Turbo Fonzarelli
Netflix · 2024 · 56 min
A conversational, black-and-white hour about turning thirty and getting sober.
An hour of stand-up that kicks off with a story about attending Aretha Franklin’s funeral while high on ketamine is a clear sign that Pete Davidson has no plans to clean up his act for his thirties. This is Davidson leaning into his strengths as an unpolished storyteller, using his public notoriety to fuel his stage material rather than running from it.
Directed by Jason Orley and shot in moody black-and-white at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, New Jersey, the 2024 special caught Davidson at a career crossroads. He had recently departed Saturday Night Live and was transitioning into film and television projects like Bupkis, yet he still seemed most comfortable operating as the self-deprecating, slightly beleaguered kid from Staten Island.
The material balances self-reflection with deliberate boundary-pushing. Davidson jokes about inventing a fake Italian sleep aid called Melatone to curb his drug habits, details a childhood crush on Leonardo DiCaprio, and recounts a bizarre home invasion where his mother spent hours watching television with his stalker. A highly polarizing, extended routine about his mother’s dating drought, including a joke about an incestuous solution to fix it, drew mixed reactions from viewers, with some finding it too uncomfortable to stomach.
The reception was generally more favorable than his 2020 effort, Alive from New York. Critics noted that while his narrative style lacks the tight construction of more traditional stand-ups, his shrugging, casual delivery and natural charisma make the messiness highly watchable.
The set list
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Quitting hard drugs and ketamine
Opens the set revealing he spent much of the prior three years taking ketamine before quitting hard drugs.
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Crush on Leonardo DiCaprio
Reflects on his childhood crush on Leonardo DiCaprio, questioning his sexuality as a 10-year-old, his mother's description of gay sex, and imagining DiCaprio morphing into Jack Nicholson.
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His mother's sex life
Riffs crudely on his widowed mother not having sex since his firefighter father passed away on 9/11, likening her sexual organs to a refurbished iPhone or a low-mileage classic car.
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Make-A-Wish and driving into a house
Contrasts his public PR needs after crashing his car into a house ('the house cut me off') with doing Make-A-Wish, noting that dying kids usually do not wish to meet him.
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The stalker ordeal
Extensively recounts being harassed by a female stalker who sent soiled underwear, his mother's misguided efforts to help, court appearances, and joking about Matt Rife.
How it plays
- Tone
- Dark, crude, raunchy, absurd, and self-effacing.
- On stage
- Laid-back, shrugging, charming, self-deprecating, and unapologetically vulgar.
- Pace
- Conversational, casual 'cruise control' pace with weird energy, low-key delivery, and natural comedic timing.
- About
- turning 30 and growing up, love and life, living in the woods, sobriety and quitting ketamine, mother's dating and sex life, childhood celebrity crushes
What the critics said
Mixed to positive; critics noted an improvement in writing, structure, and laugh consistency compared to his prior special Alive From New York, though some criticized the material as puerile and reliant on low-hanging crude shock humor.
In the room: Polarized between viewers who loved the aggressive, vulgar, dark comedy and those who found the jokes about his mother and gross-out elements off-putting.
Backstory
Filmed in black-and-white shortly after his 30th birthday and a month after hosting Saturday Night Live for the first time since departing the show. Addresses his recovery from hard drugs and ketamine, a reckless driving incident where he crashed into a house, and dealing with an aggressive stalker.
Details
- Released
- Runtime
- 56 min
- Where
- Netflix
- Director
- Jason Orley
- Topics
- Before
- Alive From New York (2020)
More from Pete Davidson
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Alive From New York
Netflix
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SMD
Comedy Central
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