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You Can Stream The 'David S. Pumpkins Animated Special' Online, Man—Any Questions?
By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 29, 2017
Modified Oct 29, 2017
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By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 29, 2017
Modified Oct 29, 2017
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In a few days, it'll be November 1 and we'll finally be past the season of ghouls and David S. Pumpkins. The unexpectedly viral Saturday Night Live character, portrayed by Tom Hanks, launched a thousand—okay, at least ONE—think pieces and ruined one Brooklyn man's Halloween. Now, the David S. Pumpkins Animated Special is online.
The half-hour special aired on Saturday, October 28, and is now available on Hulu—and on NBC.com, which has generously made it share-able:
The special, which has Peter Dinklage narrating the story about the "jazzed up crazy man in the pumpkin attire," is pretty tame. And, as many have pointed out, it's the exact opposite of the four-and-half minute sketch that struck a comedy chord: it's stilted and slow-moving, with a handful of amusing moments (child dressed as Abraham Lincoln-and-a-taco; child dressed as Kevin Roberts; raisins are terrible). Put another way: The animated special does not deserve its own Oral History.
In fact, Vulture's oral history of the David S. Pumpkins sketch did bring up how the special was conceived:
Street Seidell: We kept the qualities of the sketch that made it fun, without trying to make it feel like a long SNL sketch.
Mikey Day: It’s not like David Pumpkins for a half-hour going, “Aaah! I’m David Pumpkins!”
SS: As we were writing it, we realized, “Oh, this guy’s kind of annoying.” If he talks for long enough, you’re just like, “I hate this dude.”
MD: There was talk about David Pumpkins’s universe, but we thought his appeal was in, the less you know about him, the better.
SS: You learn zero about David Pumpkins. By the end of it, you learn one piece of information, and that’s it. He only makes one pronouncement and offers one opinion.
Well, here's the original and you can pass judgement for yourself:
This coming weekend, Larry David will host SNL, with musical guest Miley Cyrus.
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david s. pumpkins
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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