Lauren Pineda
And when we thought things weren’t going to get any better, we were blessed with a new Saturday Night Live episode from NBC- SNL At Home. From an even better standpoint, Tom Hanks hosts this episode, being one of the first celebrities diagnosed with coronavirus.
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About a month ago, Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson had contracted the coronavirus while in Australia. Now that they are healed and recovered, they have since then returned back to America, continuing to practice social distancing.
I think we all need a good-hearted laugh during this strange time. This episode was prerecorded by the SNL cast to encourage watching remotely for the first time. The opening scene starts with a zoom call with all the SNL cast members. We see the usual faces including Pete Davidson, Kate Mckinnon, Aidy Bryant, and Chloe Fineman.
Tom Hanks then proceeds with the usual opening monologue that normally kicks off SNL episodes. Only this time, he’s in his own kitchen making Tiger King references and shining light on his own coronavirus diagnosis.
“I have been the celebrity canary in the coal mine for the coronavirus and ever since I have 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 jokingly mentions.
The episode touches over life during the coronavirus as everyone knows it. Their skits are parodies over zoom calls, Drake music videos, Tiger King, and more. The best part of the episode is their tribute to Hal Willner. Music producer Hal Willner oversaw SNL’s sketch music, and unfortunately lost to the coronavirus at 64-years-old. Cast members, old and new, sang “Perfect Day” by Lou Reed to honor him. We see SNL alumni such as Adam Sandler, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, Molly Shannon, Rachel Dratch and Ana Gasteyer participate in this to honor his death.
SNL‘s whole thing may have always seemed to drive comedic hate and spite towards today’s current events, but I think this episode was the kind of light-hearted humor America needed. And to have Tom Hanks host the episode was endearing and encouraging against COVID-19. His appearance on the show is an example of the pandemic not holding him back. We can all take something from that.
