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Tom Hanks sparks health concerns after shaky Saturday Night Live appearance

‘Forrest Gump’ star made a surprise ‘SNL’ appearance to induct host Martin Short into the show’s five-timers club

Inga Parkel
in New York
Monday 23 December 2024 11:12 EST
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Martin Short is inducted into SNL's Five Timers Club

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Tom Hanks worried some fans after he appeared a bit shaky during his recent Saturday Night Live appearance.

The 68-year-old Forrest Gump star and five-time SNL host made a surprise cameo during the latest episode of NBC’s hit sketch comedy series to celebrate the holidays as well as Martin Short’s fifth time hosting the show.

Joined by other five-time hosts, including Emma Stone, Scarlett Johansson, Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, John Mulaney and Alec Baldwin — who’s hosted the show a jaw-dropping 17 times — the group threw an induction ceremony for Short.

During the cold open sketch, SNL cast member Bowen Yang brought out a tray of cocktails. As Hanks picks up one of the drinks to hand to Short, who’s standing beside Fey, he quips: “May I offer you our signature cocktail, the Marty Tina.”

While holding the drink, Hanks’ hand appears visibly shaky.

Numerous people pointed out his trembles on social media, with one tweeting: “Did anyone notice Tom Hanks’ hands shaking unnaturally in this sketch?”

A second on Threads added: “I also noticed it!!! And now I am concerned.”

“Tom Hanks was just on SNL and he looked ROUGH and I noticed his hands now have the same shake that Bill Clinton has acquired,” a third wrote.

Tom Hanks appeared shaky while handing Martin Short a drink on ‘SNL’
Tom Hanks appeared shaky while handing Martin Short a drink on ‘SNL’ (NBC)

Former President Bill Clinton, 78, who’s for years had a hand tremor, previously denied having Parkinson’s disease, saying in 2013 that his “little tremor” was just a sign of aging.

The Independent has contacted Hanks’s representative for comment.

Elsewhere during the SNL sketch, the hosts went in a circle to boldly make false claims about themselves, with Hanks chiming in to add that he’s “never had Covid.”

In 2020, the Saving Private Ryan actor and his wife Rita Wilson both tested positive for Covid while they were in Australia where Hanks was filming Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis.

Hanks, who was hospitalized with the virus, said at the time that he had “bad body aches and was very fatigued,” and he was exhausted after just 12 minutes of exercise.

“I was wiped,” he said on The National Defense Radio Show. “Whoever it was, a doctor or nurse, would come into our air-pressurized isolation rooms. She said, ‘How are you feeling?’ and I said, ‘I just had the weirdest thing. I just tried to do basic stretches and exercises on the floor and I couldn’t even get halfway through.’

“And she looked at me through her glasses like she was talking to the dumbest human being. And she said, ‘You have Covid-19.’”

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