How Joe Pesci mentored Pete Davidson in new comedy series ‘Bupkis’
The Yiddish word Bupkis can be loosely translated into English as “nothing” — which is the comedic point of Pete Davidson’s eponymous, semi-autobiographical series premiering May 4 on Peacock.
Think of “Bupkis” as a “Seinfeld”-type “show about nothing” … but writ large.
“I think our goal was to capture the relentless and absurd reality that is Pete’s world,” said showrunner Judah Miller, who co-created and co-wrote “Bupkis” with Davidson and Dave Sirus. (Stacy Keach delivers the opening, jokey “legal announcement” in his unmistakable baritone.)
“When we were coming up with ideas, there were no fictitious concepts or situations that were going to rival the opportunities for comedy and satire that Pete’s actual life provides,” Miller said. “So many aspects of Pete’s life are complicated and create obstacles for him to connect with people. Pete Davidson wants to have meaningful connections with his friends and family … but he’s Pete Davidson.
“It’s complicated.”
Davidson plays a “heightened” version of his real-life persona in the series, set in Staten Island (his native borough).
Pete, a famous comedian known as much for his public antics and romances as for his comedy, lives with his mother (Edie Falco) and is close with his maternal grandfather (Oscar winner Joe Pesci in a rare series role).
The all-star cast includes Brad Garrett and Bobby Cannavale as Pete’s wacky uncles and Steve Buscemi as his priest.
And that’s not all; “Bupkis” is a veritable Who’s Who of cameos: La La Anthony, Al Gore, Simon Rex, Jon Stewart, Charlamagne Tha God, Charlie Day, Ray Romano and Davidson’s real-life gal pal Chase Sui Wonders.
Miller said getting Pesci to agree to co-starring on “Bupkis” was no small feat.
“It wasn’t a quick thing — it definitely took a couple of meetings; we sat down with him a couple of times and discussed or vision for this and went through the script with him on a couple of different occasions,” he said.
“It was incredible how Pete and Joe just naturally connected and formed a real, almost grandfatherly dynamic in Joe’s mentoring of Pete,” he said. “I think they have a lot in common [and] Joe was interested in advising Pete, even beyond what you see in the show.
“[Pesci] has a unique point of view on the world and on the business that only he can provide.”
Nothing was off-limits in writing the series with Davidson and Sirus, Miller said (including an outrageous, uber-awkward opening scene in Pete’s basement).
“We don’t feel like we were crossing any boundaries because so many of our stories originated from … exploring areas and aspects of Pete’s life,” he said. “If we were doing this ‘outside’ of him and then presenting it to him, it would’ve been a much more tricky thing to get correctly.
“But because he’s so completely instrumental in the creative process of writing the show, it allowed us to intake what parts of his life were fair game — and what aspects of his life we wanted to keep private.
Heidi Gutman/Peacock
“That being said, you’re getting so much of a window into his world.”
“Bupkis” deftly navigates that tricky line between broad comedy and pathos, which was the writers’ goals, Miller said.
“We loved to explore some absurd comedic moments but without a grounded emotional core it wouldn’t work as well as it does,” he said. “I view the show as a mixture of so many things: people will compare [‘Bupkis’] to a premium TV show, but at the same time we kind of undercut the show and try not to take ourselves too seriously, either.
“It’s a mixture of a lot of things going on at once.”
Miller said it also helped that so many A-listers, including his wife, Marissa Jaret Winokur, were happy sign on for appearances throughout the eight-episode series.
“The casting felt like a wonderful fever dream,” he said. “We never believed who was going to be on the set each day … it was an unbelievable, never-ending list of world-class talent. Our goal was to create a show where people could come on and have fun … even sometimes when we had [a celebrity] do absurd things.
“To get Sebastian Stan to come on and show up for Pete and do something ridiculous for us was amazing.”
