Pete Davidson Pokes Fun at Himself While Playing Eminem’s Doppelganger in New Music Video
Shady’s back, back again. Shady’s back, Pete’s his friend — and he’s almost as dangerous a driver as Stan.
In the music video for his newest single “Houdini,” Marshall Bruce Mathers III, better known as Slim Shady, better known as Eminem, followed the familiar trend of mega-A-list music stars using prominent comedians in the cast of high-budget sketch adaptations of their hit songs. Over a year after Taylor Swift hired stand-up star Mike Birbiglia and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Mary Elizabeth Ellis to play her own spoiled kids in the video for her #1 song “Anti-Hero,” Eminem tapped one of the most talked-about white guys in comedy to round out the cast of his high-budget video that’s already hit 34 million views in three days on YouTube.
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Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson appeared in the “Houdini” video sporting Shady’s signature bleach-blond hair after impersonating Eminem in numerous SNL sketches throughout his time in the cast. In his “Houdini” performance, Davidson even poked fun at his tabloid drama in the closing scene of the sketch when Eminem makes the mistake of letting him take the wheel — thankfully, the curtains didn’t close on somebody’s living room this time.
Eminem’s use of doppelgangers in his on-camera performances is a tradition stretching back to the rapper’s 2000 album The Marshall Mathers LP. With “Houdini,” the Detroit superstar harkened back to those early days in an homage to the iconic music video for the 2002 hit “Without Me” replete with references to his early work and classic aesthetic. When 2002 Eminem flips a switch to turn the entire city into blond Eminem lookalikes, Davidson appears to take Dr. Dre’s place behind the wheel of Eminem’s sports car and tells Shady, “Trust me, I’m a great driver! Don’t worry, I just got my license back,” before slamming into a dozen other cars while driving off into the horizon.
Much like Eminem’s off-stage antics during the early aughts, Davidson’s driving has been a hot topic for TMZ in recent years as he’s repeatedly collided with cars and buildings, most recently catching a reckless driving charge in 2023 when he knocked over a fire hydrant on his way to adding a side entrance to a Beverly Hills living room.
While Davidson was still a cast member at SNL, he impersonated Eminem multiple times, with the last performance coming in a cut-for-time sketch during Davidson’s final SNL episode back in 2022 titled “Forgot About Lorne,” which featured Eminem himself calling out Davidson for his crappy impressions. However, Davidson must have left a pretty good impression on the rap giant to be included in the closing scene of his biggest music video in years.
Apparently, no matter how many fish in the sea, it would feel so empty without Pete.
