returned with a new episode tonight, and it’s one of the most unique ones in the show’s 45 year history. It took a page from the late night talk shows, which haven’t ceased production despite the pandemic, and built a new episode out of footage shot at each cast member’s homes. And it even had a surprise host: Tom Hanks, aka “America’s Dad,” aka the self-pronounced “celebrity canary in the coal mine” for COVID-19.
Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, are safe at home after catching the virus in Australia in March, and his real-life recovery from it lends a bit more weight to the inspiring words that close out his monologue. Before then, though, it’s a fairly typicalmonologue, despite being shot in his kitchen and having obvious edits—it even briefly does the audience Q&A bit that the show leans on a little too much.