Peter Dinklage and Gwen Stefani's "Space Pants" SNL Sketch Is "Part of a Trilogy"
Mikey Day, who co-wrote "Mafia Meeting" ahead of joining the cast, told NBC Insider what it has in common with David S. Pumpkins' "Haunted Elevator" and a certain Larry David sketch.
Some Saturday Night Live sketches are centered around a musical number so ear-wormy, they become better remembered by the song than for the actual title its writers gave it. "Derek Stevens Audition" may draw blank looks from fans who think Dana Carvey's iconic sketch is called "Choppin' Broccoli," for example. And those who recall Host Peter Dinklage's cult-favorite "Mafia Meeting" from his sole April 2016 episode probably recognize it by another name: "Space Pants."
That's because Dinklage, playing nightclub singer Jonathan Cummings, stomps around chanting "SPACE PANTS" over and over while wearing one interstellar pair of trousers. Taking his act from the stage to the restaurant floor, Dinklage's Cummings even gets a preoccupied bunch of Mafia guys to join his call-and-response, even as one (Bobby Moynihan) holds two young men (Pete Davidson and Jon Rudnitsky) at gunpoint.
"Boys and girls, I think you'll find / that my pants will blow your mind! / Look at my pants with the eyes in your face: My legs are covered in outer space," Dinklage's character intones, executing jerky dance moves. "Space pants! Space pants! I am wearing: Space pants!"
"What is this?" Davidson's character asks, speaking for everyone.
Just when you think the song can't get any catchier, Gwen Stefani joins Dinklage onstage in her own special space shorts.
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Gwen Stefani and Peter Dinklage's "Space Pants" lyrics were written by Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell
Day co-wrote "Mafia Meeting" with Streeter Seidell, who's now co-head writer on the show. At the time, Day was a staff writer before joining the cast as a Featured Player in Season 42.
"We love that one," Day told NBC Insider, looking back on making the sketch. "Peter Dinklage was down to clown — he was so cool, and he got it immediately," he said of the Wicked actor, who definitely committed one hundred and ten percent to his performance.
Day explained that the inspiration came from "watching any gangster film where they're always having an intense conversation, and then in the background there's always a woman in a red dress — like, Fabulous Baker Boys-style, singing music that you never really pay attention to."
After seeing a scene in that niche genre, Day told NBC Insider, "I just thought: What is the worst possible, most distracting act that could be on the stage instead?"
The answer: "Space Pants."
Like Gwen Stefani, who grew up in Anaheim, Day is a native of Orange County, California, and said he was "a huge No Doubt fan." Encouraged as a staff writer to approach The Voice Coach about being in the sketch, Day said "she was so nice — like far surpassed any expectation! Just so cool."
Mikey Day on the connection between "Space Pants," Kevin Roberts and David S. Pumpkins' "Haunted Elevator"
Day also shared a surprising connection he makes between "Mafia Meeting" and two other sketches, a wildly-popular phenomenon and another cult favorite.
"We consider it part of a kind of trilogy," Day explained. The first: "We wrote one with Larry David as Kevin Roberts, a weird dude in an orange suit who's in a police simulator," he said, referring to "FBI Simulator" from David's Season 41 episode.
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The second in the trilogy would be "Mafia Meeting" aka "Space Pants," with "Haunted Elevator" — which introduced Tom Hanks' David S. Pumpkins — being the third.
The through-line? "Weirdos in colorful outfits distracting people," Day explained.
Watch "Mafia Meeting" from Season 41, Episode 16 above, and stream every episode of Saturday Night Live on Peacock anytime.
