Tom Hanks Joins SNL's First Remote Episode To Talk Coronavirus [Video]

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In the history books, when we look back on the moment a lot of people really started to take COVID-19 seriously, Tom Hanks testing positive might just be the answer.

On Saturday night, the cast of Saturday Night Live presented a special At Home edition of their popular sketch show that was produced remotely. They announced the news earlier in the week, confirming that the episode would include segments like Weekend Update along with other original content from the current SNL cast members.

While the actual nature of an episode like this was confusing to a lot of fans, most welcomed the idea with open arms because…well, we’ve got nothing else to do.

Of course, a huge element of Saturday Night Live is the celebrity host, which had a lot of people wondering if any big names would appear remotely. Luckily, fans were gifted with one of the most prevalent celebrities during these trying times: Tom Hanks.

Tom Hanks ended up opening the show as the host, doing an opening monologue without an audience where he gives an update on his current health condition.

“Hey, it’s good to be here, though it is also very weird to be here hosting Saturday Night Live from home,” Hanks started. “It is a strange time to try to be funny, but trying to be funny is SNL’s whole thing, so we thought, what the heck, let’s give it a shot!”

“But, why me as host?” he continued. “Well, for one, I have been the celebrity canary in 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.”

Check out Tom’s monologue for yourself down below: