''The David S. Pumpkins Halloween Special'' is an animated Halloween television special that aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

on October 28, 2017. It stars

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

as ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

'' character

David S. Pumpkins David Simon Pumpkins is a fictional character played by American actor Tom Hanks, first appearing on the October 22, 2016, episode of '' Saturday Night Live'' in a sketch written by Mikey Day, Bobby Moynihan, and Streeter Seidell. Pumpkins develo ...

. The 21-minute special was written by and also features

Mikey Day Michael William Day (born March 20, 1980) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is the host of the Netflix show '' Is It Cake?'' He joined '' Saturday Night Live'' as a writer in its 39th season, became a featured player in ...

Bobby Moynihan Bobby Moynihan (born January 31, 1977) is an American actor, comedian and writer who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2008 until 2017. He also voiced Louie Duck on Disney's ''DuckTales'' from 2017 to 2021, Panda in ''We Bare B ...

, and

Streeter Seidell Streeter John Seidell (born December 2, 1982) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and TV host. Seidell was part of the cast of ''CollegeHumors online sketches. His video series ''Prank Wars'' garnered tens of millions of views and a larg ...

Peter Dinklage Peter Hayden Dinklage (; born June 11, 1969) is an American film, television and stage actor. He received international recognition for portraying Tyrion Lannister on the HBO television series ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), for which he ...

narrates the story, which follows a brother and sister who go trick-or-treating, meet Pumpkins and catch the troublemakers who had disrupted Halloween.

Plot

''The Halloween Special'' starts and ends with live-action segments directed by

Don Roy King Donald Roy King (born October 9, 1947) is an American television director, and also a producer, writer, and actor. He served as the director for '' Saturday Night Live'' from 2006 until 2021. He has "directed more hours of live network television t ...

featuring

(Hanks), flanked by two skeletons (Day and Moynihan). The animated part is a man, Kevin (Dinklage), talking about the time he met Pumpkins as a kid. Kevin and his sister Dotty walk around during

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observan ...

, eventually finding themselves in a pumpkin patch. They choose to take home an ugly pumpkin, which turns out to be magical; Pumpkins and the skeletons appear out of an elevator. He shows them to his transport, shaped like a strawberry, and they start

trick-or-treating Trick-or-treating is a traditional Halloween custom for children and adults in some countries. During the evening of Halloween, on October 31, people in costumes travel from house to house, asking for treats with the phrase "trick or treat". The ...

. One of the neighborhood children is dressed as Kevin Roberts, an ''SNL'' character portrayed by

Larry David Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the television sitcom ''Seinfeld'', on which David was head writer and executive producer for the first seve ...

whose sketch has traits similar to Pumpkins' "Haunted Elevator." A mysterious Raincoat Man has been stealing all the children's candy, so Pumpkins decides to intervene. They try to confront the Raincoat Man in a

haunted house A haunted house, spook house or ghost house in ghostlore is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were otherwise connected with the prope ...

, who turns out to be three pre-teens who had bullied Kevin. Pumpkins returns the candy using magical floating pumpkins, and he and the skeletons depart.

Cast

as Narrator/Adult Kevin Before Dinklage was cast as Narrator/Adult Kevin,

Pete Holmes Peter Benedict Holmes (born March 30, 1979) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and podcaster. Musings on spirituality and religion are frequent themes in his works. Holmes gained recognition in the early 2010s as a stand-up comic, ...

Chris Parnell Thomas Christopher Parnell (; born February 5, 1967) is an American actor and comedian. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1998 to 2006 and played the role of Dr. Leo Spaceman on ''30 Rock''. In animation, he voices Cyril Figgis ...

Eric McCormack Eric James McCormack (born April 18, 1963) is a Canadian-American actor and singer, known for his roles as Will Truman in the NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'', Grant MacLaren in Netflix's ''Travelers'' and Dr. Daniel Pierce in the TNT crime drama ...

Bob Saget Robert Lane Saget (May 17, 1956 – January 9, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and television host. Saget played Danny Tanner on the ABC sitcom ''Full House'' (1987-1995), and reprised the role for its Netflix sequel '' Fulle ...

, and

Zachary Levi Zachary Levi Pugh ( ; born September 29, 1980) is an American actor. He received critical acclaim for starring as Chuck Bartowski in the series '' Chuck'', and as the title character in '' Shazam!'' and its 2023 sequel, as a part of the DC Ex ...

were all considered. *

as Fat Skeleton *

as Left Skeleton * Spencer Moss as Dotty * Lexi Underwood as Paige *

as Troy Ditmeyer *

Cecily Strong Cecily Legler Strong (born February 8, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. Strong is most notable for being a cast member of '' Saturday Night Live'' from 2012 to 2022. She is also the longest-tenured female cast member in the ...

as Debbie Miller *

Melissa Villaseñor Melissa Anne Villaseñor ( ; born October 9, 1987) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, impressionist, artist, singer, and musician. Villaseñor was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series '' Saturday Night Live'' from 2016 to 2022. H ...

Steve Higgins Steve Higgins (born August 13, 1963) is an American writer, producer, announcer, actor, and comedian. He currently serves as the announcer of ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' and as a writer and producer of ''Saturday Night Live''. Prio ...

Production

The character David S. Pumpkins was created for the October 22, 2016, episode of season 42 of ''Saturday Night Live'', hosted by Hanks. The sketch "Haunted Elevator (featuring David S. Pumpkins)" became widely shared, with over 10 million views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. The staff noted that the character was particularly popular with children leading to the idea of an animated special. In writing the special the team sought to keep the mystery of the character that was present in the original sketch, with Day noting "There was talk about David Pumpkins’s universe, but we thought his appeal was in, the less you know about him, the better."

announced on September 28, 2017, that ''The Halloween Special'' was in the works. Hanks also hinted earlier that he would reprise his role as Pumpkins by posting an image of the front of the script on social media. It was produced by ''SNL'' creator

Lorne Michaels Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-American producer, screenwriter, and comedian. He is best known for creating and producing ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and producing the '' La ...

and animated by

Bento Box Entertainment Bento Box Entertainment (also known as Bento Box Animation) is an American animation studio located in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 2009 by executive producers Scott Greenberg, Joel Kuwahara, and ...

with a score by

Mark Mothersbaugh Mark Allen Mothersbaugh (; born May 18, 1950) is an American composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as co-founder, lead singer and keyboardist of the new wave band Devo, whose " Whip It" was a top 20 ...

, and it was written by Day, Moynihan, and Seidell.

Release and reception

The special debuted on October 28, 2017, at 11:30 PM ( ET), in ''Saturday Night Live'' usual time slot, three days before Halloween. It received mixed reviews. Dennis Perkins wrote for '' The A.V. Club'' that there was "not enough inspiration or enough snap to the jokes" and that its "oddness ... deflates long before its running time is up." ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

'' Matthew Dessem wrote that "just like they planned it, the whole thing was terrible." Mallory Carra wrote on

Bustle A bustle is a padded undergarment used to add fullness, or support the drapery, at the back of women's dresses in the mid-to-late 19th century. Bustles are worn under the skirt in the back, just below the waist, to keep the skirt from dragging. ...

that "David S. Pumpkins is still our Halloween hero in 2017," and noted the large Twitter response, mostly positive, about Dinklage's participation.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:David S. Pumpkins Halloween Special Saturday Night Live in the 2010s 2017 television specials Halloween television specials NBC television specials 2010s American television specials 2010s animated television specials Television shows directed by Don Roy King Works with live action and animation