The Tom Hanks ‘SNL’ sketch that was never aired
As a sketch show, one that’s been running almost uninterrupted for close to half a century, Saturday Night Live is inevitably going to have to contend with some inconsistency along the way.
Sometimes, the presence of an A-list superstar as guest host can elevate the most mediocre of skits to something that just about passes muster to make it onto the small screen, but not even Tom Hanks was able to save one of his sketches from ending up on the cutting room floor.
Being one of the biggest stars in Hollywood for over 35 years, Hanks has become a regular fixture on SNL since making his hosting debut in 1985. In fact, he’s in the rare club of celebrities to have reached double figures, with only Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, and John Goodman having taken up hosting duties on more occasions than the two-time Academy Award winner’s ten.
Despite that, David Spade revealed that during his time spent as writer and performer on the show between 1990 and 1996, he and Hanks came up with an entire routine that was excised from the episode during dress rehearsals, something that still stings for both parties.
Speaking on his Fly on the Wall podcast he hosts alongside another SNL veteran, Dana Carvey, Spade recalled when “Tom let me write a sketch for him that didn’t make it to air”. Called ‘Subway Surfing’, it would have lived up to its billing and starred the pair as wayward surf aficionados who seek to stem conflict among their fellow passengers by encouraging everyone to share their enthusiasm for the underground.
“It was a good idea that I got to write with the host,” Spade continued, “I think in the middle of dress we were giving it everything and looking at each other going, ‘It’s not happening’. It’s the worst feeling.” Hanks still remembers it fondly, even retaining the lyrics to the musical part of the sketch decades after it was deemed not quite good enough for SNL.
The actor and Spade “were ruffians who were essentially a surf gang who rode the subways”, but unfortunately for them, the person who needs to be impressed – in this case, creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels – didn’t understand what they were trying to do. “Here’s the thing, Lorne hated it,” Hanks admitted, “He just said, ‘I don’t get it. Do you live in the subway? Why?'”.
In Spade’s more profane terms, “He put the whammy on it because we gave it fucking everything”. He retained the belief that “if you just had two takes, it would be great”, which obviously isn’t a luxury that SNL provides. In fairness, it doesn’t sound very funny, but having a sketch spelt out in detail is hardly reflective of how it would have looked in action. Michaels wasn’t sold, though, so ‘Subway Surfing’ was canned.
