The Adventures of Pete Davidson

He’s one of SNL’s youngest cast members ever—and his DGAF comedy has turned him into a star we can’t look away from.

Pete Davidson says fame hasn't changed his style. While perusing racks of designer clothes at our shoot in a warehouse studio in Long Island City, the 24-year-old Saturday Night Live comedian zeroes in on the one item of clothing he would like to wear: pastel purple parachute pants. The swishy $280 Acne Studios warm-ups have a drawstring waist and zippers at the ankles, and they are the easiest decision Davidson will make all day. For one, they fit his lanky six-foot-three frame perfectly. ("I look like a praying mantis," he says.) And for two, they look cool. "I dress how I dressed when I was, like, 10," he explains. "I'm like, 'What would be cool? Purple pants.’ ”

Shirt, $90, by Wu Wear at Barneys New York / Pants, $1,500, by Gucci / Sunglasses, $665, by Mr. Leight / Watch, his own

Since making his SNL debut in 2014, as one of the youngest cast members ever at age 20, Davidson has charmed audiences with this direct, shoulder-shrugging brand of comedy. He often appears as himself on "Weekend Update," where he jokes about his personal life. As the "Resident Young Person," he talks about weed, obviously, and sex. ("If you don't go down on a guy for a million dollars, you obviously don't care about your family," he said, straight-faced, during a bit on his very first episode.) But he also mines the darker elements of his life in his stand-up. His dad, a New York City firefighter, died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and Davidson often references the tragedy in blunt terms. On Comedy Central's roast of Justin Bieber in 2015, he turned to the troubled pop star and said, "I lost my dad on 9/11, and I always regretted growing up without a dad. Until I met your dad, Justin. Now I'm glad mine's dead."

SNL boss Lorne Michaels says the response to Davidson's personal performances on "Weekend Update" has been "overwhelmingly positive."

"He has enormous charm on camera and audiences connect to him, and there's an honesty to him," Michaels says. "I think the audience that he's talking to kind of relies on him." When Davidson first auditioned for the show, Michaels thought he was too young, but "we've certainly made it work, and as we tend to say, I think he's the real thing."


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Despite how beloved Davidson has become on SNL and in the stand-up community, he still doesn't see himself as a star. It's "mortifying" for him to do a photo shoot like this, all the posing and talking about himself. "It's all bullshit. GQ wouldn't hit me up if I didn't recently get engaged to a super-famous person," he says, settling into an oversize black leather couch at the studio with a plate of catered pasta salad. "Nobody gives a shit, you know what I mean?"

He's referring to his new fiancée, the intergalactically famous pop star Ariana Grande. According to the tabloids, Davidson presented Grande, 25, with a $93,000 pear-shaped diamond in June, after just a few weeks of dating. According to Davidson, it happened even quicker than that. "The day I met her, I was like, 'Hey, I'll marry you tomorrow,' " he says, grinning. "She was calling my bluff. I sent her a picture [of engagement rings]. I was like, 'Do you like any of these?' She was like, 'Those are my favorite ones,' and I was like, 'Sick.' "

Vest, $360, by Polo Ralph Lauren / Turtleneck, $170, by Jil Sander / Sweatpants, $140, by Wu Wear at Barneys New York / Sneakers, $190, by Nike at KITH

Cardigan, $795, by Simon Miller / Sweater, $300, by Acne Studios / Watch, $315, by Seiko

Turtleneck, $170, by Jil Sander / Vest, $368, by Polo Ralph Lauren / Sweatpants, $140, by Wu Wear at Barney's New York / Sneakers, $190, by Nike at KITH

Coat, $2,900, by Salvatore Ferragamo / Jersey, $165, by Rapha / Pants, $258, by Palace Skateboards / Sneakers, from left, $190 (for pair) and $170 (for pair), both by Nike at KITH /

Suddenly, Davidson became one half of the most talked-about millennial couple in America. Paparazzi trail him and Grande everywhere they go in New York City, and the tabloids report breathlessly on each moment they're spotted together. Davidson seems to think this is happening just because Grande is a "super-famous person." He's correct in that she introduced him to a wider audience, but we'd argue that his lovably bizarre antics are what have propelled the couple to public-obsession territory. Instead of hiding from the press, Davidson waltzes down the street wearing neo-goth surgical masks, flipping the bird. ("My friends think I've gone crazy," he says of the masks.) When Jimmy Fallon asked him about Grande on his show in June, Davidson confirmed the engagement and replied, "It's fuckin' LIT, Jimmy!"

His easy, unbothered confidence inspired Twitter users to give it a very flattering name: Big Dick Energy. But still he insists that when the paparazzi camp outside his door, "they're not waiting for me."

Davidson and Grande recently moved into a Manhattan apartment that reportedly cost $16 million. She bought the place, Davidson says, and he stocks the fridge. "She's really sweet. She's like, 'This is our house,' and I'm like, 'You're very nice for saying that. Thank you for letting me stay here,' " he deadpans. "She's like, 'We're getting married!' And I'm like, 'I know, thank you for letting me stay here.' " They're still working on decorating it. "It's like, we have six beanbags, but we have no forks—you know what I mean?" he says, taking a massive bite of pasta salad. "We're learning how to be adults. We're having a really fun time."

As with all GQ fashion shoots, we started this one with a plan: a half-dozen looks, styled out on a rack, that we wanted Pete Davidson to try on and, hopefully, wear. But Davidson dresses with the swagger of a Staten Island dice roller. He's not the kind of guy who lays his outfits out the night before. So we ditched the rack and embarked on a sartorial Choose Your Own Adventure with the SNL comic that took us to all corners of a modern man's wardrobe—even the corner where he keeps his bright pink cycling jersey. Next time you don't know what to wear, borrow a few of these moves and a fraction of Davidson's boundless confidence and you'll be all set.
Coat, $1,990, by Burberry / Tank top, $40 (for pack of three), by Calvin Klein Underwear / Pants, $1,295, by Giorgio Armani / Sneakers, $450, by Adidas by Raf Simons at KITH / Hat, $100, Wu Wear at Barneys New York / Sunglasses, $665, by Mr. Leight / Necklace, his own


Davidson's close friend and SNL co-star Chris Redd says Davidson is "the happiest he's ever been" right now. "I'm surprised he even puts clothes on," he jokes. "If I was that happy, I wouldn't even wear clothes! I'd just walk around naked living my life all the time."

The only impediment to Davidson and Grande's domestic bliss is the level to which the tabloids have focused on it. It used to be that Davidson could keep up with what was written about him. "I gotta tell you, up until about two months ago, if someone wrote about me, I saw it," he says. "Nobody gave a shit two months ago, so anytime there was an article, I would obviously see it, because my mom would send it to me and be like, 'Yaaay!' "

Now, he can't look at anything anybody writes about him, because there's just too much of it. He's started driving aimlessly around the city late at night, just to get some privacy. He drives a Mercedes, but he "could give less of a shit about cars," he says. "As long as I can't die in it, I'm pretty for it."

Shirt, $650, by Lanvin / Tank top, $360, by Hermès / Pants, $228, by Michael Kors / Sneakers, $160, by Nike / Watch, $195, by Seiko

Shirt, $90, by Wu Wear at Barney's New York / Pants, $1,500, by Gucci / Sneakers, $190, by Nike at KITH / Watch, his own

He ponders his late-night drives and then turns to me to try out a bit. "I like those cars that'll guide you back onto the road," he says. "My car hugs me. The seats give me the hugs that I never got when I was little! When I make turns, the seat's like, 'I got you.' And I'm like, 'Finally, someone got me!' Thank you, Mercedes. That should be their commercial: 'Did you not have a father growing up? Drive around in circles with our new Mercedes-Benz, the car that hugs.' "

Soon Davidson will get to escape the city altogether: He's filming a new movie, Big Time Adolescence, in the decidedly less paparazzi-heavy Syracuse, New York. But until he and Grande officially tie the knot, they will face constant tabloid speculation about their wedding plans. So far, Davidson says, they don't really have any. The wedding, however, is "definitely going to happen, for sure."

As if on cue, Grande appears at the studio to pick him up. Looking like a fairy-tale woodland creature, with two pigtail buns on top of her head and exaggerated cat-eye makeup, she skips around in a cloud of sweet perfume, offering hugs to everyone on set. Then she greets Davidson by burying her head inside his Balenciaga T-shirt. "The universe works in weird ways," he says. "All I know is that I'm the luckiest guy in the world." He wears the purple pants right out of the studio.

Coat, $1,990, by Burberry / Tank top, $40 (for pack of three), by Calvin Klein Underwear / Pants, $1,295, by Giorgio Armani / Sneakers, $450, by Adidas by Raf Simons at KITH / Necklace, his own

Necklace, his own.

Allie Jones is a writer based in Brooklyn. This is her first story for GQ.

Styling by Jon Tietz / Grooming by Jessica Ortiz using Jack Black

This story originally appeared in the September 2018 issue with the title "Why Pete’s Got Heat."