‘SNL’: Don Cheadle Cuts up With Pete Davidson in Promo Bit

Don Cheadle is hosting Saturday Night Live this week, and the promos feature him cracking joke after joke with Pete Davidson.

Cheadle is taking his first turn as SNL host this week, promoting his new Showtime series Black Monday as well as the upcoming Avengers: Endgame. The actor is joined by musical guest Gary Clark Jr., and both stand beside Davidson in this week’s fast-paced promos. In one, Cheadle introduces himself and Clark Jr. before Davidson leans in to make a request.

“Come on man, just make me an Avenger,” he said conspiratorially.

“C’mon Pete, no, we talked about this,” Cheadle answered in a hushed tone.

“Come on, they let everybody be an Avenger!” Davidson complained.

“That’s not my call, man!” Cheadle said.

“Really?” Clark Jr. cut in. “Because, you told me that I could—.”

Cheadle shushed the singer, and Davidson looked disappointed.

Another teaser featured Davidson eagerly asking Cheadle what he had gotten the cast of SNL for Valentine’s Day, and Cheadle looking horrorstruck as he fell for the prank.

“Oh is that something that the host is supposed to do?” Cheadle said. “I didn’t know, man!”

Davidson remarked, “Colin’s going to be mad.”

“Sorry Colin,” Cheadle said to the camera, looking heartbroken.

Cheadle is one of the most anticipated hosts in a while, as an A-list actor who has never graced the show before. Cheadle is equally excited, as a lifelong fan. He talked about the experience during an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Wednesday.

“It’s banana sauce, and it goes so quickly,” he said. “You’re in and out of these writers’ rooms, and they’re pitching all these ideas and you’re trying to pitch stuff back. It’s going to be bizarre, but I’m looking forward to it.”

Between the studio audience and the live broadcast aspect, Cheadle said that the show had more in common with a stage performance than a TV show. To that end, he said he was leaning on his modest experience with plays.

“I’m harkening back to a fifth-grade production of Charlotte’s Web,” he joked. “I played Templeton, the rat.”

The episode will also see the return of Alec Baldwin as President Donald Trump. The linchpin of SNL‘s political satire has been absent for three weeks, and the show is leaning on his comeback big time. Meanwhile, Clark Jr. is promoting a new album titled This Land.

SNL airs every weekend at 11:30 p.m. ET on SNL.