Pete Davidson’s new TV show “Bupkis” is meant as a fictionalized, “fever dream” version of the comedian’s own life, which was enhanced with the help of costume designer Dana Covarrubias, who recreated Davidson’s real-life style and heightened it to fit the comedy.
“Bupkis,” which debuts all eight episodes on Peacock on Thursday, stars Davidson as himself, giving a look at how the comedian deals with fame, family and friendship. The show also stars Edie Falco as Davidson’s mother and Joe Pesci as Davidson’s grandfather, among others.
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As Davidson plays himself, Covarrubias had an easy starting point when selecting the comedian’s streetwear-heavy wardrobe.
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“When I interviewed for the job and from the very beginning, the director and showrunner and I talked about how each episode was almost its own movie in a sense and its own fever dream that Pete was having about his own life,” she said. “That was really interesting because it allowed us to play within the realism of his own life.”
Covarrubias took multiple approaches to Davidson’s costumes. One big part of her research and curation process was working with Davidson’s own stylist, Britt Theodora, who provided mood boards the stylist and Davidson use to style his real-life looks. Covarrubias explained the mood boards included lots of late-‘90s and early-2000s inspiration, including stars at that time that Davidson is inspired by, like Adam Sandler, Jack Nicholson and Brad Pitt.
The costume designer also stated that Davidson offered her eight racks from his own closet that she used for his costumes. This included pieces from brands like Puma, Champion, Gildan, Nike, Carhartt and others. Davidson also sported several high-end designers for the show, including a vintage Givenchy navy and burgundy tracksuit and a Saint Laurent purple tracksuit both in the first episode.
“There were some days where he would show up to set and be wearing something and he was like, ‘I think I could just wear this in the scene,’ and we’d be like, ‘OK great,’” Covarrubias said. “He’s playing himself and it’s his show, so he can do whatever he wants, but I think because it was a fever dream, we were doing a heightened version of it.”
The heightened version of Davidson’s wardrobe came in at times that played into the show’s narrative. Covarrubias explained that because Davidson experiences “really high highs and low lows” throughout the series, she wanted to use the costumes to further those scenes. She did this by oftentimes playing up or down colors and silhouettes for different scenes, such as dressing Davidson in bright colors when he’s feeling manic or dressing him in an oversize, puffy coat when he’s traveling alone for work during Christmas.
“Just like everyone’s style, Pete’s style is always changing,” Covarrubias said. “It’s constantly changing and he doesn’t want to be pigeonholed into one specific thing. I think that was fun. We got to play. Every look was so different for him.”
She also explained that because much of the show is about Davidson’s relationship with his grandfather, she incorporated some of Pesci’s style into Davidson’s.
“We had this idea that he’s idolizing his grandfather,” she said. “Much of the series is about his grandfather, so some of his looks are very grandpa chic with Velcro sneakers and tracksuits.”
Overall, Covarrubias thinks that because the show deals with real-life people and a real subject matter, the costumes will help viewers get drawn into the story as she stuck close to her source material.
“I feel like if you can create realism with your costume design and create that sort of realistic baseline, it helps enhance the story and enhance the comedy,” she said. “But then of course there are moments where you can really go for it and do something really silly and comedic. I think just being aware of that is key, so I think that was my goal with the show and we achieved it.”