Pete Davidson didn't even know 'Saturday Night Live' was still running when he was asked to audition for the show.

The 26-year-old comic began his stand-up career when he was just 16 years old and went on to become one of the weekly sketch show's youngest ever cast members when he joined at the age of 20 in 2014, but he's admitted the programme - which first aired in 1975 - wasn't something he watched before then.

Speaking to 'CBS Sunday Morning', he said: ''I didn't know it was still on the air.

''I mean like when you're 16, you're not watching political midnight shows.''

Being so much younger than the rest of the cast, Pete - whose firefighter father, Scott Davidson, died in service during the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York - admitted it felt like a ''joke'' or he was offered a job out of ''charity'' when he first began filming.

He recalled: ''I was like 10, 12 years younger than everybody else. It felt like it was a joke.

''It felt like very 'Make a Wish-y'. It felt like charity for sure.''

The 'King of Staten Island' actor found 'SNL' ''drastically'' affected his life and career.

He said: ''I started being taken seriously as a comic. It really changed my life.''

While Pete is ''really confident'' when performing on stage, away from work, he's never particularly believed his abilities were ''great''.

He said: ''I was really confident as a comic because like you have to be.

''On stage is where I feel my most comfortable, but off stage, I never really thought I was a great comic or anything like that. I'm very self-hating.''

Pete can next be seen in 'The King of Staten Island', which he also co-wrote, and although the story - about a man still coming to terms with the death of his firefighter father 17 years ago - was ''really hard'' to tell, he was thankful for the support of director Judd Apatow.

He said: ''It was really hard because it's stuff I would share with my therapist.

''But Judd really cares, and the hard work that he was doing to find out about my life made me feel so comfortable. He was like, 'I'm going to need pictures of your dad.' I'm like, oh, no.''