Tom Hanks made an unexpected appearance during Jack Harlow‘s Saturday Night Live episode. The acting legend, 66, popped up alongside the rapper, 24, who was attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in the Oct. 29 sketch. “Jesse, you’ve been coming a while and you never share with the group,” Bowen Yang‘s character, who led the group, said to Jack’s character. Instead of discussing his struggles with alcohol, Jack’s Jesse informed the group that he had the “perfect idea for a Pixar movie.” Notably, Jack is friends of Tom’s son Chet Hanks, who is also a rapper — adding to context for Tom’s appearance.
aa meeting or pixar storyboard session pic.twitter.com/h0KPQO6nTI
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) October 30, 2022
“Well, here’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while…a concept for a touching computer animated film about lost luggage trying to find its way home,” he explained. Instead of staying on track, the next person who’s turn it was to speak wanted to know more. “So, the suitcases all have personalities?” she inquired. The idea also appeared to be inspired by the on-going missing luggage saga plaguing airports this past summer.
It turned out Jack’s Jesse had some mock-ups ready to go, including a red suitcase as the “main character” and a briefcase, as well as a gym bag. Chloe Fineman suggested that he could maybe add a “Minion” type character with a talking neck pillow.
Jack still had more to offer about the script, detailing one particular bag who’s more traveled “and cultured” than the rest with a slew of international stickers attached to himself. His name? Pierre. “But his whole thing is that he’s only been to the airports and hotels — he’s never really seen these places. But then, as the credits roll — we see photos from all these famous landmarks. The bags took Pierre to finally see the world!” he exclaimed. Cecily Strong once again popped up with a brilliant thought: “What about the song? All these movies have songs so they can sing at the Oscars!” Cecily’s AA character also happened to be a talented musician as she rolled out a piano and began singing a tune — “Pack Yourself With Love” — that would be perfect for the movie in question.
“I guess the question is: who’s going to play our main suitcase? Our every man — our Woody,” Bowen said after the group sang in unison, making a clear reference to Tom’s character Woody from Toy Story. Toy Story, which went on to spawn three sequels, is the film that put Pixar on the map as a studio. Tom himself then appeared! “Is this AA? I’m Tom H — I just did a researcher role and also I may be an alcoholic,” he offered to the group. “Yo, Tom, if you were a suitcase, what would your catchphrase be?” Jack asked. Tom then offered the perfect line: “I guess it would be be something like, ‘That really snags my zipper!'”