This weekend marked the season finale of Saturday Night Live (SNL), which was hosted by the always hilarious alum Fred Armisen. The last episode was one heck of a send-off for the show, with no new episodes airing until this fall.
One particularly popular skit included a parody of the 1989 film Dead Poets Society, which won quite a few awards for its engaging and intelligent screenwriting.
The sketch, titled Farewell, Mr. Bunting, played on the film’s send-off of Robin William’s character, John Keating. In the film, said character was fired and, while getting his belongings, his students surprised him with a fond farewell by standing on their desks reciting Keating’s teachings of the poet Walt Whitman.
SNL cast members, including Beck Bennett, Jay Pharoah, and Peter Davidson played the dramatic students’ roles. The Principal was played by Bobby Moynihan.
As the audience and television viewers waited for the punch line, they got the shock of their lives and were unable to hold back the ensuing laughter.
As Mr. Bunting stands at the door ready to leave, lovingly looking back at the students, one stands on his desk only to be decapitated by the ceiling fan, sending blood everywhere. The head lands on Mr. Bunting’s hands, making him screech with horror.
Following the incident, Mr. Bunting says, “Alright, I’m gonna take off,” to the students that are now bloodied by the event. “You guys have my email and everything, right?”
With the rise of graphic shows that include vampires, ghosts and zombies, the sketch proved to resonate with the type of content many viewers tend to enjoy today.
You can catch the full sketch below…