Pete Davidson's Most Memorable SNL Moments Ranked

Season 47 of "Saturday Night Live" has ended, and so have the tenures of four of its brightest stars: Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney, Kate McKinnon, and Pete Davidson. Each of these talents brought something distinct to the series' quality and tone, and the producers face a formidable challenge in replacing them. But Davidson still manages to stand out as a completely unique performer. There just isn't anyone else quite like him, from his status as the youngest ever "Saturday Night Live" cast member to his frequent televised appearances as his actual self. Davidson's time on the legendary series was truly singular.

With his eight-season run finally up, now is the perfect time to look back at what Pete Davidson brought to "SNL." On any given Saturday night, Davidson might have played an innocent teen, a flashy rapper, an unfortunate cereal mascot, or something else entirely. His characters are unpredictable, which is one of the major reasons why fans fell in love with him. To honor this unpredictability and feel that love once more, we're ranking Pete Davidson's most memorable "SNL" moments from the solidly chuckle-worthy to the absolutely unforgettable.

Many of Pete Davidson's digital shorts and musical parodies see him perform alongside famous rappers. Heck, some of Davidson's best friends are famous rappers! One rap-centric performance stands above the rest, however: "Stu," Davidson's parody of Eminem's immortal stalker anthem, "Stan." Appearing on the rapper's 2000 album "The Marshall Mathers LP," "Stan" is a particularly dark track — which, for Eminem, is saying a lot. The song follows an obsessive fan as he sends a series of letters to Eminem that reveal his increasingly destructive behavior. Ultimately, things end in tragedy.

Davidson's "Stu" matches the original almost beat for beat, but substitutes Jason Bateman's Santa Claus for Eminem. Stu sends letter after letter to Santa, begging the jolly old soul for a PlayStation 5. He becomes more and more unhinged every day the console fails to arrive. A cameo from a fake Elton John and a very real Eminem make the short more than worthy of its millions of YouTube views.

One of Davidson's most valuable assets as an "SNL" performer is his ability to play a truly neutral straight man. Transformed into a totally blank slate, he helps more animated characters shine. Two especially impressive examples of this ability are his "Teacher Trial" sketches. Here, Davidson plays a high school student whose teachers — played by Cecily Strong in one sketch and Ronda Rousey in the other — are accused of having inappropriate relations with him.

Davidson is given a treasure trove of funny lines to deliver: The reveal that his classmates now refer to him as "Supercalifragilistic-this-be-such-a-dope-kid" is especially impressive. But he always keeps his tone and demeanor neutral, letting his castmates stand out. One such player is Kate McKinnon, who plays Davidson's furious mother, seemingly the only person in the world who truly objects to the teacher's actions. Strong similarly shines as a teacher unable to control her attraction towards the student, even in the face of legal repercussions. Given the subject matter, it's no surprise that the sketch didn't spawn more sequels. But it certainly gave Davidson two majorly memorable moments.

Pete Davidson's presence in the hip hop community is one of his most interesting strengths as a performer. Starring in a Machine Gun Kelly music video, for example, undoubtedly became a source of inspiration for sketches like "Rap Roundtable." Here, we see a talk show host played by Ego Nwodim moderate a panel of hip hop artists. This group includes Questlove, cast member Punkie Johnson as Queen Latifah, and a Gen-Z SoundCloud rap duo played by Davidson and host Timothée Chalamet.

Latifah and Questlove spend their portion of the panel eruditely discussing the social, political, and cultural impact of hip hop throughout history. However, Davidson and Chalamet's characters — Guaplord and $mokecheddathaassgetta, respectively — think hip hop is all centered around "yeet yeet." Latifah and Questlove repeatedly raise intriguing questions and salient points, but Guaplord and $mokecheddathaassgetta are immovably focused on "the whoop-dee" and "skirt skirt." The whole sketch is memorable, but the moment when Questlove slaps Guaplord senseless is especially so.

Many "SNL" cast members who attempt to play an everyday character imbue the role with their unavoidable quirks. Recall Kyle Mooney's memorable neurosis, or Beck Bennett's ineffable aura of "long lost Kennedy sibling." But Davidson is capable of seeming entirely normal, which helps fantastical and heightened jokes land in especially hilarious ways.

"Dorm Room Posters" finds Davidson's college student character struggling to write a historical essay. Miraculously, the many posters in his dorm room come to life and offer their aid, relating their own stories to historical events. While some posters' subjects, like rapper Lil' Percocet and professional wrestler Mad Dog Doogan, help the young man realize history's importance and inspirational potential, Emma Stone's Maxim model Chrissy Knox (and Brandi Knox, her twin sister) is less helpful. Instead of talking about the "Iliad" like Doogan, Knox giggles over her garden hose, enormous burger, various body parts, and frosty glass of beer. She's inhumanly stupid, and because Davidson's character is so human, every word she whines is hilarious.

Pete Davidson took part in many rap sketches over the course of his "SNL" tenure, but "Tucci Gang," a parody of the 2017 Lil Pump hit "Gucci Gang," is a truly stand-out performance. Instead of the original's braggadocio-laden celebration of designer products, Davidson's version is an ode to actor Stanley Tucci.

The segment riffs on most of the original music video's shots, but adds a heaping helping of Tucci to all of it. The actor's headshots litter the scenery, and the song's lyrics chronicle a number of his biggest roles in movies like "The Devil Wears Prada," "Spotlight," "Beauty and the Beast," "Big Night," and "The Hunger Games." Best of all, host Sam Rockwell dons a bald cap and plays Tucci throughout, moonwalking and breakdancing behind Davidson's Lil Pump character with genuine flair. On "Late Night with Seth Meyers," Tucci himself praised the sketch — though he did note his kids had to explain it to him.

Thanks to the "Uncle Ben" sketch, Pete Davidson will forever be able to have "Dave Chapelle and I made each other break on live TV" to his resumé. The premise of the sketch is a meeting between famous Black mascots and their nameless corporate overlords, held because the latter group has become uncomfortable with the implications of characters like pancake-making Aunt Jemima and rice mascot Uncle Ben. Those two icons (played to perfection by "SNL" alum Maya Rudolph and Kenan Thompson, respectively) are swiftly fired. Dismayed, they ask why the Allstate Guy, played by Chapelle, isn't fired as well. In turn, the Allstate Guy points the finger at Count Chocula, who is played by Davidson.

Chocula defends himself by asserting that he isn't Black, he's made of literal chocolate. The sketch takes an expletive-laden turn as they debate Chocula's race. In what truly seems to be an improvised moment, Chappelle searches for the camera, looks directly into it, and asks the American public to look directly at Pete Davidson's lips. The two comedians share a laugh so strong, Davidson briefly spits out his prosthetic fangs, rendering the sketch unforgettable.

When it first aired, the "Jasmine and Aladdin" sketch seemed fun and entertaining, but not overly memorable. Davidson plays the titular street rat while host Kim Kardashian plays the privileged princess. As they soar through the sky on the magic carpet, Aladdin reveals he's riddled with worry over their impending relationship. He asks Jasmine about her previous boyfriends, who are revealed to have been athletes, rappers, and literal royalty. Freaked out, Aladdin makes a final wish, and he and Jasmine share a kiss.

Months later, Kardashian revealed on the "Not Skinny But Not Fat" podcast that this kiss intrigued her. She and Davidson eventually embarked upon a relationship, which has produced a torrent of tabloid headlines. The kiss captured in this sketch had an effect no one could have foreseen, including making the sketch itself hilariously prescient. Aladdin's assertion that Jasmine is too rich, famous, and beautiful for him has entirely new meaning — though of course, Davidson isn't exactly a nobody himself.

Few "SNL" sketches have as much of a storied history as "Diner Lobster." In fact, the notorious sketch may not have any real competition. As Colin Jost revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he and John Mulaney first pitched the idea back in 2010 when the latter was still an "SNL" staff writer. For whatever reason, it never made it past the pre-show read-through. It wasn't until eight years later, when Mulaney returned to SNL as a host, that the sketch was finally given a shot. 

That shot hit its mark — and then some. Davidson, who landed the role of the unassuming protagonist with questionable taste, is a big part of why. His character orders the titular second-rate seafood, leading to a "Les Misérables" parody meant to dissuade him from his meal and save the lobster's life. The whole cast becomes involved, performing numbers that grow in complexity and production values. Though the sketch began its life as a rejected concept, it aired to major acclaim, inspiring sequels and interviews from pundits like Conan O'Brien.

There is no more iconic character in Davidson's repertoire than Chad. Against all logic, Davidson created a character with no discernible personality, intelligence, and almost nothing to say — and it absolutely worked. Chad first appears in "Pool Boy," in which host Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays an unsatisfied housewife who has a mindless fling with him. Unlike many "SNL" characters, Chad's persona (or lack thereof) is fully in place from the get-go. Within a minute of his first appearance, he shows off all of his greatest hits: Chuckling to himself about dirty words, inhuman ignorance and obliviousness, and his enduring catch-phrase, "Okay!"

The character recurs in a number of sketches, almost always played off the host in a brilliant way. John Mulaney tries to torment and kill Chad, Adele tries to haunt him, and Jennifer Lopez even considers leaving Alex Rodriguez for him. His unflinching indifference to everything around him somehow never gets stale, even as his life becomes more and more fantastical. He doesn't bat an eye when RuPaul makes him into a drag queen, or even when he meets his dad — played masterfully by Adam Sandler – in heaven. The end result is an "SNL" character for the ages.

Generally speaking, Davidson's most memorable sketches fall into three categories: rap parodies, outlandish character snippets, and straight-man stories. He delivers plenty of stand-out scenes in each sort of performance — but a fourth variety of appearance threatens to top them all. Many of Davidson's most culturally impactful moments have come from the times he's appeared on "SNL" ... as himself.

These days, Davidson is arguably more famous for his personal life than his comedy. One of the major contributing factors to this fame is his willingness to appear on Weekend Update as himself and promptly bare his soul. In an early moment of uncommon honesty, he openly discussed his mental health issues, a topic he's since followed up on. Davidson has even shared truly intimate details of his life, like his decision to live with his mother, even after achieving success. His romances are also fair game: Davidson has had no problem telling millions of viewers about his relationships with pop star Ariana Grande and Kim Kardashian — as well as the latter woman's ex-husband, Kanye West.

During his last episode of "SNL," Davidson stopped by the Weekend Update desk for a segment that was subsequently titled "Pete Davidson Says Goodbye for Now." Davidson was as true to himself as ever, speaking honestly about his time on the show and how it changed his life. He revealed Lorne Michaels' initial reaction to his audition, which was as blunt and brazen as should be expected from the showrunner. He also touched upon the controversy his work has spawned, and the bizarre pool of "SNL" alumni he's joining.

Most affectingly, Davidson used the segment to say goodbye to Colin Jost, the fans, Lorne Michaels, and the show itself. The emotionality of the moment is plain on his face and in his voice — a rare occurrence for Davidson, who so often seems to have one foot out of reality. But he also left amidst a cloud of laughter as he compared himself to Dobby, a house-elf from the "Harry Potter" series, and claimed his mother loves Jost more than himself. In the end, Davidson departed in the same manner he arrived: hilariously, uniquely, and honestly.