Live From the Chase Bank Auditorium in Chicago...

January 19, 2017 3:04 AM

Tom Hanks guest hosts on NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, with panelists Luke Burbank, Paula Poundstone, and Faith Salie, and Simone Biles playing Not My Job. AV Club was there, and apparently it was an interesting night. Chicago Tribune was also there.
posted by hippybear (45 comments total)

If you really want to deep dive into how the night went, you can listen to Luke Burbank talk to his best friend Andrew Walsh about how it went for about an hour on their podcast TBTL.
posted by hippybear at 3:09 AM on January 19, 2017 [3 favorites]

I tuned in by accident, and it sounded somewhere between "he is having fun" and...."mania." Off to RTFA now!
posted by wenestvedt at 3:30 AM on January 19, 2017 [2 favorites]

Can I just say, while I don't personally like all of Hanks's choices in acting roles, he seems like he really tries to be a good guy and a positive influence in the world. It seems like deep down he's genuinely invested in decency and humanity. He might come across as a bit of a corporate shill to some, but those aspects of who he is seem to be connected to his amiability and optimism about the possibility of doing good work through his public career even when the attempts fall flat. I'm sure he's not perfect, and he's demonstrably not above a little commercial pandering here and there, but it's hard not to respect and like the guy.
posted by saulgoodman at 3:52 AM on January 19, 2017 [17 favorites]

...it sounded somewhere between "he is having fun" and...."mania.

Yeah, I agree. I found myself thinking "Jeez, Tom, you can dial it down a little" after about ten minutes. Some of his humor seemed a tiny bit mean, even.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:32 AM on January 19, 2017 [4 favorites]

I don't get it. It's a guy in a pumpkin suit with two B-Boy skeletons?

Am I supposed to recognize him from somewhere? Was he on a local car commercial?
posted by schmod at 4:38 AM on January 19, 2017 [21 favorites]

I listened to the show but didn't RTFA and I liked it a lot. I felt like it was the first time I'd heard Tom Hanks not reading from a script.
posted by kat518 at 4:54 AM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

Tom Hanks is a really funny comedian who was cursed by a vengeful wizard to spend the rest of his days appearing in po-faced airport fiction.
posted by selfnoise at 4:55 AM on January 19, 2017 [21 favorites]

I listened to the show as it aired, not knowing Tom Hanks was going to be guest hosting, and I loved it. He was charming and cute and fun.
posted by cooker girl at 5:00 AM on January 19, 2017 [2 favorites]

Listening to this before my first cup of coffee was harrowing.

But, in all seriousness, Hanks is clearly having a ton of fun.

You know how some celebrities become ridiculously giddy the first time they host SNL, because it's clearly fulfilling a lifelong dream? Wait Wait is Tom Hanks's SNL.

Given just how precisely he nails Peter Sagal's delivery and vocal tics, he's clearly a fan of the program and a regular listener. I'll be he's wanted to do this for a long time.
posted by schmod at 5:27 AM on January 19, 2017 [13 favorites]

He was trying a little too hard and could have made more use of the panelists. It was quite obvious that he's a regular listener. But good on him for getting on there.
posted by grounded at 5:38 AM on January 19, 2017

He was overaggresive, and trying too hard to be Peter Sagel. Some of the jokes fell flat, purely because he is, in fact, not Peter Sagel.
posted by Dashy at 5:47 AM on January 19, 2017

He did a pretty good job for a non-radio guest host, but I was very surprised at how mushy his voice sounded.
posted by Etrigan at 5:48 AM on January 19, 2017

*Sagal.
posted by Dashy at 6:40 AM on January 19, 2017

He was overaggresive, and trying too hard to be Peter Sagel. Some of the jokes fell flat, purely because he is, in fact, not Peter Sagel.

peter sagel tries to hard to be peter sagel and his jokes frequently fall flat

i was confused why hanks was hosting this, then i remembered he was a funny guy once upon a time
posted by entropicamericana at 6:42 AM on January 19, 2017 [6 favorites]

Wait Wait is NPR’s flagship product, ...

Well, that's certainly a hat-tippingly tactful way to say "NPR no longer fulfills any useful purpose."
posted by Wolfdog at 6:49 AM on January 19, 2017 [22 favorites]

I'm a regular listener. I was so surprised at Tom Hanks being allowed to appear to be so off-script that I later told my husband "Hey, Tom Hanks hosted Wait Wait Don't Tell Me today, and I think he was DRUNK." His jokes about Peter Sagal were mean enough that I assumed they were old friends. More, please. Public radio needs more like this.*

*Source: I'm a middle-aged woman.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 7:53 AM on January 19, 2017 [8 favorites]

I do not understand this show even a little bit

It's a light-hearted and often funny review of the week's news. They have very funny panelists and guests. It's silly and not to be taken very seriously.

It's really not that difficult a show to understand.
posted by bondcliff at 7:56 AM on January 19, 2017 [5 favorites]

Did he finally find the Da Vinci Pledge Gift?
posted by blueberry at 7:58 AM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

I loved that he insulted the Chase Bank Auditorium right off the bat. I went to a taping a few years back and that entire room is so much less impressive than I had imagined it to be.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 8:13 AM on January 19, 2017 [4 favorites]

I kind of hate the smarm and not-actually-cleverness of the show but listen sometimes in the car because I don't have bluetooth to listen to podcasts instead. Anyway, I thought this was a weird episode but I must say, NPR is going to have to expand it's audience very quickly if it wants to survive the Trump administration.

On the plus side, some of their podcasts, notably Code Switch, are doing the work of creating meaningful programming by and for people of color. Really takes the best part of NPR - thoughtful and intellectual explorations of current events and culture - and expands that work out of the realm of the primarily white and middle/upper class.

But if they also want to try having Tom Hanks host your quiz show and having a "play the Tiny Desk" contest to expand the audience, that's fine by me.
posted by latkes at 8:17 AM on January 19, 2017 [4 favorites]

Tom Hanks is the last living actor who enjoys things
posted by beerperson at 8:20 AM on January 19, 2017 [13 favorites]

I mean, his Twitter account is basically a lost and found. He's a good dude. Hanx.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:55 AM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

So that's how Pop Culture Happy Hour got Hanks to record a promo for their show (I'm guessing).

I haven't been the audience for many of his films, but I love him, and I'm happy when I see him doing well. It's funny - I don't feel any of these quasi-mom emotions towards any other actors.
posted by bibliowench at 9:01 AM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

I caught this on my regular podcast queue without knowing that Tom Hanks was the guest host, and I have to agree with the comments above - he was funny, he was enjoying himself, and he came across as more than a little bit manic. Slow down!
posted by RedOrGreen at 9:01 AM on January 19, 2017

(Also, WWDTM is now my only contact with NPR - I gave up on their news a long time ago, sadly drifted away from Car Talk, had a love-hate relationship with This American Life, and eventually got irritated by Planet Money. I do still enjoy WWDTM.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 9:03 AM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

This is the last (expletive) ‘Bosom Buddies’ reference.

Screw that, bring on the Mazes and Monsters.
posted by Nelson at 9:08 AM on January 19, 2017

I listen strictly to comedy podcasts during my weekly commute, but on weekends while tooling around in the car or just relaxing at home I prefer listening to live radio. Something about listening to a program and knowing that a whole lot of other people are simultaneously hearing the same thing makes it feel comforting somehow—more communal.

So though the gentler, cornier humor of shows like WWDTM or A Prairie Home Companion or even Car Talk aren't exactly my cup of comedy tea, I do derive enjoyment from them.

Personally, I thought Tom Hanks was a great guest host, charming and quick, which is not surprising considering he's hosted SNL nine times now. (By the way, his son Colin is no comedy slouch, having guested on several episodes of the Comedy Bang Bang podcast, including this all-time Christmas classic.)
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:26 AM on January 19, 2017

Beaten to the TBTL link punch by Hippybear! Are you a Ten, perchance?
posted by apricot at 9:34 AM on January 19, 2017

Hi! Disclaimer: I work at NPR. And I love Wait Wait, and I love Peter, and I love their staff, and I don't think they or anyone else at the network would call Wait Wait the "flagship product."

I hope that before you decide the entire network serves no useful purpose, you might take a stroll through some of this reporting.

http://www.npr.org/sections/npr-extra/2017/01/05/508067751/check-out-nprs-award-winning-journalism-of-2016?ft=nprml&f=129554188

And also perhaps that you might look at some of the work of our David Gilkey. Whose work, I believe, served a useful purpose.

http://www.npr.org/2016/06/06/480866035/remembering-photojournalist-david-gilkey

When you can, be gentle with the things to which other people give their labor. It's all a bunch of human beings, most of whom are doing the best they can, just like you are.
posted by Linda_Holmes at 9:59 AM on January 19, 2017 [51 favorites]

When you can, be gentle with the things to which other people give their labor. It's all a bunch of human beings, most of whom are doing the best they can, just like you are.

Mods can we please plaster this across the top of the site?
posted by bondcliff at 10:10 AM on January 19, 2017 [15 favorites]

Everyone needs a hug.
posted by maryr at 10:31 AM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

BTW, as someone who enjoys Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, I also very much enjoy Ask Me Another.
posted by maryr at 10:32 AM on January 19, 2017 [2 favorites]

I like this show. Listening to the podcast makes housework more enjoyable and has saved me from road rage more than once. I'll likely listen to this ep on the drive home today.

> I do not understand this show even a little bit.

I don't understand comments like this even a little bit. What's the point in making it?
posted by rtha at 11:12 AM on January 19, 2017 [2 favorites]

As an all-American cultural imperialist, my only hurdle in appreciating shows like WWDTM was realizing that—unlike most US game/quiz show broadcasts—there was no cash or valuable prizes involved. It was all in the interest of amusement. This kind of thing gets by without question in the UK. Here in the colonies, of course, the value of a thing is often or only judged by its usefulness in extracting money from someone.
posted by Flexagon at 11:37 AM on January 19, 2017

I went 3 for 3 on the program and won Carl Kassel's voice on my answering machine. My kids have been WWDTM fans and were very impressed.
posted by ShakeyJake at 11:39 AM on January 19, 2017 [21 favorites]

As an all-American cultural imperialist, my only hurdle in appreciating shows like WWDTM was realizing that—unlike most US game/quiz show broadcasts—there was no cash or valuable prizes involved.

Carl Kassel will fucking cut you, man.
posted by Etrigan at 11:39 AM on January 19, 2017 [2 favorites]

Not anymore he won't.
posted by maryr at 12:16 PM on January 19, 2017

ShakeyJake: I always wondered... how customized is it? Will he take direction? Can you offer suggestions on the text? Is he difficult? HOW DO THEY DO IT?

Signed,

A Carl Kassel fan
posted by aureliobuendia at 1:52 PM on January 19, 2017 [2 favorites]

The odd thing about WWDTM to me, as someone who likes British panel shows a fair bit, is that every aspect of the show is excellent bar the writing. Sagal is a talented host, the panelists are usually charming, the editing is great. The actual jokes just aren't there. Maybe they don't have staff writers?
posted by zymil at 2:08 PM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

I just don't know about you guys. I'm going to a March on Saturday, so I'll miss WWDTM. Therefore, I will tune into to a different NPR station on Sunday and listen to it then.
posted by acrasis at 3:34 PM on January 19, 2017

I liked it in function. He was enthusiastic and engaging. Form, however...

It appears that Tom Hanks did the thing that Actors do - he brought his stage voice to a radio program. George Takei fell into the same trap when he was on Howard Stern. Stage Voice != Radio perfection.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 3:58 PM on January 19, 2017

The odd thing about WWDTM to me, as someone who likes British panel shows a fair bit, is that every aspect of the show is excellent bar the writing. Sagal is a talented host, the panelists are usually charming, the editing is great. The actual jokes just aren't there. Maybe they don't have staff writers?

In contrast, I was not a fan of the show "Whad'ya Know?" with Michael Feldman -- now off the air -- but their monologue had excellent joke writing, IMHO on par with the late night shows and their rooms of writers.

Screw that, bring on the Mazes and Monsters

If you don't know, that's Tom Hanks first movie, the Reefer Madness of Dungeons and Dragons. Said to be very bad indeed. If you're near Portland OR it is the subject of Hecklevision at the Hollywood Theater, a sort of live-text-on-screen-MST3K, this Saturday night. (Full disclosure: I'm one of the comedian-hecklers.)
posted by msalt at 5:59 PM on January 19, 2017

Whenever I hear Ask me Another, I miss Whad'ya Know? even more. (I wasn't aware it was off the air.) I wonder if it's age-related.

I'm guessing that a Venn diagram of the fans of AmA and Feldman's show would be 2 stand-alone circles.
posted by she's not there at 9:12 PM on January 19, 2017

The actual jokes just aren't there. Maybe they don't have staff writers?

Some of Sagal's and Curtis' material is written ahead of time, but the panelists are doing their thing mostly off the cuff. They even write their own bluff articles for the Bluff The Listener segment, from what I've heard.

Beaten to the TBTL link punch by Hippybear! Are you a Ten, perchance?

Ahoy-hoy!
posted by hippybear at 1:53 AM on January 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

I listened last night as I drove home and it really did remind me of early manic Tom Hanks when he was like a less plastic, more likeable Jim Carey level of zaney.

Whether or not that's your cuppa - well, that's like your opinion, man.
posted by drewbage1847 at 10:36 AM on January 20, 2017