Pete Davidson says fame hasn't changed his style. While perusing racks of designer clothes at our shoot in a warehouse studio in Long Island City, the 24-year-old Saturday Night Live comedian zeroes in on the one item of clothing he would like to wear: pastel purple parachute pants. The swishy $280 Acne Studios warm-ups have a drawstring waist and zippers at the ankles, and they are the easiest decision Davidson will make all day. For one, they fit his lanky six-foot-three frame perfectly. ("I look like a praying mantis," he says.) And for two, they look cool. "I dress how I dressed when I was, like, 10," he explains. "I'm like, 'What would be cool? Purple pants.’ ”

Shirt, $90, by Wu Wear at Barneys New York / Pants, $1,500, by Gucci / Sunglasses, $665, by Mr. Leight / Watch, his own

Since making his SNL debut in 2014, as one of the youngest cast members ever at age 20, Davidson has charmed audiences with this direct, shoulder-shrugging brand of comedy. He often appears as himself on "Weekend Update," where he jokes about his personal life. As the "Resident Young Person," he talks about weed, obviously, and sex. ("If you don't go down on a guy for a million dollars, you obviously don't care about your family," he said, straight-faced, during a bit on his very first episode.) But he also mines the darker elements of his life in his stand-up. His dad, a New York City firefighter, died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and Davidson often references the tragedy in blunt terms. On Comedy Central's roast of Justin Bieber in 2015, he turned to the troubled pop star and said, "I lost my dad on 9/11, and I always regretted growing up without a dad. Until I met your dad, Justin. Now I'm glad mine's dead."

SNL boss Lorne Michaels says the response to Davidson's personal performances on "Weekend Update" has been "overwhelmingly positive."

"He has enormous charm on camera and audiences connect to him, and there's an honesty to him," Michaels says. "I think the audience that he's talking to kind of relies on him." When Davidson first auditioned for the show, Michaels thought he was too young, but "we've certainly made it work, and as we tend to say, I think he's the real thing."

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Despite how beloved Davidson has become on SNL and in the stand-up community, he still doesn't see himself as a star. It's "mortifying" for him to do a photo shoot like this, all the posing and talking about himself. "It's all bullshit. GQ wouldn't hit me up if I didn't recently get engaged to a super-famous person," he says, settling into an oversize black leather couch at the studio with a plate of catered pasta salad. "Nobody gives a shit, you know what I mean?"