It’s official, folks: Ariana Grande is “causally” dating SNL loudmouth Pete Davidson, confirming the rumours that swirled over the weekend.
Grande seems to have moved on from her relationship with Mac Miller, which ended quite recently, by cozying up with Davidson, who himself recently split from former flame Cazzie David, daughter of the curmudgeonly Larry.
This wild, borderline-unfathomable pairing continues the grand, inexplicable Saturday Night Live tradition of sleep-deprived comedy nerds shacking up with celebrity guests.
Maybe it’s the musty halls of the Rockefeller Centre. Maybe it’s the pressure of performing live. Maybe it’s the allure of seeing a sketch show pour out of the brains of creatives. Whatever it is, the SNL strike rate is high, and is dotted with many examples of Harvard comedy nerds suddenly finding themselves fighting more than a few weight classes above their own.
Observe.
ARIANA GRANDE & PETE DAVIDSON
As stated above, yes. The duo have reportedly known each other since 2016 when Grande hosted SNL, and began casually dating not terribly long ago. Not that Pete’s a bad looking dude or anything, it’s just…
Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson are reportedly dating https://t.co/WCRNBHNBUz pic.twitter.com/VbFex2EyMX
— Rap-Up (@RapUp) May 21, 2018
…some scoreboards don’t really lie, I guess.
JASON SUDEIKIS & OLIVIA WILDE
Image: AAP
Don’t get us wrong here, Sudeikis is a good-looking rooster. But he was a carton of custard when he first met Wilde on the set of the 2011 SNL finale. It took him some six months to ask her out, and now they have two kids together. That right there? That’s Maine Justice, I tell you what.
COLIN JOST & SCARLETT JOHANSSON
Image: AAP
A perennial robo-babe and a man with a scone more kettle than head. Jost, who now serves as the co-head writer for SNL, began dating Johansson in 2017 after she hosted the show for the fifth time. They first met some 11 years ago, again on SNL, when Jost was in his first year as a writer on the series.
DAVE McCARY & EMMA STONE
Emma Stone & SNL’s Dave McCary: New Couple Alert!? https://t.co/VeLmm2WbKL pic.twitter.com/snchAbENkF
— Vegas Blog App (@VegasBlogApp) October 25, 2017
Sometimes men simply aren’t made aware that it’s good to shave the neck in order to prevent the body hair situation from becoming one continuous, symbiotic shag pile rug. And sometimes those men become segment directors on SNL and wind up dating Emma Stone, like writer/director Dave McCary reportedly has. It’s not just the on-screen talent striking it lucky, after all.
BEN AFFLECK & LINDSAY SHOOKUS
Ben Affleck’s GF Lindsay Shookus finally breaks her silence about their relationship: https://t.co/5K0GBnKwFY pic.twitter.com/Vdll9gOMR9
— ExtraTV (@extratv) May 20, 2018
Speaking of off-screen talent, revered SNL producer and head of the show’s talent development Lindsay Shookus is the one that Ben Affleck‘s sad, sullen spirits have been lifted by ever since he split from Jennifer Garner. Shookus has an Emmy Award for her work on SNL, producing credits on 45 episodes on 30 Rock, and was named one of Billboard‘s Top 50 Most Powerful Music Executives in 2015 and 2016. You know what? Affleck’s the one out of his league here.
FRED ARMISEN & ELISABETH MOSS
Image: AAP
This one doesn’t have the happiest of endings to say the least. Armisen, a man who almost certainly has organised his record collection by Pitchfork review score at some point in his life, Moss on the set of SNL in 2008, marrying just a year later. They got divorced in 2011, with Armisen admitting he deliberately emotionally withdrew from the relationship until Moss made the call to end things. Top work there, Fred.
ANDY SAMBERG & JOANNA NEWSOM
Although they didn’t meet on the set of SNL, Samberg was very entrenched in the show in 2008 when he crossed paths with Newsom for the first time.
This was 2008.
Samberg, at the time, looked like this.
Image: Getty Images.
The walking vision of Tinder date who spends the first hour talking about anime.
10 years on and the couple are married and have a child together, and Samberg discovered you can get glasses frames from somewhere other than a bowling alley skill-tester. So everything’s worked out beautifully.
So there you go, sports fans. Mawkish of appearance but romantically aspirational? Get funny and score a job on Saturday Night Live.
Easy as that.
