If you’ve ever been to a Pete Davidson stand-up gig, you’re probably aware that he hates phones. Specifically, audience members who use their phones to film him performing his material rather than, you know, actually watching him perform his material.
It must be pretty frustrating to see audience members filming you while you’re performing in-progress jokes and then seeing your unpolished material turn up on the internet somewhere. To stop this from happening, the comedian has decided to implement some rather extreme measures to prevent any potential leaks.
According to attendees (via Complex) who attended a bunch of the comedian’s stand-up shows in San Francisco, not only were they required to cloak their phones, they were required to sign an NDA in order to even gain entry into the gig.
While cloaking phones and even NDAs aren’t too unusual, the conditions imposed by Pete Davidson’s NDA are pretty ridiculous.
The NDA requirement was reportedly (via The San Francisco Chronicle) only sent out to attendees hours before the scheduled stand-up gig. Those who didn’t sign it weren’t allowed entry and would get a full refund instead.
For those who did sign the NDA, they were barred from sharing literally any comment about Pete’s stand-up gig in any shape or form, whether it’s a TV interview or even a simple “it was good/bad” tweet. Should anyone violate the conditions outlined in the signed NDA, they’ll cop a massive $1 million fine.
There are only two explanations as to why Pete Davidson would so to such extreme lengths to avoid anyone leaking his stand-up material: he’s filming a stand-up special or he’s sensitive to any form of criticism, constructive or otherwise.
The first reason is plausible as Pete could be filming a super secret project for Netflix or something and they don’t want any details or jokes leaking out early. Then again, it could also be as simple as Pete being a big baby and doesn’t want anyone saying mean things about his stand-up.
With all those strict stipulations in place, the big question we must now as is whether it is worth signing your life away just to see a Pete Davidson stand-up gig that you’re not even allowed to acknowledge in any shape or form afterwards.
Seems like the hassle isn’t worth it and you’re better off waiting for the stand-up special to drop on Netflix or just watch Pete on SNL instead.