‘What Can I Do for the 800 People Watching?’ Tom Hanks Drops Zinger About MS NOW’s Ratings On Air

Tom Hanks took a savage dig at MS NOW during a live segment from the opening ceremony for The Obama Presidential Center, asking what he should do for the “800 people watching.”

MS NOW’s Jacob Soboroff was at the star-studded Thursday ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center and talked to supporters of former President Barack Obama as well as some of the celebrities in attendance during his extensive live coverage. At one point, Soboroff ran into Hanks, who gave an interview after having some fun at the network’s expense.

“What can I do for the 800 people watching MS NOW?” Hanks asked Soboroff.

“Oh, come on. We’re live on MS NOW,” Soboroff responded.

“Okay, add a zero to it if you need to,” Hanks joked.

“I would say millions now that you’re on our air,” Soboroff said.

“Alright, alright,” Hanks said before the proper interview began.

Hanks, who is currently starring in Toy Story 5, went on to praise Barack Obama’s words at the event, while also admitting the heat for the outdoor event was so problematic that he was applauding with his fan on his head at one point.

The Oscar-winning actor, a longtime supporter of Obama, said:

I think he said something beautiful… that this is not about nostalgia. This is not about a magic time, a gauzy time when, oh gosh, we solved all the problems in the world. We made history. A Black man, Black American, was finally in the White House. This is about the work that continues every single day. I love that he said [that], and also the fabulous Michelle [Obama]. Those are about the — I want to get transcripts of those and read them to my kids when I get home.

Soboroff circled back to Hanks’s joke about ratings, taking it in stride at the end of the interview.

“Thanks for stopping by and for adding the zero to our ratings today, thank you so much,” he said.

“I can hear the clicks happening before my very eyes!” Hanks responded.

In reality, MS NOW does not get 800 viewers or even 8,000, but in light of Hanks’s ribbing, it should be noted that the network has seen some gains as of late. According to Nielsen data from the month of May, the network averaged around 1.34 million weekday total primetime viewers.

Shows like The Weeknight, The Briefing, and Morning Joe also all saw gains, with Morning Joe remaining the most-watched cable news program in Washington, D.C.

Check out the full Hanks exchange below:

TOM HANKS: What can I do for the 800 people watching MS NOW?

JACOB SOBOROFF: Jacob Soboroff. Oh, come on. We’re live on MS NOW.

HANKS: Alright, add a zero if you need to.

SOBOROFF: I would say millions now that you’re on our air.

HANKS: Alright, alright.

SOBOROFF: How do you feel to be here today?

HANKS: Look, this is a — I feel like I’ve been to the best church on the planet Earth. Wonderful, wonderful words, good music, good acts. Could have used a little bit…I’m going to tell you, it was so hot that every now and again we had to do this, right? And every now again, just to register my applause, I literally tapped my fan on my hat because I couldn’t put it down.

SOBOROFF: I’ve seen you at conventions, I’ve seen you at other events—

HANKS: I’ve never been to a convention.

SOBOROFF: Okay, but you’ve been around the Obama universe before.

HANKS: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SOBOROFF: Correct me if I’m wrong, you appeared in advertisements, videos.

HANKS: Yeah, yeah.

SOBOROFF: How did this differ from your experiences with the Obamas?

HANKS: I think he said something beautiful… that this is not about nostalgia. This is not about a magic time, a gauzy time when, oh gosh, we solved all the problems in the world. We made history. A Black man, Black American, was finally in the White House. This is about the work that continues every single day. I love that he said [that], and also the fabulous Michelle [Obama]. Those are about the — I want to get transcripts of those and read them to my kids when I get home.

SOBOROFF: I can help you with that.

HANKS: Okay, alright, thank you very much. But when they were talking about — they said this magic thing. They said, there are millions of us right now who are waking up every day and say, what’s my job here? What’s the — how do I contribute to the good fight? We would think that it’s different. But the truth is, even if we’re standing and waiting to get to higher ground, all we have to ask is the question of what can I do? And there’s something that every single one of us could do.

SOBOROFF: Tom Hanks, it’s great to see you. Thank you so much for talking to us live on MS NOW.

HANKS: Let me just tell you too, this museum, which I was able to see yesterday, it’s actually three museums in one… great gift shop, good swag, no doubt about a lot of stuff that says OPC on it. Good coffee cups and you know what else? It also has fabulous history. It does go back, one of the first things you see here is a copy that’s over 200 years old of the Declaration of Independence. That’s no small thing in order to have in a presidential library, particularly this one. And the last one is, it’s a great art museum. So you can come, just do the swag one day, do the history another day, come back for the art. You’ll have a great time.

SOBOROFF: What a ringing endorsement. It’s really nice to see you. Thanks for stopping by and for adding the zero to our ratings today, thank you so much.

HANKS: Alright, I got to tell you, I can hear the clicks happening before my very eyes.

Watch above via MS NOW.

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