SNL throwback: David S. Pumpkins edition

Two years ago, Saturday Night Live gave audiences one of its more unlikely hit characters in David S. Pumpkins. Halloween is just days away so take another ride on his haunted elevator to celebrate.

It is harder and harder to predict what characters or sketch ideas will be standouts on Saturday Night Live. The show is in its 44th season so while there may be a science to it, it is still extremely difficult to come up with an original idea that will stick.

This is even harder to pull off when writers and performers are going for a holiday theme. Do any Christmas or Thanksgiving characters immediately jump out in your mind? Also consider this: how many memorable characters have been played by the host and not a regular cast member?

These questions and the challenge of finding an answer just make it all the more improbable that David S. Pumpkins would be the hit he was. The sketch, titled “Haunted Elevator,” came out in 2016. Host Tom Hanks, who probably could have made it as an SNL cast member, portrays the bizarre, confusing DSP:

Is it the suit and hair combo that David S. Pumpkins is rocking? Is it the dancing of his skeleton sidekicks (Mikey Day and Bobby Moynihan)? Is it the fact that “Any questions?” is meant to be rhetorical but actually demands an answer in all the absurdity? It is hard to say what exactly about David S. Pumpkins resonated with audiences but the sketch was a viral hit immediately.

To provide some answers, Vulture had an oral history on the sketch last year. It featured comments from the writers, Day, Moynihan, and Streeter Seidell, that gave a little insight into the idea. From that we learn the inspiration came from a video of a man dancing and the song “Holiday Rap.” 

This quote from Day is pretty good idea of what the original concept was and how it was pitched to Tom Hanks:

"You meet with the host between the first and second half of the table read to tell them about the sketch, especially since there was a musical component to it. I was like, ‘This could be fun, you know?’ Kind of in jest, being like, ‘Hopefully if this got picked and it went to air, a couple of people might dress up like David Pumpkins for Halloween.’ [Hanks] was like, ‘Cool!’ He thought it was insane. When you say it out loud, it’s insane. ‘Hey Tom, so you play a guy. His name’s David Pumpkins. He’s in a haunted elevator. No one knows who he is and you’re just super confident and cool.’"

But Seidell offered perhaps the best explanation on why David S. Pumpkins seemed to resonate:

"My personal theory is that everyone in the country at that point was so divided. The election was so intense. David Pumpkins, this dumb silly thing, was the last thing that everyone could kind of agree on, that they could talk to each other about without it ruining Thanksgiving. Like my aunt, who’s very conservative was like, ‘Oh, it was so funny. I loved it!’ But so did my mom, who’s very liberal. It was great to create this common ground where we’re not going to get in a fight, and it’s not about politics. It’s about this dumb thing that we all saw."

Tom Hanks embraced the David S. Pumpkins just as audiences and Saturday Night Live. The character will forever appear in any holiday or Halloween retrospectives that are released. We already got more of Mr. Pumpkins last year with a special episode. So be on the look out for more David each and every Halloween!