SNL's Pete Davidson sings an ambivalent love song to Staten Island, to Marc Cohn's 'Walking in Memphis'
One of things you may know about Saturday Night Live's Pete Davidson — other than that he's dating Kim Kardashian — is that he's from (and still lives on) Staten Island, New York City's forgotten borough. Davidson and Big Wet reminded everyone on this weekend's SNL with a parody of Marc Cohn's "Walking in Memphis."
If, like Cleveland native Cohn, you are not from Staten Island, you might learn it has lots of pizza and bagel places, and massive garbage dumps. "Ferry security sure did smell this, they said, 'Who the hell are you?'" Davidson and Big Wet sing. "Man, it's Pete and Wet, and you best bet that Marc Cohn's gonna sue." (Spoiler: He doesn't.) Method Man, who spent part of his childhood on Staten Island, also joined in, and he sang the last part to this couplet: "We were drinking White Claws at Bootlegs, and a guy turns just to fight; he said, 'Tell me are you Italian?' and I said, 'Man, I am tonight.'"
You can watch the original video for Cohn's 1991 hit below.
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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