Pete Davidson is a fascinating public figure, a household name who has arguably become so more for his off-screen behavior than any of his film or TV projects. He’s an undeniably talented comedian, as proven on “Saturday Night Live” and in projects like “Big Time Adolescence” and “The King of Staten Island,” but he seems to get more attention for who he’s dating or his personal demons than he does for his comic timing. Working with producer Lorne Michaels, Davidson embraces his unique persona in Peacock’s “Bupkis,” a half-hour comedy that fits snugly in the growing subgenre of comedies loosely based on the lives of their creators like “Dave,” “Louie,” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” This isn’t quite Pete’s story, but this is also totally Pete’s story. The show is at its best when Davidson allows it to feel revealing about his insecurities, relationships, and flaws. The first season is a bit rocky in terms of overall quality, but there are enough unexpected comedy beats and moments of truth to make it feel like it could be the first real breakthrough for Davidson the actor, even if he’s also playing Davidson the public figure.
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“Bupkis” opens with Pete Davidson doing something traumatizing with his mother (Edie Falco), and it ends up being arguably not the most embarrassing moment in the first episode—that involves a guest appearance by Brad Garrett that’s truly disturbing. “Bupkis” is built around this kind of embarrassing moment, incidents that fit Davidson’s self-deprecating sense of humor perfectly. It’s yet another entry in the man-child comedy canon—a guy who likes hanging out with his friends, doing drugs, and getting into trouble more than practicing any kind of responsibility. He talks about growing up, but it’s so much fun not to do so. At the show’s best, Davidson walks a fine line here, never feeling like he’s really glorifying this spoiled existence but also allowing us to feel sympathy for him too.
The approach of “Bupkis” can really be summed up in the whiplash of its first two episodes. It starts with the aforementioned cringe moment and then segues into a story of Pete trying to get his dying grandfather (a totally game Joe Pesci) laid. It’s silly stuff that makes it feel like “Bupkis” is going to be purely gross-out humor, but then the second episode pivots to a flashback of a wedding shortly after 9/11, the day on which Davidson’s father died—Scott Matthew Davidson was a firefighter who perished in the World Trade Center in real life (and the episode ends with photos of Pete at the event fictionalized in the episode). It’s not an overly dramatic episode, but it makes it clear that “Bupkis” isn’t just going to be dumb guy humor and that Davidson and his collaborators, including writers Judah Miller and Dave Sirus, are willing to take some key aspects of Davidson’s life seriously.
The interplay between the ridiculous and the serious defines the first season of “Bupkis,” and that’s what makes it interesting. In one episode, Davidson is getting into serious action-movie-inspired trouble with a lunatic played perfectly by Simon Rex. In another episode, he’s having a serious heart-to-heart about his addiction with a fellow celebrity who knows a thing or two about fighting those demons. (Without spoiling who it is, that conversation is the best thing about the entire season—a moment that feels like we’re seeing the real Pete for maybe the first time.) The writing has a habit in the first half of the season of pulling away from the serious beats too quickly, as if Davidson wants to be a little more superficial a la Larry David in “Curb” when he really should be modeling something more like Aziz Ansari in “Master of None,” a show that was willing to be as dramatic and cutting as it was comedic.
Pesci and Falco are the two reliable supporting performers, and both are strong here, but “Bupkis” could gain some social traction through the sheer power of its guest stars. There’s a murderer’s row of familiar faces in this first season, half of them playing variations on themselves, and half of them playing fictional characters. Ray Romano, Sebastian Stan, Jon Stewart, and J.J. Abrams are just a few in the first category; Charlie Day, Method Man, Jane Curtin, and Bobby Cannavale are a few of the latter. Every time that it’s about to get stale, “Bupkis” gets a lot of renewed energy from these guest appearances as Davidson has always been a great collaborator more than a standalone comedic presence. He’s more than willing to cede the spotlight to some of his famous friends, and the show is better simply for the number of talented people who wanted to play in Pete’s sandbox.
And yet, the success of “Bupkis” will live and die on what people think of Pete Davidson. He has a funny bit in a recent stand-up special about how no one is in the middle when it comes to opinions of him. They either yell at him in the street about how much they love him, or they tell him to fuck off. Watching “Bupkis,” it feels like the majority could finally be on Pete’s side. [B]
“Bupkis” debuts on Peacock on May 4.