Few sketches from Saturday Night Live this year have been more weirdly wonderful than one from the episode hosted by Peter Dinklage, which featured the Game of Thrones star rocking a Sia-esque wig and a pair of intergalactic trousers.

Though officially called "Mafia Meeting," the sketch, which also featured a cameo from musical guest Gwen Stefani, is best know by two other words: Space Pants.

To take us into the making of this memorable moment — which has more than 1.7 million views on YouTube alone, and was just released as a single (above) — we reached out to SNL writer Mikey Day for our latest edition of Inside the Sketch, a recurring feature you can find only on Mashable.

Below, he opens up about how Space Pants came to be, the way Dinklage inspired his character's look, and why we should all be thankful for the music of Devo.

MASHABLE: How'd the idea for the sketch come about? Why was it centered around space pants, as opposed to another kind of novelty pant?

MIKEY DAY: The initial concept came from that trope from movies, where powerful people have high-stakes conversations at a club where there's always a woman in a red dress next to a piano singing a song. We just tried to think of the craziest act that could be onstage instead of a sultry, ambient tune. I think Space Pants came mostly from the fact that it's a phrase that's fun to yell loudly. Pants is way more fun to yell than shirt. Although the word "hat" is good too. Space Hat, coming soon.

Was there a specific musician who inspired Peter's character's hair and styling? What was his reaction when you told him the overall idea of the sketch?

We first pitched him the idea in our office on Tuesday night. It's not the easiest thing to explain, but luckily he got the ridiculousness and loved the insanity of it. Half the look was implicit: he needed Space Pants. The costume department found the pattern for the pants and gave him that sweet silver vest. The hair department made the best wig ever. It wasn't based on anyone in particular, although it did have a Sia vibe. Peter inspired the look of the hair. He said, "I feel like this guy has a geometric haircut."



At what point did Gwen join the sketch? Between the song and the outfits, were you impressed by how they managed to maintain their composure?

The last part of the sketch originally involved the song switching into a heavy dubstep version, the lights going low and Peter shooting lasers from a pair of laser gloves. But incorporating lasers was going to be too complicated, so we needed something else for the song's finale. We thought it would be awesome if Gwen joined Peter for the end — and luckily, she was totally on board with this insane concept. She was very game to rock a pair of Space Shorts. Peter seemed to really get deep into the character, so I don't think there was a chance he'd ever break.

That song is so damn catchy. Can you talk about writing the music for this sketch? Also, when writing a music-heavy sketch like this one, does it come with added pressures because of all the things that can go wrong (missing/forgetting lyrics, staying on beat, etc.)?

We told Eli, the show's music producer, that we wanted a very high energy song with an intense beat. Devo's "Whip It" was the inspiration. We wrote the lyrics, gave them to Eli and he created the sound that is Space Pants. There's definitely an added pressure with musical sketches — but luckily, the lyrics weren't that intricate. So if Peter ever got tripped up, he could just yell, "Space Pants!" and we'd be good. Fortunately, he nailed it.

When can we expect the full Space Pants album to hit iTunes? Or is it just on Tidal?

I believe the song will for real be on iTunes soon. We'll only do an album if Devo produces it.

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