Pete Davidson The Best Friends Netflix review

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Pete Davidson’s first big thing after leaving Saturday Night Live is fronting this showcase of his friends for Netflix. And they really are his friends. One of them is even an ex-girlfriend of his. But he taped this showcase a couple of weeks before announcing he’d leave SNL, so does this mean he would or would not tell all?

PETE DAVIDSON PRESENTS: THE BEST FRIENDS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: This variety show opens with an imagined group text between Davidson and his mostly NYC-based friends, getting hyped up for the taping in Los Angeles.

The texts let us know that invites went out to Neko White, Dave Sirus, Jordan Rock, Carly Aquilino, Joey Gay, Giulio Gallarotti and Derek Gaines. But Gaines had to drop out due to catching COVID. Insert Big Wet (who guest-starred in a couple of SNL music videos with Davidson this past season) as well as Machine Gun Kelly, who has co-starred with Davidson in a couple of movies, and as we’d learn in the comedy portion of the show, also crashed with Pete in Pete’s mom’s house in Staten Island four years ago.

What Comedy Specials Will It Remind You Of?: With frequent camera cuts to backstage and the green room, we’re reminded that these really are good friends of Pete’s.

Memorable Jokes: Davidson didn’t pull any punches during his opening set, leaning into his “really weird year” which included Kanye West’s beef with him for dating West’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian.

I’d worry about spoiling Pete’s jokes about the whole thing, except the tabloids were quick to share everything he said immediately after the taping a month ago. I’d only add that Davidson attempts impersonations of two other famously funny friends, John Mulaney and Bill Burr, and that his Burr voice is on much more solid ground than his Mulaney.

Davidson also clung to a premise about defending famous people for catching a free ride on Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet, which went over about as well as you might expect. But Davidson did have a funny ending to the bit, though.

Our Take: I didn’t include any of the other comedians on the lineup in the “memorable jokes” portion not because they all bombed, but because they’re all still overshadowed by their more famous friend. Even though Davidson pretty much disappeared and laughed from the green room during their sets, instead having his friends introduce each other from the stage.

That extended even to Aquilino, who dated Davidson before he was famous, and that fact never got mentioned in the special or joked upon. That’s quite a choice.

Nevertheless, the special did feel specifically curated by Davidson, unlike most of the other showcases held and filmed during Netflix Is A Joke: The Festival. Before Pete started to become tabloid-fodder, you probably could’ve seen him sharing a comedy club lineup on many a night with this group of comedians.

Perhaps the best joke of this night, though, came from Sirus, who declared that his “friendship with Pete” was finally paying off. Perhaps the most revealing? When Gay ended his set with the quip: “I’ve enjoyed this more than you have.”

That may be true.

But just because viewers might not remember the names or all of the jokes from some of the performers, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t count for something. Heck. Remember when Eminem ripped Machine Gun Kelly’s rap so hard that the kid started going by MGK instead, went emo, and wound up with Megan Fox? So who’s laughing now?

Our Call: Pete joked that the public at-large either loves him or hates him, and doesn’t hide their feelings about him one way or the other. So you already made up your mind to STREAM IT or SKIP IT before you clicked on this review, and just wanted to see if I reinforced your pre-existing opinion. Why don’t you watch it, though, and see for yourself? STREAM IT.

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.

Tags

• Netflix
• Pete Davidson
• Pete Davidson Presents: The Best Friends
• Saturday Night Live
• Stream It Or Skip It