Saturday Night Live Surprises With Tina Fey and Tom Hanks After Internal Covid Outbreak Changed Plans

Saturday Night Live featured a surprise at the beginning of the show — the return of actors Tom Hanks and Tina Fey.

The show lacked a traditional cold open — due to an internal Covid outbreak that prompted SNL to downsize its cast and crew for the episode and perform without a studio audience.

Tonight’s episode is hosted by actor Paul Rudd. Scheduled musical guest Charli XCX announced on Saturday that she would not be performing due to the limited crew.

The show started with Hanks’ surprise entrance.

“Thank you surviving crew members,” Hanks began.

“In the interest of safety, we do not have an audience, and we sent home our cast, most of our crew,” Hanks said. “But I came here from California. If you think I was going to fly 3,000 miles to not be on TV, well you got another thing coming.”

He then brought out Fey, who joked, “this is not the smallest audience I have ever performed before because I have done improve in a Macy’s.”

The pair underscored that the Covid outbreak would not get in the way of Rudd reaching a big show milestone — hosting the show for a fifth time, or joining “the five-timers’ club.”

Rudd then made his entrance and said he was disappointed about the curveball.

“It’s not all that bad,” Hanks replied, “People magazine just named you the most sexist man of the year.”

Rudd said, “I think it was sexiest.”

“Okay, yeah,” Hanks said sarcastically.

Keenan Thompson, the longest tenured SNL cast member, then presented a five-timers’ jacket to Rudd.

“Congratulations on hosting the show four and a half times,” Thompson said.

Watch above, via SNL