Pete Davidson Said It'll Take "2 More Years" to Take His Tattoos off — What's the Process Like?

Through his years on Saturday Night Live and his high-profile dating life, Pete Davidson has effectively become a household name. However, the star is now looking long beyond his prime-time television roots and has his eye on a film career. His problem? He doesn't think he'll get roles with the number of tattoos he has, so he's in the process of "burning" a bunch off.

Indeed, Pete discussed undergoing the painful procedure during a May 2021 interview, but he thinks it'll all be worth it in the grand scheme of his career. So, what is the progress of his tattoo removal? Here's what we know so far.

During a May 2021 appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers, Pete explained to the host that he was already undergoing the process of having the tattoos taken off of his skin. "I honestly never thought that I would get an opportunity to act and I love it a lot," he said. "It takes like three hours — you have to get there like three hours earlier — to cover all your tattoos. For some reason, people in movies, they don't have them that much."

Pete went on to say that "burning" the tattoos off via a series of high-intensity lasers is worse than getting them in the first place. "Not only are they like burning off your skin, you're wearing these big goggles so you can't see anything," he told Seth. "The doctor's in there with you. So before he goes to laser each tattoo, you have to hear him announce what the tattoo is to make sure if you want to keep it or not."

As a word of warning to those who want tattoos and aren't totally sure about the design, he indicated that having a silly tattoo "audibly described to you by a medical professional" really puts things into perspective and makes you question why you did it in the first place. 

Nonetheless, he is committed to seeing the process through so he can take on more serious roles. His last film, The King of Staten Island, was his first feature-length movie and a passion project for the New York native.

Pete admitted to People in July 2021 that it has been "about four or five months" since his last removal.

"We're shooting some stuff and it takes like a month for it to heal. But like it's pretty much off this hand," he said, showing off the faded tattoos. "I get my next treatment [in] like a month or so. They said by the time I'm 30, they should all be gone. So they got like two more years left of this."

Pete didn't really specify what tattoos have already been removed, but in his Seth Meyers interview, he did refer to the removal of "Stewie Griffin smoking a blunt," one of his iconic pieces.

Considering the comedian reportedly has more than 100 tattoos on his body, it's clear that the process to remove all of them will be a long one.