David S. Pumpkins returns to SNL, and Trump makes it weird
Tom Hanks returned as David S. Pumpkins in SNL’s Halloween cold open, but James Austin Johnson’s Trump interrupted to talk midterms and men’s butts.
David S. Pumpkins returned to Saturday Night Live for Halloween, but another familiar orange figure quickly took over.
Tom Hanks reprised his pumpkin-suited character during the Oct. 31 cold open, alongside Mikey Day and Bobby Moynihan as his dancing skeleton sidekicks. What looked like a Halloween reunion soon became a platform for James Austin Johnson's Donald Trump to discuss the midterm elections — and Hanks' backside.
The episode, hosted by Obsession star Inde Navarrette with musical guest Gracie Abrams, opened with a couple boarding a haunted attraction guided by Kenan Thompson. When Hanks appeared, the riders wanted to know why David S. Pumpkins belonged on the ride. Before he could explain, Johnson's Trump interrupted with one word: "Midterms."
"Aw, are you sad you don’t get to see your third David Pumpkins scene?" he asked. "I’ll save you four minutes: he keeps popping up and confusing people on the ride. The end."
With the performers frozen behind him, Trump compared himself to Pumpkins. "We both appeared in 2016, we’re both very loud, very orange, and very, frankly, annoying!" he said.
He then praised Hanks' acting before adding, "Great ass! A great ass on Hanks." The joke nodded to Trump's recent campaign speeches, in which he has repeatedly admired Ohio Republican Sen. Jon Husted's physique, describing his backside as "a pile of muscle." On SNL, that fixation extended to Hanks and Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico, making men’s backsides the butt of the joke (pun intended).
Holding up a bruised hand, Trump also compared its color to Texas turning purple, declaring that if the state went blue, he would abandon it.
Thompson, meanwhile, walked offstage. When Trump thanked him for a supposed donation, he replied, "Yeah, you wish, bitch."
Saidah Belo-Osagie appeared as Nicki Minaj, whom Trump introduced as a prospective press secretary. "I’m out here killing it," she said. "And by it, I mean my career."
Veronika Slowikowska followed as Katie Zacharia, who bungled the show’s opening line, leaving Hanks and his skeletons to deliver "Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!"
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