Tom Hanks hosted Saturday Night Live with musical guest the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Hanks was hosting for his eighth time and it was one of the best SNL episodes of the season. The episode aired on May 6th, 2006. This episode had some very funny moments.
So what about the sketches?
Cold Open: President Bush and VP Cheney at the White House talking about the changes going on in the administration. It started out kind of slow but when Tom Hanks came on as Senator Frist to talk about his new Gas Plan after his previous one not getting too far it got funny. It turned into an infomercial about what the American people would get for drilling in Alaska and the Grand Canyon. For starters they would get $120 instead of $100. Next they would each get a three-day trip to beautiful Busch Gardens in Florida and finally the Magic Mop with not one but two chamois clothes. It was a $500 value and was pretty funny.
Monologue: Tom Hanks comes out to talk about his new movie the Da Vinci Code. He is about to show a video diary when the audience interrupts him. The people asking the questions escalate from a woman, to a priest, then a Cardinal, to the Pope and then God himself. All with an albino monk and flying nun in there too. It was humorous.
Wheel of Fortune: Tom Hanks as Pat Sajak and Tina Fey as a mute Vanna White. The three contestants can’t seem to solve the puzzle: “By the S_in of Our Teeth.” Each guess gets more absurd until they just keep passing to the next player. It went on a little long and wasn’t that funny.
Rick and Caitlan: This is by far my favorite returning character on this show. Watching Amy Poehler running around like a hyper pre-teen screaming and signing at the top of her lungs is just funny to me. It is a mini tour de force performance that makes me tired just watching it. In this one Hanks plays Eli a guy with a iguana who needs someone to watch it while he and his wife go on a cruise. Caitlan chickens out and Rick once again comes to her aid.
An SNL Digital Short: New York City, 1991. This was pretty funny. Keenan Thompson standing there, looking like Dwayne Wayne from A Different World, asking if the others have heard the C+C Music Factory song “Everybody Dance Now.†Will Forte looking like Vanilla Ice asking if they had heard Right Said Fred with “I’m Too Sexy.†Chris Parnell asks if they have heard Rio and Ephram. They say no and he pulls out his giant boombox for them to listen. We are treated to the video where Hanks is Ephram and Andy Samberg is Rio. They sing about how they don’t want anything to happen to their testicles. It was a very funny spoof of early nineties fashion and music.
Universal Theme Park: This was the weakest sketch of the night. Tom Hanks and Fred Armisen as two guys in line for a ride yelling at there Mom to get in line with them, get out of other lines, by them pizza, etc. It was just an excuse for them to keep yelling Ma! This got old pretty quick.
Weekend Update: Very funny had some great lines. Like the Kennedy who got in a car wreck because of his medication, “Tylenol JD,†which was a bottle of Jack Daniels with the label changed in the graphic. The best line was from Amy Poehler about David Blaine spending the week in the water bubble saying he is trying to “break the record for the world’s shrivelyist penis.†Horation Sanz came on as Rosie O’Donnell to talk about joining The View.
Yoga Class: They each had to partner up. This left Rachel Dratch to partner with Teddy played by Hanks. He was hairy, sweaty and talked a lot. They end up in some very funny and compromising positions. Amy Poehler almost lost it at one point.
Colin’s Place: Keenan Thompson as Colin Powell and Finesse Mitchell as his son Michael. It was a pretty good take off of Sanford and Son. Overall it wasn’t great but is was solid and is the best thing either Finesse or Keenan have been in, in some time.
Tennis Club Partnership: Tom Hanks plays a tennis player with one arm. His partner wants to end the partnership before the big club tournament. He has a new playing partner with three arms. But Hanks has a back up partner he has recruited out of retirement with seven arms. It was OK. The funniest thing about it was that they all sounded like Thurston Howell, III from Gilligan’s Island.
Saturday Night Live had a really good week with Tom Hanks as host. Next week the hosting duties go to former cast member Julia Louis Dreyfus. Yes she is best known for Elaine on Seinfeld but she spent like three years back in the early 80s as part of the SNL cast. The musical guest will be Paul Simon.
What did you think of this week’s SNL? How did you like Tom Hanks? What did you think was the best sketch of the night? Have any thoughts on the show? Leave them in the comments.
That stupid skit with Tom and Fred Armisen yelling “Maaaa” brought me and my daughter to tears
because Rachel Dratch’s character (ma) kept on popping up in front of the camera looking for
them. My daughter’s ten years old. It may have been a weak sketch, but for the past month,
my daughter and my have found ourselves yelling “Maaaaaa!” back and forth in straight Brooklyn
accent at the weirdest times possible.
We got into it at Safeway last week. And a few people knew what we were doing.
It may have been weak, but that sketch made my entire year. It gave me a great way to have
fun with my kid.
But my husband may want to claw his ears out soon……….
I would probably be whipping out the “claws†with your husband but am glad to hear that there was at least one redeeming aspect to the sketch, giving you a bonding moment with your daughter.