Pete Davidson is slowly reemerging after what I assume was a self-imposed respite away from the limelight. Although still largely absent from Saturday Night Live, he has appeared in a few bits and pre-taped numbers. And he’s going back on tour with his stand-up, which is a good sign. Or it should be, until you get to the part where he’s making his audiences sign non-disclosure agreements if they want to see him. No, that is not, in fact, a joke. According to a lady named Stacy Young, she tried to get tickets to see Pete perform at San Francisco’s Sydney Goldstein Theater. But after she bought them, the venue sent her an NDA to sign, saying if she told anyone what she thought about the show, she’d have to cough up $1M. A tyrant says what, now?

Whatever you do, never tweet at a Pete Davidson comedy show. The “Saturday Night Live” cast member has recently been doling out non-disclosure agreements before each of his recent comedy shows.

Most recently, fans attending Davidson’s standup at the Sydney Goldstein Theater were asked to sign a lengthy contract that forbade them from tweeting or instagramming any opinions about the performance.

One attendee, Stacy Young, originally discovered by Consequence of Sound, posted the alleged NDA on her Facebook. It stated: “the individual shall not give any interviews, offer any opinions or critiques, or otherwise participate by any means or in any form whatsoever (including but not limited to blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, or any other social networking or other websites whether now existing or hereafter created).”

“I didn’t want to sign it because it was basically saying that I wasn’t able to comment on it or have an opinion,” Young told Variety. “The most you could say is ‘no comment.’”

After refusing to sign the NDA emailed to her from the venue, Young was given a full refund but there was no additional information as to why this was happening. “I called the box office and wondered if it was for a special, but they didn’t have any information.”

The fine for breaking said NDA was a whopping $1 million. “In the event of breach of this agreement, individual shall pay company, upon demand, as liquidated damages, the sum of one million dollars, plus any out of pocket expense.”

Sources confirmed to Variety that Davidson’s NDA would again be handed out on Saturday prior to his show at Chicago’s Vic Theatre.

[From Variety via Pajiba]

This is whole situation is so many levels of weird. Obviously, the overall issue is that a comedian is trying to silence the people paying to see him because he’s afraid of a bad joke going viral. If a comedian is afraid that their material is too bigoted for a diverse crowd, they need to rethink their jokes. Imagine the hubris it would take to assume that people would sign this thing just for the honor of seeing you? But they did. Some of them commented as such on Stacy’s Facebook post, saying it was worth it. Maybe because they knew this NDA isn’t really enforceable, so they’re not sweating the Davidson Squad coming for them if they mention to their great Aunt Sally they thought the show was “aiight.” I assume, however, many of them were trying to stick it to the PC police, at least the ones who bragged on Stacy’s FB post about signing the agreement seemed to be.

You can read the venue’s email and full NDA on Stacy’s FB post, if she isn’t forced to take it down. It’s cartoonish in its audacity, right down to the admission that, “Any patron who is unable or unwilling to sign the agreement will not be allowed to enter and will be giving a full refund.” I get it’s a minor typo but considering the nonsense they are about to ask their patrons to choke down, a bit of a proofread would’ve been nice (I know I’m not one to comment on this topic but I don’t charge you anything if you call out my typos). Not that I am not shocked by all of this, but I am baffled why no one would give any more information about why this NDA was put into place. If there was a reason, like filming, that would clear everything up. But giving no information on top of the confirmation that Chicago is about to do the same thing, all signs point to this being Pete’s ego putting a price tag on itself. Which begs the question, is Pete funny enough to pull this kind of stunt?

Photo credit: WENN Photos