Tom Hanks Hosted “SNL At Home” Last Night

Many have been saying that Saturday Night Live has been phoning it in for a while, and well, last night, they Zoomed it in (sort of). Because of the obvious, the SNL cast can’t get together, so they did the show from their homes. And like the rest of us, I had nothing better to do last night, so I checked up on it and found “COVID-19 survivor“ Tom Hanks rising out of the pits of corona hell to open the show.

The musical guest was Chris Martin, which probably got Tom Hanks an earful of shit from the musical artistes in his life, Rita Wilson and Chet Haze. All of the usual SNL suspects were on hand to deliver their trademark bits: Alec Baldwin did Trump; Woody Allen’s #1 fan, Larry David, showed up to do his Bernie Sanders; and a bunch of former cast members, including Fred Armisen, Tina Fey and Maya Rudolph made special appearances.

But it truly was the Tom Hanks show. Now a 10-time host, Tom delivered a laugh-track-less monologue addressed his (and his wife, Rita Wilson’s) recent COVID-19 diagnosis, delivered a totally expected Tiger King reference, and basically summed up SNL in real time:

“Will it be weird to see sketches without big sets and costumes? Sure. But will it make you laugh? Eh, it’s ‘SNL,’ there will be some good stuff, maybe one or two stinkers, you know the drill,” Hanks said. 

As for the skits: Kate McKinnon did a funny bit on how Ruth Bader Ginsburg might be handling the lockdown. Alternatively, Pete Davidson did what he does best: showed up, mumbled some shitty jokes and was altogether forgettable. He did a take on Drake’s recent “Toosie Slide” music video, directed by his mom, whose basement he lives in (year round, Coronavirus or not).

The special episode was the show’s first time on the air with new material since March 7, when Daniel Craig hosted. It was also the first SNL to ever be produced remotely, and many are wondering how many more they’ll churn out. Next week, NBC will be airing a rerun of the John Mulaney/David Byrne episode. Here’s hoping they can get a hold of Joe Exotic from prison. With Kristin Chenoweth as the musical guest. And below are some skits from last night (you can watch them all here), in case you fell asleep on the sofa at 7:30pm while spooning with an empty bottle of chardonnay (relatable).

Kate McKinnon doing RBG’s workout:

Pete Davidson making fun of Drake’s video:

SNL’s inevitable Zoom skit:

Larry as Bernie:

Chloe Fineman doing Timothee Chalamet (not like that), Carole Baskin, and JoJo Siwa in a MasterClass parody:

Weekend Update:

Chris Martin:

And the middle-aged Ninja Turtles:

Pic: YouTube