(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Wed 14 January 2026 19:45, UK
Not to state the obvious, but the easiest way for an actor to not play a role they hate at first sight is not to play it. However, Tom Hanks had already thrown himself in at the deep end, and after some persuasion, he ended up with a cult hero on his hands.
The way the movie business works is that scripts are offered to performers, who read them and decide whether or not they want to accept the part. If they liked the idea of it but think there are improvements to be made, they can offer improvements, especially if they’re an industry A-lister.
As a two-time Academy Award winner, beloved figure, and father to all of America, Hanks fits the bill. He wasn’t afforded the same leeway, though, because it had nothing to do with motion pictures. Instead, it was another place that he’s regularly called home over the years: Saturday Night Live.
Since first hosting the long-running series in December 1984, the Forrest Gump favourite has become an SNL staple. He was welcomed into the ‘Five-Timers Club’ in December 1990, he’s hosted a further five times since then, and he’s made over a dozen cameo appearances in various episodes.
Ask anyone even remotely familiar with the show to name the definitive character he’s played, and most of them would only have one answer. In October 2016, David S Pumpkins was introduced to the world, and within a matter of weeks, Halloween costumes replicating his signature pumpkin-decorated suit and perm were flying off the shelves.
It was a stupid idea, born from a stupid idea. Bobby Moynihan knew there was a Halloween episode coming up, and when he realised that the spooky season didn’t have a Santa Claus equivalent, his mind started racing. “We started joking around, saying, ‘What if it was just a guy named David Pumpkins?’” he recalled to Entertainment Weekly.
The cast member and writer also knew that one of the biggest names in cinema was lined up to host a couple of weeks before Halloween, so he shot his shot. “Tom Hanks hated it and asked us to give it to somebody else,” he admitted. “And we said no. And then in between dress rehearsal and air, Tom Hanks went like, ‘I’m just going to be weird’. And we were like, ‘Yeah, great.’”
Hanks didn’t only not want to be the man to bring David S Pumpkins to the screen for the first time, but he even suggested a replacement to try and weasel his way out of it. “He thought it was very bizarre, and was like, ‘Hey, I think Chris Hemsworth would make a great David Pumpkins,” Moynihan added, with the actor trying to pass the buck to an upcoming host.
Stranger heads prevailed, and Pumpkins proved so popular that Hanks has made three more appearances on SNL, and given his ongoing association with the show, it can’t be ruled out that he’ll be back again.
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