It took some time to find a good option to discuss today. The Trust: A Game of Greed wasn’t actually an option, because we dropped it after two episodes. Then The Lift, a new action comedy with Kevin Hart? Completely copied, but not Netflix watch tip-worthy. But luckily there was Pete Davidson with Turbo Fonzarelli. It’s the comedian’s Netflix special and it offers an hour of living in Davidson’s world, which is wonderful.
Pete Davidson: Turbo Fonzarelli
Pete Davidson is a special figure. The fact that he dated Kim Kardashian for a while does make him less popular in some circles: he seems to have changed little. Fortunately, because this comedian/actor has a courage that not many people have. He dares to bring things very close. Of course all comedians tell personal stories, but we have seen Pete tell a very personal story in various films and series, including the beautiful The King of Staten Island, but also more recently in the slightly more absurd, but still close-to-home Bupkis on SkyShowtime.
He dares to be very open about his own family situation and that is great, especially because his family has really had a hard time. He has suffered from Crohn’s disease all his life. Now, as he also states in Turbo Fonzarelli, he can live well thanks to good medication, but there are more trials that the Davidson family has had to endure. The death of my father, for example, who, as a firefighter, did not survive 9/11. Something that many Americans take very personally anyway, and that makes it amazing that Davidson, who otherwise does not like to participate in all kinds of interviews, often lets that play a role in his art.
Ordinary guest in an unusual world
Anyway, he’s not just a hero, he’s also a very ordinary guy who likes sex and drugs, and often presents himself as a bit of a good-for-nothing. He plays that well, if it can even be called playing. It makes him a breath of fresh air in today’s world full of Instagram filters and botox. And yes, there is also that wonderful New York accent that comes with it, and that makes him, partly because he can tell great stories, a very nice comedian to watch. And again, even after Kim Kardashian, he still manages to do that and that’s commendable.
In Turbo Fonzarelli he is especially good because he seems to genuinely enjoy telling the story. His joke with an Italian accent is hilarious, because he looks so funny himself. He can even say some pretty nasty things about his mother, but because he says it so dryly, you can totally see it. Turbo Fonzarelli is certainly not Pete’s best work, but it is especially special how such a simple-looking guy turns out to be a man we want to hear more from. It is certainly not always funny, he often takes the jokes that are there for the taking and certainly goes too far about his mother, but he knows how to tell it all in such a way that it doesn’t really bother you that much. You keep watching anyway. We certainly do.
