Nick Cannon is taking credit for teaching Pete Davidson “everything he knows.”
In a recent interview with Howard Stern, Cannon spoke about giving Davidson his first-ever role in a movie as a character named “Stink Finger.” The multi-hyphenate television host remembered meeting Davidson for the first time when he was just a teenager calling into Cannon’s radio show and asking to get on the air.
How Pete Davidson and Nick Cannon became friends
“I taught him everything he knows,” Cannon said of Davidson. “When I was at 92.3, I used to host a comedy night at Gotham in the city, and there was this kid that would call my morning show every single week [and say], ‘Yo, I’m funnier than you. Put me on the show.’ It became a bit.”
But despite a 13-year age difference between them, Davidson soon earned Cannon’s respect when he proved his comedy prowess.
“He came down at 15 years old and ripped it,” Cannon said. “From then, I took him on the road with me. We worked on all my standup specials together… [I] put him in his first movie. I directed this movie called School Dance. He played this character that didn’t have one line, but his name was Stink Finger.”
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2014’s School Dance, directed by Cannon and co-written by him and Nile Evans (Wild ‘n Out, For the Love of Ray J), followed a high school freshman who really wants to join the most popular dance group in school. Davidson played a small part as a boy who would walk up to people and put his foul-smelling finger under their nose, Cannon explained. The cast of School Dance also included Wilmer Valderrama, Tiffany Haddish, Patrick Warburton, Amber Rose, and George Lopez. You can watch a clip of Davidson in the movie here.
“Stink Finger turned into Pete Davidson,” Cannon joked.
Davidson has since gone on to become an actor/comedian/superstar, doing a stint on Saturday Night Live and starring in films like The King of Staten Island and Bodies Bodies Bodies and doing stand up comedy specials like Netflix’s Pete Davidson Presents: The Best Friends.
Cannon is known for acting, rapping, and comedy in addition to hosting television shows like The Masked Singer, Wild ‘n Out, and America’s Got Talent. He’s been in films like Drumline and Men in Black II.
The only thing that’s ever come close to coming between Davidson and Cannon is that they both dated Kim Kardashian — Cannon in 2006 and Davidson from 2021-2022.
“That was probably our most distant time,” Cannon said of the time when Davidson and Kardashian were together. “I was doing my daily talk show, trying to be funny, you know, and he’s dealing with all of that.”
Let’s hope that Cannon and Davidson are cool now.
Watch the full interview with Cannon and Stern above.
Main Image: Bobb’e J. Thompson, Langston Higgins, Julian Goins, and Dashawn Blanks in School Dance (2014). Photo Credit: Lionsgate.
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