Pete Davidson Shows off Tattoo Removal Transformation

Pete Davidson is rocking a brand new look amid his tattoo removal journey. The comedian and actor, 30, gave fans a look at his newly bare arms during a surprise appearance on the Nov. 2 episode of Saturday Night Live.

Davidson surprised viewers in a sketch poking fun at the Port Authority Duane Reade alongside his friend and SNL host John Mulaney as well as his former co-stars Keenan Thompson, Bowen Yang, Ego Nwodim and Andrew Dismukes. Sporting a short-sleeved T-shirt, the King of Staten Island star showed off his forearms, which have had nearly all of the tattoos removed from them.

Davidson has been open about his decision to remove his numerous tattoos, revealing in a 2021 interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers, that he had chosen to laser off his body art while trying to focus more on acting.

“I honestly never thought that I would get an opportunity to act and I love it a lot,” he explained, telling Meyers that he often would have to show up on set three hours early to have his tattoos covered up by the makeup department. “For some reason, people in movies, they don’t have [tattoos] that much,” he joked at the time.

Getting tattoos lasered off is no easy feat. “Burning them off is worse than getting them, because not only are they burning off your skin, but you’re wearing these big goggles, right? So you can’t see anything, and the doctor’s in there with you,” Davidson explained.

“Before he goes to laser each tattoo, you have to hear him announce what the tattoo is to make sure you want to keep it or not,” he continued. “So I’ll just be sitting there all high off the Pro-Nox, which I actually quite enjoy … and then, all of a sudden, I’ll just hear, ‘Are you keeping the Stewie Griffin smoking a blunt?’”

Davidson was once covered with ink, some of which were dedicated to exes Cazzie David, Ariana Grande and Kim Kardashian. The Bupkis star offered some advice for aspiring performers who are thinking of getting tattoos, suggesting they put a bit more thought into their body art than he did. “If you’re going to get tattoos, just make sure you really, really want it,” he joked, “and aren’t on mushrooms.”