It’s pretty exciting when Tom Hanks announces any new TV project that he’s involved with because, well, they are almost all of impeccable quality. It’s no coincidence that many of his television endeavors are so good because pretty much all of them end up at the premium cabler HBO. Combine a brilliant actor and producer with the best television channel going and what you end up with are award-winning series like From Earth to the Moon, Band of Brothers, and The Pacific. His next also tackles an important moment in American history: the invention of the Pop-Tart. Wait. What?
Okay, so it’s not really his next project being developed at HBO (that would be a half-hour comedy set in the world of college athletics called Players -- unfortunately not the funniest topic of conversation at the moment, thanks Jerry Sandusky) -- but instead a funny segment that he and late night talk show host David Letterman concocted for his appearance last night on The Late Show with David Letterman. Take a look at the first footage for the story of Bert Loomis, the man who just wasn’t satisfied with the thickness of jelly-filled doughnuts.
Video via THR (and CBS).
It’s funny that the veteran late night host partook in this little viral venture only a few days after I was praising the younger hosts (Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel) for taking advantage of the online video space and producing content to air off the show. And then Tom Hanks shows up and kills it for Letterman. Personally, even when I don’t care for his films, I’m a huge fan of Hanks as a person and celebrity. He seems genuinely nice and, above all, up for a laugh and good time. It’s no coincidence that the man is one of our biggest stars.
The Late Show with David Letterman airs weeknights at 11:30 p.m. ET on CBS. Tom Hanks can be seen next in the Christmas release and Oscar hopeful Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer and directed by Stephen Daldry.
