Pete Davidson's Bupkis Was 'Saved' By Joe Pesci's Approval

If you were one of the viewers who tuned in to "Bupkis" mainly out of morbid curiosity about Pete Davidson's life, the biggest surprise might have been the sheer number of cameos. Edie Falco, Ray Romano, John Mulaney, Jon Stewart, Charlie Day, Brad Garrett, Kenan Thompson, Sebastian Stan... We can understand how Pete Davidson managed to get all the "Saturday Night Live" alumni on board, but how the hell did he swing Al Gore?

The biggest celebrity involved, however, was clearly Joe Pesci. Best known for films like "Goodfellas," "Casino," "My Cousin Vinny" and "Home Alone," Pesci was a perfect fit to play Pete Davidson's grumpy yet loving grandpa Joe Larocca. The guy may be dying of cancer, but he's still sticking around and imparting life wisdom to his grandkid as much as he can. Although "Bupkis" lets audiences in on Pete's weird, complicated relationships with a whole bunch of unique characters, Pete and Grandpa Joe are clearly the main focus. The show revolves around these two, and if Grandpa Joe ever did die, it's not 100% clear if the show could still work. After all, if Pesci hadn't been on board, the show might not have even made it through production in the first place.

As Davidson explained in an interview on "Real Ones with Jon Bernthal," the role of Pete's grandpa was originally intended for an actor who "bailed out" at the "last second." They were only a month away from shooting the show, and Pete was enduring a particularly negative news cycle about himself, so things seemed pretty hopeless. "I was like 'f***, I'm not doing the show, this is f***ed," said Davidson. "And then Lorne [Michaels] called me and was like, 'What about Pesci?'"

At first, Pete Davidson was skeptical of Lorne Michaels's suggestion. He responded, "The guy hasn't worked in like 30 years, he famously hates working... why?" Lorne told him, "All actors are waiting for is a good part." Sure enough, despite being so picky that he only starred in three movies throughout the past 20 years, Joe Pesci enjoyed the script of "Bupkis" enough to get on board.

"Dude f***ing changed my life, he saved my life," Pete explained. "He liked the material enough to do it but he... we had a really great conversation. It was really honest and organic, and we kind of hit it off and, it was out of love that he did it because he doesn't need to do anything." Beyond simply adding some extra star power to the series, the casting also gave Pete that extra boost of confidence in the series that he desperately needed. As he told Jon Bernthal, "I needed that validation from someone like that, like so badly... I got the guy no one can get. And that changed my life. I owe him everything."

"Bupkis" turned out a success, getting renewed for a second season and earning most critics' begrudging respect. The show is crass at times, sure, but it shows that Pete's creative work is far more thoughtful and introspective than the tabloids' coverage of him might suggest. As the show takes a particularly dark turn in its final few episodes and Pesci's character gets harder-hitting material to work with, it gets easier to see what drew Pesci to the role. Pesci's involvement in the show might've seemed like a ridiculous bit of luck for Pete at first, but after seeing the finished project, it starts to make a lot more sense.