Some people don’t have positive thoughts of Saturday Night Live. But their most memorable skits seem to be based in simplicity. Think of Eddie Murphy as James Brown singing about getting into a hot tub. Or there’s Steve Martin’s “King Tut” skit. And then there’s the “More Cowbell” skit.
They work because they’re simple. Anyone watching can laugh a little at it. It’s not trying to be a sophisticated joke. Chris Farley as Matt Foley gives us the loveable goofball. Ten years ago during a tense political Presidential election, Tom Hanks appeared in a suit reportedly bought at a Party City for $12.99 and gave us David S. Pumpkins for the first time on this date, Oct. 22, 2016.
Hanks had appeared on SNL multiple times most of them before his dramatic turns in the 1990s. He had even been brought in as a quick substitute for Joe Pesci in 1992 when the actor had a schedule conflict that came up with filming on Home Alone 2. Hanks had famously appeared in a “Wayne’s World” skit where he does a mic check for Aerosmith saying “siblance.”
The two-time Oscar winner does have a good comedic timing. That’s why makes the skit so great. As David S. Pumpkins, he stands wearing a suit black sport coat with orange pumpkins on it in between Mikey Day and Bobby Moynihan as the Skeletwins. They are wearing skeleton body suits and make-up. Day and Moynihan wrote the skit along Skeeter Siedell and called it “Haunted Elevator.”
The concept has Beck Bennett and Kate McKinnon as a couple getting in a 100 Floors of Flight ride with Kenan Thompson as the “Hellevator” operator. They visit a couple of floors featuring a waiter with a faked severed head on a platter and another with a creepy woman with a noose around her neck.
But when it comes to David Pumpkins, all he and the Skeletwins do is dance to a short dance beat that repeats over and over with Pumpkins asking, “Any questions?!” Hanks deliver the lines and performs with so much optimism he’s the best there is. However the couple are confused as they don’t know who he is or why he’s scary.
And David and the twins keep popping up at different floors where Thompson begins to lose the ominous voice. It’s silly and only about four and a half minutes long but it has some charm to it. I think it’s because people can relate to going to haunted hayrides and spook houses that lack many thrills. When I went to Universal Studios in Orlando in 1994, I was disappointed with the King Kong ride as it basically amounted to just being shaken a little by the huge animatronic ape.
But the best part is Hanks himself. Following his change in the 1990s, he had the clout to produce more movies and TV shows as well as direct. It was like the loveable cut-up characters he played in movies like Splash, Bachelor Party and Dragnet was a thing of the past. However he continues to manage a more likeable vibe despite crazy online conspiracy theories.
However that Mr. Rogers movie wasn’t the best and playing Col. Tom Parker was a huge misstep. It does seem he does more “dad-porn” Boomer movies about battleships and Cold War espionage. When he brought the character back in 2022, audiences loved it.
Yet a 2017 animated special The David S. Pumpkins Halloween Special was less well received. The problem is it’s hard to stretch something only a few minutes long into a half-hour special. Thankfully, Lorne Michaels and others have learned their lessons from those SNL movies.
Any questions? Please comment.
