Tom Hanks Hosts ‘SNL’ After Coronavirus Recovery, Parodies ‘Tiger King’ in Opening Monologue

Back in action! Beloved actor Tom Hanks returned to screens everywhere while hosting Saturday Night Live for the first time after recovering from COVID-19. Tom, 63, looked happy and healthy during his opening monologue, where he poked fun at Netflix’s true crime docuseries Tiger King among other lighthearted jokes to provide some laughter during such an unprecedented time.

“Hey all you cool cats and kittens,” he began with a Tiger King reference. “It’s me, your old pal.” He explained that his new look — a shaved head — was for an upcoming movie. He also addressed the coronvarius pandemic as he hosted the show from his kitchen. “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.”

The Cast Away star marked the first host for SNL after the show’s hiatus as they figured out a way to run the show remotely in order to adhere to social distancing guidelines to help slow the spread of COVID-19.  “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,” the Toy Story actor continued with another joke.

Tom was one of the first celebrities to reveal a coronavirus diagnosis since the illness started spreading around the world in late November 2019. The Sleepless in Seattle star and his wife, Rita Wilson, both tested positive for COVID-19 while they were in Australia working on Tom’s upcoming untitled Elvis Presley film project and they opened up about their experience on March 11.

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By March 28, they both had recovered and returned home to the United States, where they began to shelter-in-place and practice social distancing. He shared a joke about life in self-quarantine. “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,” he added. “My wife had to help me put it on.”

Tom also gave thanks to all of the essential workers who are continuing to work during the pandemic and shared a message of hope with fans. “We will get through this together,” he said.

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