Tom Hanks brought the funny and the sincerity to “Saturday Night Live,” this weekend. The appearance on “SNL” marked the actor’s first TV screen appearance since testing positive for coronavirus in March. Tom and wife, Rita Wilson, both tested positive for the novel virus while they were on the Australia set of Tom’s latest project, a Baz Luhrmann-directed film about Elvis Presley.
Tom did his “SNL” gig from his Los Angeles home and kicked things off with a “Tiger King” reference.
“Hey all you cool cats and kittens,” he joked, a clear nod to the Netflix hit. “It’s me, your old pal. Don’t be afraid, this shaved head was just for a movie. My hair is growing back very slowly.”
“Hey, it’s good to be here, though it is also very weird to be here. Hosting Saturday Night Live from home. It is a strange time to try and be funny, but trying to be funny is SNL‘s whole thing. So we thought, what the heck? Let’s give it a shot,” Hanks shared. “But why me as host? Well, for one, I have been the celebrity canary of the coal mine for the coronavirus, and ever since being diagnosed, I have been more like America’s dad than ever before since no one wants to be around me very long and I make people uncomfortable,” he joked.
“Now I was diagnosed back in March with the coronavirus. I was first diagnosed down in Australia. Now the folks in Australia are fantastic in every way but they use Celsius instead of Fahrenheit when they take your temperature,” he shared. “So, when they come in and they say, ‘You’re 36,’ which seemed very bad to me. But turns out 36 is fine, turns out 38 is bad. So basically it’s how Hollywood treats female actors.”
Oooo.. .burn!
Tom then went on to talk about his current quarantine fashion after he and Rita returned back to Los Angeles.
“But now my wife and I are doing fine, doing great. We’re hunkered down, like all of us should be. In fact, this suit, this is the first time I’ve worn anything other than sweatpants since March 11. My wife had to help me put it on,” he kidded.
And he also shared that this “Saturday Night Live” episode would continue to be different than what people are used to since the entire cast of the NBC sketch show is currently at their homes.
“Now this Saturday Night Live is going to be a little different. For one thing, it has been filmed entirely by the SNL cast who are currently quarantined in their homes,” Hanks said in his monologue, adding, “Also there’s no such things as Saturdays anymore.” “Now is it going to look a little different than what you’re used to? Yes. Will it be weird to see sketches without big sets and costumes? Sure. But will it make you laugh? Eh, it’s SNL. There’ll be some good stuff, maybe one or two stinkers, you know the drill,” Hanks continued. “But let’s go. Stay safe, we are in this for the duration and we are in this together. And we will get through this together.”
The show didn’t have any lack of funnies, despite the work from home effort of the “SNL” cast.
Larry David made a cameo as Bernie Sanders, who recently suspended his presidential campaign. And Alec Baldwin made a cameo as President Donald Trump and announced in a funny message that he’d be running alongside Joe Exotic in this next election.
Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon took a funny dig at Zoom and the generational gap of video calls. The duo play older receptionists who can’t quite grasp proper group video call etiquette.
Oh, and of course there was Pete Davidson doing a music video.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p2vIpl-nOg
The “SNL” cast also included past and present members to pay an emotional tribute to Hal Willner, a record producer who oversaw sketch music for the show and recently died of coronavirus complications at age 64.
They also sang Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day.” Some of the alums who participated included, Adam Sandler, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, Molly Shannon, Rachel Dratch and Ana Gasteyer.
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