‘SNL’ Recap: David S. Pumpkins Returns To Haunt Jack Harlow’s Episode

After a one-week hiatus, Saturday Night Live came back, and with its second straight double-duty host/musical guest, to boot. Jack Harlow would have the full cast at his disposal, at least, as Cecily Strong made her season debut, after missing the first three episodes due to her one-woman show running in Los Angeles. Plus, it’s Halloween weekend, so who knows who might turn up, either in or out of costume, right? Right?

What’s The Deal For The SNL Cold Open For Last Night (10/29/22)?

We’re 10 days out from the midterm elections, and Heidi Gardner played PBS news anchor Judy Woodruff, shining a spotlight on three of the more colorful and controversial Republican candidates by interviewing Herschel Walker (Kenan Thompson), Dr. Oz (Mikey Day) and Kari Lake (Cecily). Each of the three represents themselves via simply silly archetypes. Walker is dumb, spouting gibberish. Oz is a fraud, hawking pills. And Lake is crazy, dishing election denial. There are some light chuckles throughout, but this cold open felt pretty perfunctory.

How Did The SNL Guest Host Jack Harlow Do?

At 24, Harlow already has released his second hit rap album, and he reminded us of not only that, but a 2022 that also has included a world tour and an upcoming film remake of White Men Can’t Jump that he’ll be starring in.
His monologue demonstrated his charm, as he affably tossed off some roast jokes at his own expense. He also teased that he wanted to test the boundaries of live TV, which got the audience all excited. What happened next? He walked offstage to a woman in the front row, asked her name and pointed the microphone at her, giving her the chance to say anything to the world. Her response: “Big Jack Harlow fan.” Which felt pretty symbolic for just how non-threatening this show is this season.

We’d get a few surprise cameos, but none of them made less sense than Survivor’s Jeff Probst appearing at a Kentucky wedding ceremony to preside over the votes from family members deciding whether Harlow’s best man (Andrew Dismukes???) could stay in costume as Joker. Ultimately, Probst told the bride (Heidi) to put out her torch and leave, which, I mean, what now? That wasn’t even the point of the vote. As for the point of the sketch, I suppose it’s hearing Dismukes repeat the line about wanting to “dress like Joker” in a Southern accent? Sarah Sherman as Grandma Judy garnered the most laughs, however, with her pre-vote declaration.

Harlow was one of a long cast of characters interviewed in “The Post-Halloween Red Carpet Special” on the street after a costume parade, dressed as a frat guy in a tampon costume. This bit allowed several cast members a chance to walk through to chat with Mikey and Cecily, among them: Chloe Fineman as wasted white girl who can’t find her Uber, Devon Walker as guy upset people didn’t appreciate his costume (slapped Chris Rock), Marcello Hernandez as guy who really wants you to ask about his costume (a t-shirt with a misspelled bad joke on the back), Bowen Yang as a guy who lost his friends while dressed as a cop, Molly Kearney as a drunk Dora the Explorer, and Kenan Thompson as a dad out way too late with his kid because he forgot to go out earlier.
And then there was the surprise cameo #2.

Set in an AA meeting, Harlow’s character finally decides to share for his first time, only it’s not about his alcoholism, but an idea for a Pixar movie: Lost luggage trying to find their way home. Sounds like Finding Nemo, doesn’t it? At any rate. The other attendees at the AA meeting now only want to talk about this movie idea, even after Harlow slips in “I drank recently, by the way.” Cecily, with frazzled hair, perks up to ask if the film has a big musical moment, and a keyboard wheels in so she can start up her own idea for a ballad, which gets everyone to stand and sing along to “Pack Yourself With Love.” But who’ll play the film’s Woody? Cue Tom Hanks. Cue the luggage. All’s well that ends well?
Since you already know by now in this recap that a David S. Pumpkins reunion is in the offing, it almost feels as if this episode was written backward from that premise? If so, that means we’re going to get at least one more “surprise” cameo tonight.

But first, a dinner scene at a San Diego Mexican restaurant, where Bowen and Harlow are the bartenders offering tableside cocktails to Kenan, Cecily, Michael Longfellow and Heidi. Also Marcello is charging his phone on the side of the scene, because, whatever. Point is the bartenders are horrible at their jobs. Cecily orders that “negroni sbagliato with prosecco” that’s trendy because Emma D’Arcy from House of the Dragon mentioned it in a clip that went viral. Turns out there’s a detailed backstory for the bartenders, and this is supposed to be their redemption after a past mishap with the same customers from five years earlier? This all feels as “Unholy” as the song they dance to.
The episode also featured two short films without Harlow in them.

A fake ad for Skechers finds sneaker employees boasting about how they spurned Kanye West and hoping that gives their brand some much-needed credit. It’s tagged by a pivot to James Austin Johnson as MyPillow’s Mike Lindell as the one guy who would love to collaborate with Ye still.

The other short is a horror movie trailer whose premise is that the scariest thing politically isn’t fascism but the idea that President Joe Biden might run for a second term in 2024 when he’s 81.

How Relevant Was The Musical Guest Jack Harlow?

Tom Hanks introduced Harlow’s first performance, a medley of new single “Lil Secret” segueing into “First Class,” his Number One hit which features a sample of Fergie’s “Glamorous.”

Cecily Strong introduced Harlow’s second song, “State Fair,” which is the last track on his new album.

Which Sketch Will We Be Sharing: “David Pumpkins Returns”

Six years after fans surprisingly took to Tom Hanks as David S. Pumpkins, the shocking star of a haunted Halloween attraction, they got the whole gang back together, complete with former SNL cast member Bobby Moynihan joining Mikey Day at either side of Mr. Pumpkins. This time around, we learn that Pumpkins is from Ibiza. Whether he’s actually Spanish or not isn’t important right now. But Andrew Dismukes has questions. Who is David S. Pumpkins? Why is David S. Pumpkins? Harlow doesn’t care because he’s all about the Pumpkins.

Who Stopped By Weekend Update?

A lengthy Update segment from Michael Che and Colin Jost set up the one and only guest this week: Bobby Moynihan as Drunk Uncle!!!

Once Moynihan appeared as surprise cameo #3, we knew David S. Pumpkins would be coming sooner rather than later, but they didn’t have to give Moynihan his own spot on Update, too. Good thing they did. By this point an hour into the episode, Drunk Uncle’s return provided a jolt of excitement and proved the funniest thing in the episode, as he seemed to be operating at a much higher level than Jost or even any of the current cast (with the possible exception of one, who I’ll mention in the MVP slot).

What Sketch Filled The “10-to-1” Slot?

At 12:54 a.m. Eastern, SNL introduced a new iteration of The View! Why, pray tell, is this coming at the end of the night and not right after the monologue or even in the cold open? Who knows with this season’s decision-makers. Ego Nwodim now steps in as Whoopi Goldberg, with Sarah Sherman as Joy Behar, Chloe as Sara Haines and Punkie Johnson as Sunny Hostin. But it’s all about Harlow flirting hard with Whoopi. Even though Whoopi insists: “I have been closed for business since before you were born,” Harlow’s come-ons eventually turn her on, too.

Who Was The Episode’s MVP?

In terms of screen time, perhaps Heidi Gardner or Mikey Day carried the brunt of the load. But in terms of laughs per minute, Sarah Sherman saved the day in multiple sketches. Her Grandma Judy at the Joker wedding, her Annabelle at the “Cellblock 666” ride that reunited David S. Pumpkins with his skeleton dance crew, and her Joy Behar all packed a punch that the rest of those scenes seemed to lack without her presence.

Next week, Amy Schumer hosts with musical guest Steve Lacy.

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.

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