Colin Jost on how that bloody good 'Dead Poets Society' sketch on 'SNL' came to be

Colin Jost wasn't quite sure how viewers would react to Season 41's "Farewell Mr. Bunting" -- a sketch that put a gory and hilarious twist on Dead Poets Society. But he did know one thing from the start: He and fellow writer Mikey Day certainly got a laugh out of talking about it. 

In the end, the homage starring that week's guest host Fred Armisen in the role of the teacher earned itself equal amounts of gasps and laughter -- and also a place among the season's most memorable pieces. 

Below, in this week's Inside the Sketch, Jost talks about how everything came together behind the scenes to make the sketch come to life and reveals the final line that almost came to be.

MASHABLE: This sketch is being called one of the best of the season -- did it start with wanting to do a 'Dead Poets Society' homage or a desire to chop someone's head off?

Mikey Day had pitched doing a Dead Poets Society type sketch the week before, and when I heard it, for some reason I immediately thought that one kid should stand and have his head chopped off by a fan and blood should spray everywhere. I talked to Mikey about it and it was making us laugh thinking about the head ricocheting into other fans and landing on the other students. Then we had a lot of fun brainstorming dialogue in the style of Dead Poets Society -- all the strict anti-emotional language that's in the movie. We watched the original scene about 10 times and it made us genuinely want to cry, so we tried to preserve that tone and keep delaying the reveal until you didn't really expect it anymore.

How did Fred react to the idea -- and Pete, since it was his head? What was it like writing for Fred again? 

Fred seemed into it Tuesday night and we loved the idea of Fred playing a "fun," "anti-establishment" teacher. One of Fred's many strengths is that he can play a part very straight, yet there's something playful in his eyes that lets you know a joke is coming.

Mikey and I had worked on another filmed piece together that was a parody of Divergent called "The Group Hopper" and Pete was great in that, so we knew he'd be good on film. Plus as our "resident young person," we thought his head would grow back the fastest.

Beck, Kyle, Jay, Jon and Bobby did such a good job acting in the piece, which was not a surprise but still very impressive to watch. They looked authentically like late 50's prep school kids and their reactions to Fred being in the room are great.

I'm pretty sure this may be an SNL fake blood record. Was there ever any concern that the sketch wouldn't make the cut because of it's bloody content?

Yes, there were definitely concerns about the blood. Even while we were filming, the crew seemed justifiably confused as to how this would end up being "comedy." I saw pictures of the set covered in blood that looked like a scene from The Shining. We didn't quite know how an audience would react. Would they laugh or just scream? In the end, it seemed like a mix of both.

Tell me about filming this one because there's so many moving parts -- between the fan and the blood and the prosthetic Pete head. What was the biggest challenge in filming?

Well Rhys Thomas, who directed it, did an amazing job. He captured the tone just right. The build up is paced out really well. He and our editor Adam Epstein timed the whole head flying off sequence perfectly. That was hard to time properly so it would keep building and keep surprising people without overstaying its welcome. They really nailed that. Rhys and Alex Buono, our DP, also captured the texture of the room. Part of why it worked was that they let you settle in and feel like you're inside that room. We have a fantastic Film Unit all around and they really killed it. (As well as Pete.)

"You guys have my email and everything" was a perfect last kicker here. Who's responsible for that line?

I believe that one was my line, but we were both throwing out a lot of options for last lines. That one just sounds like something Fred would say at that moment. We also had a version where Fred said, "Oh, and I'm sorry for exposing myself in class all the time. That was definitely fireable."

BONUS: Bobby Moynihan's favorite Season 41 memory

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