Tom Hanks on Letterman

[fadedrose]

WHY, WHY.....all he did was talk about his movies.

he could have just shut up and let Dave do the talking about rats in NY or something interesting.

My heart skipped a beat when they showed Biden at the very beginning, and I told my pillow, no no no, not till Wednesday.

Thank goodness, the candidacy wasn't announced YET.

Let's hope the next guest is worthwhile.

We don't have time for any more movie stuff.

[bvf]

1. Missed it, unfortunately,

but I don't get your point. Tom Hanks is one of our greatest living actors. Why the problem with his talking about his movies?

[sabrina 1]

2. Didn't he also produce the great HBO series on John Adams based on the book by David McCullough?

I didn't see it either but would love to hear him talk about his work which has dealt with some pretty interesting and important issues.

[fadedrose]

3. Ya, one of the world's greatest living actors

was interviewed by the world's greatest living host who just happens to be retiring in 2 days.

Last week George Clooney was on. He's handsome, made lots of movies, but he showed his affection for David throughout his appearance. And then, some old guy, whose name I can't remember, came on, and I think Clooney from the way he looked at the guy, kind of amused, was going to say something he thought might be funny, but changed his mind.

He saw that David was very fond of the old guy. Then it was time for the old guy to sing, and he had a voice like a dog with laryngitis and Clooney remained polite, wearing handcuffs attached to David so that David could not leave him.

The guy sang a song he had written for David with the last line being repeated over and over again, and it was something like "look back where you were," singing to David, and he repeated it at least 25 times, and when he was done, the audience gave the old guy a standing ovation. Letterman looked touched, and Clooney did too, understanding what had transpired, that this old guy really felt bad, loved Letterman, and was maybe scared.

It was the most poignant thing I've seen on TV for a long time and had tears in my eyes. The old guy represented what so many of us feel....Other guests all did something that was special between them and the host, wardrobe, song or story that made him special to them...

That's why I was disappointed. Hanks talked and talked about himself leaving the host sitting there without much of a chance to say anything, until, well, I thought he was out of line this time.

[bvf]

4. As I said, I didn't see Hanks's appearance,

so maybe I should reserve judgment.

That old guy was Tom Waits, btw.

[Chiyo-chichi]

8. "some old guy" = Tom Waits

Only one of the most widely revered songwriters of the last half-century... right up there with the other old guy who will be on tonight.

[lovemydog]

15. Tom Waits. Here's one of his great songs.

He's got dozens of amazingly beautiful songs.

[bigwillq]

5. Unpopular opinion but, I can't stand Hanks.

I think he's annoying.

Heard he's a really nice guy but, still, I just don't like him.

Didn't watch Letterman last night because I knew Hanks was a guest and I just couldn't watch it.

[bullwinkle428]

12. You're not alone, dude - I turned it off mid-segment as Hanks was just getting

too annoying and self-serving for me, and changed it to a re-run of Chris Hardwick's "@Midnight" on Comedy Central!

[RobinA]

7. One of The Funniest

things I ever saw on TV was Hanks on Letterman some decades ago now. That was before going on talk shows was all about promoting whatever. He was on there because he was a hilarious guy who used to do standup. His bit was a scream.

Second funniest was Robin Williams on Lettermen in full, yet totally controlled, mania just spewing one hilarious thing after another at a rate I didn't know the human brain could sensibly operate.

[MrMickeysMom]

9. Because Hanks, in his old age, is full of himself and unaware of his world...

I've come to see what an uninformed jackass he is.

[bigwillq]

10. Yes! Someone who agrees with me!

LOL


I feel the same way.

[MrMickeysMom]

17. So, I scored top shelf on that one, eh?

Geez… I can't believe we're the only ones, fer Chrissake!

[bigwillq]

19. There's another one.

See post #12 in this thread!

[edhopper]

11. It was great fun

do you really think Hanks would do all that schtick if it's not what Letterman wanted?

And Eddie Vedder was fantastic.

[fadedrose]

13. Exactly!

I think he did exactly what David wanted. Maybe the last thing that Dave wanted to accomplish was to let the guy reveal to everyone how full of himself Hanks is so he just let him go on and on, annoying the hell out of fans like me.

I didn't know what "an uninformed jackass" (to quote MrMickeysMom) cheered by bigwillq in two posts in this thread that Hanks is...

This revelation was another gift from Letterman although I didn't see it as such till this morning...

Vedder was fantastic!!

[pinboy3niner]

14. Here's the Vedder clip for anyone who missed it...

[lovemydog]

16. Thanks. What a great performance of that amazing song!

[Initech]

18. "Hi I'm Tom Hanks. The US go has lost its credibility, so it's borrowing some of mine"

- The Simpsons Movie