insults, and later Crenshaw got some revenge. Around all of that, he was in pop culture headlines for dating, getting engaged to, and then breaking up with Ariana Grande. That got pretty ugly. Now, he appears to be dating Kate Beckinsale, which is just an unseemly amount of good luck for one person.
If Pete Davidson is dating Kate Beckinsale, maybe she's giving him some acting tips. Whatever the case, he had a great showcase with that "Riverdale" sketch -- words I never expected to pass through my mind. More of that, please.
Saturday Night Live Season 44 is continuing with Don Cheadle as host and Gary Clark Jr. as musical guest this Saturday, February 16 on NBC. Meanwhile, Riverdale Season 3 will continue February 27 on The CW. Find out what else is on TV with our midseason 2019 schedule.
