Pete Davidson Plans To Fund His Retirement With The Strangest Collectibles

By Douglas Helm | Updated

pete davidson

Sometimes nostalgic collectibles end up being worthless, like Beanie Babies, but sometimes you can net quite a tidy sum, like Pokemon cards. Well, Pete Davidson recently said he has a nostalgia play of his own that he hopes to cash in on in the future — sealed VHS tapes (via Deadline). Davidson appeared on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon to explain his master plan in detail, saying, “I started collecting VHSes that were sealed in the box like three years ago ’cause I was really high one night.”

“So I bought all the sealed ones that exist — like, three to five thousand tapes.”

-Pete Davidson on his burgeoning VHS tape collection

But Pete Davidson further expanded on his ‘highdea,’ pointing out that in 2026, it will be 20 years since the last time a VHS tape was made. By Davidson’s reasoning, that will be plenty of time for people to start getting nostalgic for the dated media format, and he’s doubled down on his bet saying, “So I bought all the sealed ones that exist — like, three to five thousand tapes.” In response to some laughter from Fallon and the audience, Davidson simply said, “No one believes in me!”

Of course, Pete Davidson pointed out that his plan wasn’t completely without merit, saying, “As of a month ago, sealed VHSes are now going for 20 to 30,000 grand a pop,” adding, “Rocky just sold for $27,000.” While Davidson might be putting a lot of eggs in one basket, he’s definitely not wrong about some of these tapes being valuable. While VHS tapes typically sell for a couple of bucks, there are some that are worth hundreds of dollars.

Following the end of the WGA strike, Saturday Night Live returned to air, and Davidson was brought on to host. It was fitting, considering the episode Davidson was set to host was the episode that was canceled due to the WGA strike.

There are also some vintage, unopened VHS tapes with studio watermarks that can sell for upwards of $10,000. If Pete Davidson has quite a few of these tapes in his collection, he might just be on to something here. Of course, Davidson humorously pointed out that he has a backup plan if this all goes wrong, saying that he’ll just ” be on the road forever.”

pete davidson
Pete Davidson hosting Saturday Night Live

In the meantime, Pete Davidson has plenty going on outside of the world of VHS collecting. Following the end of the WGA strike, Saturday Night Live returned to air, and Davidson was brought on to host. It was fitting, considering the episode Davidson was set to host was the episode that was canceled due to the WGA strike.

Pete Davidson’s return to his Saturday Night Live stomping grounds also included a musical feature from Ice Spice and cameos from it-couple Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.

Davidson also took a moment to address the more serious issue of the Israel-Hamas war, relating recent events to his experience of losing his father on 9/11. He mentioned that the images of the suffering of Israeli and Palestinian children took him back to “a really horrible, horrible place.”

Pete Davidson tells Jimmy Fallon that, thanks to a night of medicinal bliss, the comedian has started collecting VHS tapes.

In addition to his Saturday Night Live hosting stint, Pete Davidson also appeared in the recent film Dumb Money, which depicted the real-life story of Redditors and other everyday people taking on Wall Street to turn Gamestop into a hot stock and get rich in the process.

The film is currently in theaters and also stars Paul Dano, America Ferrera, Vincent D’onofrio, Myha’la Herrold, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, Seth Rogen, Talia Ryder, Shailene Woodley, Kate Burton, Clancy Brown, Rushi Kota, Larry Owens, Dane DeHaan, Olivia Thirlby, and Sebastian Stan.