Any questions? Yes. What is existence? Where are we before we were born? If what we think of as self is actually an ever-changing and exchanging collection of atoms, is there free will? The point is, for a time ā likely a few late-night hours, based on what we know about SNLās writing schedule ā the sketch commonly known as āDavid Pumpkinsā did not, in fact, feature David Pumpkins. The sketchās co-writer Mikey Day says that originally it was pitched and written sans the mysterious bepumpkined man. āIt was just going to be a dance,ā Day tells Uproxx in his first interview since joining the cast. āIt started with a couple who were staying in a creepy hotel and itās sort of Haunted Mansion style. Like ghouls started coming out, āAyyy!ā Everyone came out and sang a verse and then we would come out of coffins and just dance and go back in.ā Then, he says, he thought of the Tower of Terror ride at Disneyland, and realized it is a āgreat setup because itās just doors opening.ā For a brief, undisclosed window of time, that was the sketch. Door opens, something random and spooky, door closes, door opens, something random, etc.
But then there was a breakthrough. Day: āBecause Iām obsessed with stupid suits, [I thought of] a dude with pumpkins on his suit. The door opens and itās the dude David Pumpkins.ā The sketchās co-writer Bobby Moynihan added the s to his name. And the rest was history.
Well, not yet. āOriginally, there was a lot more dialogue,ā says Day. āAnd originally it was set to like a beat, so it kind of had rhythm. And we were like, āDo you haunt?ā And heās like, āMaybe.āā In an earlier version, David S. Pumpkins was a real rude dude with a tude, saying stuff like, āIf you wake up in the morning and thereās a pumpkin in your hall closet, that means I hate you.ā Eventually that stuff got smoothed out and Tom Hanks continued āplaying with the character,ā telling Day, Moynihan, and co-writer Streeter Seidell, ā[Iām] trying to wrap my head around this guy, guys.ā And then he did. And it was on TV. And David S. Pumpkins ā and that one guy in accountingās Halloween costume ā finally existed as if he always had.