‘Saturday Night Live’ #TBT: Tom Hanks Joins the Five-Timers Club
Tom Hanks is perhaps the most beloved of American movie stars. His more recent dramatic work — like Captain Phillips and this weekend’s Sully — may have made you forget that he’s an adept comedic actor (and got his start in comedies). But just tune into any of the eight Saturday Night Live episodes he’s hosted to revive your memory.
Related: ‘Sully’ Review: Tom Hanks and Clint Eastwood Land a Vivid Drama About a Real-Life Hero
One of his most classic sketches took place in his monologue in 1990. It was his fifth time hosting, and so he was inducted into the Five-Timers Club. Steve Martin, Elliott Gould, and Paul Simon welcomed him into the lavishly appointed clubhouse (yeah, that’s a young, pre-famous Conan O’Brien as the doorman). Hanks is wowed by receiving the plush velvet robe, learning of the perfect, 80-degree pool, and ordering food named after SNL luminaries like Chevy Chase and Joe Piscopo.
It’s a brilliant, hilarious, and instantly memorable sketch — and what’s even more impressive is that the whole thing was Hanks’s idea!
And Hanks was game enough to welcome Justin Timberlake to the Five-Timers Club when he reached that milestone.
Saturday Night Live returns for its 42nd season this fall.
