Tom Hanks | Fed Up

Summary

The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert

Episode: Tom Hanks | Fed Up
Date: November 4, 2025
Guest: Tom Hanks
Host: Stephen Colbert

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Episode Overview

This episode centers around Tom Hanks’ new co-written and starring role in the play This World of Tomorrow at The Shed in New York, as well as lively discussions on Broadway theater, life in New York, and memorable reflections on Tom Hanks’ legendary career. Colbert weaves in topical humor about government shutdowns, food insecurity, and technology with his trademark wit, before diving into an engaging, personal, and frequently hilarious conversation with Hanks.

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Major Topics & Insights

1. Current Events Satire & Social Commentary

• Government Shutdown and Food Aid (03:35–06:00)
  • Colbert lampoons the then-ongoing government shutdown and its impacts on SNAP/food stamp benefits.
  • Skewers the Trump administration:

    “Trump and food is like JFK and sex. Or Thomas Jefferson and sex. Or Lincoln and his hat, which he had sex with.” – Colbert (03:46)

  • Advocates not weaponizing food insecurity and promotes QR codes to support “Feeding America, Give Directly, Meals on Wheels, and World Central Kitchen.”
• Trump’s “Great Gatsby” Halloween Party (06:20–07:15)
  • Satirizes poor optics amidst national hardship (“I keep thinking Donald Trump is incapable of shocking me, and then he does something outrageous, like implying that he’s read a book.” – Colbert, 06:38)

2. Tech Humor: Home Robots & Privacy (09:37–12:02)

• Colbert covers the $20,000 laundry robot “Neo,” ridicules its function, and jokes about human workers pulling the strings remotely:

  “You may be wondering, Steve, how is this technological wonder able to do all this by itself? The answer—it is not. Because there is some guy from the company out there wearing VR goggles using Neo to fold your laundry, like a big puppet.” – Colbert (11:46)

• “Big Brother is washing!” (12:00)

3. Tom Hanks Interview Segment

A. Life in New York and Incognito Subway Adventures (14:13–16:28)

• Hanks shares observations about fall in Central Park and his difficulties remaining unrecognized on the subway, despite health-motivated attempts at disguises:

  “I’m not just trying to hide my profile. I’ve had Covid enough in my life. I don’t need to do that again.” – Tom Hanks (16:00)

• Considers moving from a scarf to a cravat, tries out a ball cap:

  “I don’t think anybody will be able to make me if I just show up on the subway like this.” – Tom Hanks (17:17)

B. Doing Good: His Veteran-Focused Coffee Charity (17:30–17:47)

• Hanks plugs his coffee brand, with proceeds going to the veterans' community:

  “You need legal addictive stimulants, you come to me.” – Hanks (17:47)

C. The New Play: “This World of Tomorrow” at The Shed

• Play Synopsis & Mechanics (21:04–22:59)
  • Inspired by co-writer Jim Glossman’s short stories, unified by a time travel conceit: a hotel room in NYC allows 12-hour jumps to the 1939 World’s Fair.
  • Hanks explains playful “rules” of time travel used as a family game:

    “You get to go to any time in the past you want to for 12 hours... homicide is not allowed.” (21:54)

  • On time travel paradoxes:

    “You don’t just get to appear magical. You’ll have to eat the food and go to the bathroom and take a shower. And if you break a leg, you’ll have a broken leg.” – Hanks (22:43)

• Thematic Depth (23:03–24:02)
  • The play investigates nostalgia, the flow of time, and the challenge of living in the present:

    “The present is but an instant between an infinite past and a hurrying future. And if you think about it, that’s a great theme... you cannot do anything about our infinite past—gone, baby, gone. Right? And the future is coming down the pike, who knows what’s going to happen?” – Hanks (23:20)

D. New York Nostalgia & Personal Anecdotes

• Colbert and Hanks swap stories about NYC in 1939, family traditions, and the evolution of the city (coffee deliveries to Tiffany’s, the "Hills Brothers Coffee" aroma over Manhattan, now replaced by “weed”). (24:34–26:08)
• Hanks recalls his early acting days, high school theater, and his first professional jobs with the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival:

  “This is school getting up and monkeying around in front of people. Sign me up for that. I’ve been doing that since I came out of the womb, for God’s sake.” – Hanks (29:13)

• Shares hilarious struggles with the worst roles in Shakespeare (Fabian in Twelfth Night):

  “Notoriously, the worst role in all of Shakespeare, which is why I was cast in that role.” – Hanks (34:13)

E. On Writing and Performing One’s Own Play (26:57–28:56)

• Hanks relishes the thrill and terror of playwright/actor double duty:

  “They are going to have a real hard time firing me if I screw up.” – Hanks (27:01) “Having being one of the co-writers is just… a pleasure and a joy, but it is also the most terrifying experience I’ve ever, ever had.” – Hanks (28:27)

F. Behind the Scenes: Toy Story Origins & New Sequel (34:28–37:03)

• Touches on the now-legendary origins of Toy Story, revealing much of the original version was rewritten following a failed wisecracking, improv-based script:

  “We recorded a Toy Story movie… about 80 minutes of it… completely thrown out.” – Hanks (34:34) “It wasn’t Toy Story. It wasn’t what Pixar was going for.” (35:05)

• Confirms Toy Story 5 is happening.

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On the ironies of political leadership:
  "Trump and food is like JFK and sex. Or Thomas Jefferson and sex. Or Lincoln and his hat, which he had sex with."
  — Stephen Colbert (03:46)

• On the fleeting moment of the present:
  “The present is but an instant between an infinite past and a hurrying future.”
  — Tom Hanks (23:21, citing a World’s Fair slogan)

• On surviving NYC’s subways incognito:
  “I’m not just trying to hide my profile. I’ve had Covid enough in my life. I don’t need to do that again.”
  — Tom Hanks (16:00)

• On time travel rules in the play:
  “You don’t just get to appear magical... if you break a leg, you’ll have a broken leg.”
  — Tom Hanks (22:43)

• On writing his own play:
  “They are going to have a real hard time firing me if I screw up.”
  — Tom Hanks (27:01)
  “It is also as terrifying experience I’ve ever, ever had.”
  — Tom Hanks (28:27)

• On early acting inspiration:
  “This is school getting up and monkeying around in front of people. Sign me up for that… since I came out of the womb, for God’s sake.”
  — Tom Hanks (29:13)

• On Toy Story’s rocky start:
  “We recorded a Toy Story movie… about 80 minutes of it… completely thrown out.”
  — Tom Hanks (34:34)

• Final confirmation:
  “There’s gonna be a fifth Toy Story.”
  — Tom Hanks (37:02)

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Memorable Comic Exchanges

• Colbert, after soaking the interview chair:
  "Is your back getting wet?...I did something I have never, ever done on the show before, is that I knocked an entire cup of water onto this."
  — Colbert (30:05) "Oh, my God, it’s sopping wet."
  — Hanks (30:24)

• Refrain for The Shed’s location (frequent gag throughout):
  "The Shed off the High Line by the Vessel in Hudson Yards."
  — Tom Hanks (19:06; 19:43; 37:17; 37:34)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Satirizing the government shutdown and food aid:
  03:35–06:00

• Trump’s Halloween and bathroom renovation jokes:
  06:20–09:37

• Robot “Neo” tech humor and privacy riff:
  09:37–12:02

• Tom Hanks interview begins:
  14:13

• Subway stories and incognito attempts:
  15:13–17:28

• Hanks’ coffee for veterans:
  17:30

• Introducing 'This World of Tomorrow':
  18:11–24:02

• New York nostalgia and family memories:
  24:07–26:08

• Theater writing and performing insights:
  26:28–28:56

• Early theater and Shakespeare festival stories:
  28:56–34:13

• Toy Story production history and sequel confirmation:
  34:28–37:03

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Conclusion

This episode is a vibrant blend of political satire, showbiz behind-the-scenes, and warm, off-beat reminiscence. Tom Hanks charms with comic candor about both career milestones and new adventures in playwriting, while Colbert’s quick-fire humor keeps everything brisk and entertaining.

Fans get not only an invitation to see Hanks’ new play This World of Tomorrow–“at The Shed, by the vessel, off the High Line, in Hudson Yards”–but also the inside scoop on a beloved performer’s enduring curiosity, humility, and joy for storytelling. Woody and Buzz may be heading into new adventures, but so is Tom Hanks, and listeners are left rooting for him every step of the way.

Transcript

[Stephen Colbert]

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[Stephen Colbert]

Welcome my fellow Americans, to the Late Show. I'm your host, Stephen Colbert. Ladies and gentlemen, we are check your calendars. We are on day 34 of the government shutdown, which means as of today, you are inspecting your own meats. If it moves, it's not meat yet. There's so many bad parts of a government shutdown. But the worst so far is that as of this weekend, nearly 42 million Americans have lost their food stamp benefits. And no one, exactly. No one should understand the importance of daily meals more than Donald Trump. Hungry. Hungry is his favorite emotion. It's his whole thing. Trump and food is like JFK and sex. Or Thomas Jefferson and sex. Or Lincoln and his hat, which he had sex with. That's why Mary Todd went crazy. The administration says they couldn't use USDA emergency funds for snap. But thankfully, on Friday, a federal judge directed the Trump administration to use those emergency funds to pay for food aid in November. Of course, like all good news during the Trump administration, he managed to make it. The administration says they'll only partially fund snap, and it could take months because the administration declined to dip into other contingency pots to fund the full $8 billion needed to cover SNAP. I'm sorry, I stopped listening because I got hungry after. The word dip is the dip in the pot. So Trump and his people are sitting on a pile of money while American children go hungry just so they can put pressure on Democrats? Well, I think food insecurity should not be weaponized. And if you agree, you can scan this QR code right here to support some great groups working to keep Americans fed. Feeding America Give Directly Meals on Wheels and World Central Kitchen. And once you've done that, as a little treat, you can scan this QR code for a video of a baby monkey riding a duck. Here's a taste that's food for the soul. Of course. With tens of millions of Americans facing hunger this weekend, the President showed sensitive leadership and hosted a Great Gatsby Halloween party hours before SNAP funding lapsed. I keep thinking Donald Trump is incapable of shocking me, and then he does something outrageous like implying that he's read a book. This Great Gatsby party was just as dumb as you'd expect. Judge Jeanine went as a flapper and Donald Trump went as, I think, tan mom. Trump didn't seem too concerned about optics, which is why the sit down meal featured laggy dames doing some titillating feather swishing. Yes, all the glitz and glamour of a strip club at lunchtime. The reformers weren't dancing the whole time. Sometimes they were wriggling for his amusement in giant martini glasses. Mr. President, come on. There's a shutdown. Read the room. There are people in this country sending their children to bed without a bite to eat or a woman to drink. Now, it wouldn't be. It wouldn't be a spooky Halloween without the appearance of Rudy Giuliani. He celebrated the holiday with this costumed podcast. Is that land?

[Tom Hanks]

Christopher? Christopher Columbus, are you spotting land?

[Stephen Colbert]

Happy Halloween. Here I am taking over America's mayor live.

[Tom Hanks]

I'm Christopher Columbus.

[Stephen Colbert]

That's supposed to be Christopher Columbus.

[Tom Hanks]

Because.

[Stephen Colbert]

You look like if Nosferatu got queer eyed. You look like Wishbone. You look like. You look like Wishbone with a drinking problem. You look like ET after it got into mom's closet. That's kind of nice. That's kind of nice. Last night, Trump did an interview with 60 Minutes for the first time in five years. It was A surprisingly reasonable interview to give a completely unreasonable man and only a couple of things left out to me. One is, you know, Donald Trump keeps complaining about Joe Biden's pardons, saying stuff like, the pardons that Sleepy Joe gave are hereby declared void because of the fact that he did not know anything about them. Well, Norah o' Donnell asked Trump about a recent pardon of a crypto billionaire, Chongpeng Zhao, who goes by cz, rhymes with sleazy. And Nora pressed him on that. I do want to ask you about.

[Commercial Announcer]

Crypto'S richest man, a billionaire known as CZ.

[Stephen Colbert]

He pled guilty in 2023 to violating.

[Commercial Announcer]

Anti money laundering laws.

[Stephen Colbert]

The government at the time said that CZ had caused significant harm, harm to.

[Commercial Announcer]

US national security essentially by allowing terrorist groups like Hamas to move millions of dollars around. Why did you pardon him?

[Tom Hanks]

Okay, are you ready? I don't know who he is.

[Stephen Colbert]

I was not ready for that. Are you ready for this? I don't know who I pardoned also. Brace yourself. I wasn't listening just now when you told me who he is. Strap in. If I had been listening, I wouldn't have understood because buckle up. I'm crazy this weekend.

[Tom Hanks]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Stephen Colbert]

I'm an actor. Really, an actor. This weekend, Trump also showed off his latest White House improvement project posting. I renovated the Lincoln bathroom. It was renovated in the 1940s in an art deco green tile style, which is totally inappropriate for the Lincoln era. I did it in black and white, polished statuary, marble. This was very appropriate for the time of Abraham Lincoln. Wait, statuary marble is appropriate for the time of Lincoln? Does he think the guy in the Lincoln Memorial is the real Abraham Lincoln? I tell you, poor Abe. Poor Abe Lincoln. He's been stuck out there on his marble porta potty for 100 years. Okay, we've delayed it long enough. Let's check out Trump's remodeling of the bathroom. Here's the old one. And here's the one that Trump says is appropriate to Lincoln's era. Makes perfect sense. No, no, it makes perfect sense because during the Civil War, the Lincoln often stayed overnight at the Gettysburg, Caesar's Palace. And this new one, it's got everything a bathroom needs. A glittering over the toilet chandelier, MC Escher style. Floor to wall, wall and floor. And of course, golden bathroom fixtures. Because Trump is into, well, he said it best. Golden showers, as they say they call them in the world of tech.

[Tom Hanks]

There you go there.

[Stephen Colbert]

I agree, I agree. Everybody shake hands on that one. Let's See from the world of tech. If you're looking for some help around the house, A company called X1 recently announced a new robot named Neo that does chores around the house, including loading your laundry. Nice try, robot, but humans know the correct way to do laundry is to put a load in the washer, then forget about it for 24 hours until it gets the stank. And oh, the help doesn't stop there in the promo. This thing's doing everything for this guy. Doing storage, trash, his wife.

[Tom Hanks]

Neo.

[Stephen Colbert]

I don't know. I don't know. We're all adults. Neo costs a cool $20,000, but it's totally worth it. Y' all is something you'd say if it was cuz the Wall Street Journal got to test drive Neo and things did not go the best. Like when they told Nio to crack a nut. Crush it.

[Commercial Announcer]

It's a walnut.

[Stephen Colbert]

Flawless. For $20,000, you too can harness all the power of a gray naked man who is dumber than a squirrel. But my friends, at least in the future he can help you clean up after dinner. Here it is. Loading the dishwasher, putting the glasses just any old way. And then shorty get low, low. Dropping his badonk and closing and closing and gonna any minute. Yeah, yeah, baby work. And, and, and it. That's close enough. Whatever. You do it, meatbag. Now you may be wondering, Steve, how is this technological wonder able to do all this by itself? The answer? It is not because there is some guy from the company out there wearing VR goggles using Neo to fold your laundry like a big puppet.

[Tom Hanks]

A company representative may need to peer into your house via Neo's camera eyes.

[Commercial Announcer]

To get things done.

[Tom Hanks]

To many people, this is crazy.

[Stephen Colbert]

You have to be okay with this for the product to be useful. Yes, for the product to be useful, you have to be okay with this. But $20,000 on your privacy is a small price to pay for a digital peeping Tom who can almost do your chores. Remember, my friends, remember the core message of 1984, Big Brother is washing. We got a great show for you tonight. My guest is Tom Hanks. Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start. Thumbtack knows homes. So you don't have to. Don't know the difference between matte paint, finish and satin or what that clunking sound from your dryer is with thumbtack. You don't have to be a home pro. You just have to hire one. You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates and read reviews all on the app. Download today.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Stephen Colbert]

Ladies and gentlemen, my friends. You know my first guest tonight because he is Tom Hanks. There you go.

[Tom Hanks]

Hot. Come on, show. Man, oh, man. Hot.

[Stephen Colbert]

Hot. Thank you.

[Tom Hanks]

You're all right. Thank you. Thank you.

[Stephen Colbert]

There you go.

[Tom Hanks]

Thank you. All right. Thank you. Okay.

[Stephen Colbert]

How are you?

[Tom Hanks]

I'm all right. Very good. Very good. It's always good to be in the city. I was, you know, I was here long enough to see Central park go from green, and then right in the middle of Central park, overnight, one tree just went pow and was orange. So it was like one orange tree in the middle of Central Park. And now it's just. Now it's all rust and gold and it's all spreading out. Wonderful to be here.

[Stephen Colbert]

Well, it's funny you should bring that up because we, you know, people complain. Oh, New York is in trouble. You know what? The greatest thing about New York right now is that we are right in the middle of the. Of Tom Hanks riding the subway season.

[Tom Hanks]

Oh.

[Commercial Announcer]

Because.

[Tom Hanks]

All right. All right.

[Stephen Colbert]

New York's doing great. Now on to here you are. Here. You are doing your best to be.

[Tom Hanks]

Okay. All right.

[Stephen Colbert]

To be. Look at this guy.

[Commercial Announcer]

All right.

[Tom Hanks]

No one knows.

[Stephen Colbert]

Look at this guy. Can you zoom in? That guy's clocking you so hard.

[Tom Hanks]

That guy. That guy. That guy. This. Okay, I don't have my phone. Let's pretend I have my phone. That guy was looking at the subway. Where? Here I am. That guy was looking at me on the subway. Like this. He so obviously made me.

[Stephen Colbert]

Here you are again.

[Tom Hanks]

Here you are. Here's my one. Here's my other.

[Stephen Colbert]

There's my other attempts. Does this.

[Tom Hanks]

Dude.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay, how much does this work?

[Tom Hanks]

It pretty much works all the time. I can. I'm work. I'm doing a play right now, so I cannot get sick. So it's not just. I'm not just trying to hide my profile. I've had Covid enough in my life. I don't need to do that again. I understand. Yes, I'm wearing this for health reasons and, you know, the rest of it is in order to be anonymous, but obviously it doesn't work. So I think I'm gonna have to change my look. Otherwise I can't get on the 1 or the 2 or the C train anymore.

[Stephen Colbert]

Do you have a new plan? Do you have a new plan?

[Tom Hanks]

Well, okay, here's what I was thinking, obviously. Okay, so I've been made. So I have to stay. I have to stay. I have to stay healthy and gotta stay warm. So I'm thinking of changing from just a knit scarf to maybe like a cravat kind of look. That's not bad. So do that. Right. Okay. But then the eyes are always going to be an obvious giveaway, so I'd like to have a little bit of, you know, the Bond villain kind of look. So, you know, just, you know, just be on the subway, you know, listening to the announcements and then. But obviously the hat is no good. I've tried the knit cap, so I'm going to go. I'm going to go ball cap side. I don't think anybody will be able to make me if I just show up on the. Show up on the. On the subway like this. You know what would it work? It's the ball cap.

[Stephen Colbert]

That's a fan of Tom Hanks.

[Tom Hanks]

Oh, my God. Well, that's the name of my coffee. And all the proceeds go to veterans. I'm a nut. How did. How. That's crazy.

[Stephen Colbert]

Are you saying that you. You have a coffee where the proceeds go to the veterans?

[Tom Hanks]

Yes. Yes. Yeah. All proceeds go to the veterans community.

[Stephen Colbert]

Well, thanks for our troops.

[Tom Hanks]

That is the name of the coffee, and I'm telling you, we're serving it down at the theater because I got a lot of this stuff. Listen, if you need legal addictive stimulants, you come to me. Band. Do you need any over there? Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, yeah, sure.

[Tom Hanks]

Can I use your band for a second?

[Stephen Colbert]

Hey, man, I'll go home. I need a rest.

[Tom Hanks]

You don't get to start the podcast just yet.

[Stephen Colbert]

All right, all right.

[Tom Hanks]

You still. You still have some work to do. So I'm doing this play called down at.

[Stephen Colbert]

I'm doing it. I'm doing it right here.

[Tom Hanks]

Thank you. This is why I'm.

[Stephen Colbert]

You're in town. You've co written and started in a new play, this World of Tomorrow. There you are. There it is. It's at the shed.

[Tom Hanks]

It's at the shed. The Shed, directed by Kenny Leon, co written by James Jim Glossman, and it's a wonderful Ted. I can't tell you how much we love the cast. But here's the thing. You say you're on Broadway. Everybody knows where Broadway is. We are on Broadway right now.

[Stephen Colbert]

We're literally on Broadway.

[Tom Hanks]

Anybody in the world can come to New York and say, take me to Broadway. Or they can walk to Broadway themselves. They know where it is. You come to New York and say, come to the shed. And they're like, what? For discount garden tools, the shed is this great. It's an art installation. It's a space for art, and it's downtown in Hudson yards. But letting everybody know where the shed is a bit of a challenge. So if I could just have a slight shuffle beat. A duppa dip. A dup. A dip. A dub. A dip. Yeah. Okay, ready? It's the shed off the high line by the vessel in Hudson yards. It's the shed by the vessel off the high line in Hudson yards. Want to see a show at the shed? Well, just head down to Hudson yard. It's the shed off the high line by the vessel in Hudson yards. There you go. So come on down.

[Stephen Colbert]

All right, we have to take a quick break. We'll be right back with more Tom Hanks, everybody.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Stephen Colbert]

Hey everybody, we're back to the star of this world of tomorrow at the shed, Mr. Tom Hanks. Now tell the people what it's about, if you don't mind.

[Tom Hanks]

It's from a collection of short stories. Jim Glossman had published some short stories. And Jim Glossman said, you know, I think we can string these together under the theme of let's just say time travel. It's about a guy who decides to a franchise out of the what is now the Milford Plaza Hotel. You might not know this. The Milford Plaza Hotel used to be the Lincoln Hotel.

[Stephen Colbert]

I did not know.

[Tom Hanks]

And it's at 8th Avenue and West 45th Street. And it turns out room 1114 has what is called volume authenticity to allow access to a 12 hour time bump echo to 6-8-1939. So you can go and go back to the World's Fair on June 8, 1939. And I play a fellow who does that again and again and again because he just cannot get enough of the World's Fair. Now this is a game we play around the dinner table. I'm going to tell you right now, here's the rules of the game. You get to go to any time in the past you want to for 12 hours. Name the place, name the event. However, homicide is not allowed. You can't go back and you know.

[Stephen Colbert]

April 1865, Ford's Theater. And I prevent a homicide. Is that legal?

[Tom Hanks]

Here's the problem with that. What? I believe that show was sold out.

[Stephen Colbert]

So I couldn't get a ticket.

[Tom Hanks]

And those laws adhere to. You don't just get to appear magical.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay.

[Tom Hanks]

Right. You gotta, you know, you'll have to eat the food and go to the bathroom and take a shower. And if you break a leg, you'll have a broken leg. So those are the rules. But the fellow I play cannot stop from going back to 1939 for reasons that are evident once you come see the play.

[Stephen Colbert]

That's the World's Fair, 1939. Did you have a particular fascination with the World's Fair?

[Tom Hanks]

I've always been something about the World's Fair. Here's the question. There was a line from the Futurama which was the most attended attraction at the fair run by our good friends at General Motors, of course.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah. Cars of the future.

[Tom Hanks]

Yeah, yeah, it was 1939. Showing you what 1960 was going to Be like. And they had this fabulous line that said, the present is but an instant between an infinite past and a hurrying future. And if you think about it, that's a great theme that Jim Glossman and I have been working on, because you cannot do anything about our infinite past. Gone, baby, gone. Right. And the future is coming down the pike. Who knows what's gonna go happen? But the present, well, we have a little bit of control over that, don't we? We all certainly know what your hurrying future is going to be, but. And you can't do nothing about the things that got you in trouble, my friend. So you're just gonna have to make. You're just gonna have to make hay.

[Stephen Colbert]

Right here and right now. Exactly.

[Tom Hanks]

That's right.

[Stephen Colbert]

1939 New York.

[Tom Hanks]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

What do you know about 1939 New York? Because my folks lived and dated in 1939 in New York. My mom and dad used to meet at the back of St. Pat's on Saturday nights, go to confession first, and then they would go out. They'd go to confession and then they would go out with cleansed souls and have a good time.

[Tom Hanks]

Oh, I told saying, hey, we're clean now and we'll just go to confession tomorrow if we have to.

[Stephen Colbert]

Exactly. I mean, I heard all about 1939 New York building.

[Tom Hanks]

Everybody could, you know, coffee was a nickel and all that kind of stuff.

[Stephen Colbert]

My mom worked at Tiffany, and she was a secretary at Tiffany, and her boss ordered her a half gallon of whole milk every day. And it was delivered to the stoop of the Tiffany building. And it would just be there when she got there in the morning. That was New York.

[Tom Hanks]

And nothing was stolen, and no one smashed the bottle. When I was here a long time ago, we were making. You know, my career peaked in the 80s. And when I hear good things. Yeah, I hear. So when we were here making Bonfire of the Vanities, Right. This is a long time ago, we kind of, like, stopped. Yeah. Oh, you were very kind. Anyway, we had time off and we went on the Circle Line. Have you done the Circle Line? Yes. You must. You got to. Out of town. Okay. You learned so much from the Circle Line. First of all, I got on the Circle Line, and immediately the guy started giving the tour. Hi, everybody. You know, my name's Don Abernathy and whatever his name, and we're leaving them, blah, blah, blah. And I thought, first of all, I want this guy's job because this guy is a great storyteller. And he talked about this, and I'll never forget it he said, here we are. And he pointed across the Hudson river to a tower to a building in New Jersey. He says that was the hills brothers coffee factory. And when the wind was right, all of Manhattan smelled of roasting coffee. Isn't that much better? As opposed to weed. That is all you smell.

[Stephen Colbert]

That is right now. We have to take another break here, but stick around. We're back with the star of this world of tomorrow, Mr. Thomas Hanks.

[Tom Hanks]

Good to see you.

[Stephen Colbert]

You've done lots of theater.

[Tom Hanks]

I've done just enough, sir, to call myself a professional actor. Yes.

[Stephen Colbert]

And the last time you were live on stage here in New York was 2013.

[Tom Hanks]

Yes. We did Nora Ephron's lucky guy at the Broadhurst theater. Yes.

[Stephen Colbert]

Now. Now you're back at the shed, and we know where that is.

[Tom Hanks]

Where's the shed again? Well, I'll tell you where the shed is. It's pineapple here. Now by the vessel and the high line.

[Stephen Colbert]

Is it different to go on stage knowing that you wrote it?

[Tom Hanks]

Yes, it is, number one, because they are going to have a real hard time firing me if I screw up.

[Stephen Colbert]

Have you gone up on your own line?

[Tom Hanks]

Oh, dear God, yeah. Yeah, I disappeared the other night, as a matter of fact. And when it happens, Kelli o' Hara on stage or Ruben Santiago Hudson, they all just kind of look at you and go, like, come on, man. If you don't know it, I learned my lines. If you haven't, you'll learn yours. The huge difference between film and stage is in film, the director is the governor of the story. He can change it, not say it. Don't say that. Say this instead. The stage, if it's not on the page, it ain't on the stage. The writers are the definitive arbiters of what is being said. So on one hand, you have a discussion and say, okay, what sounds better? Hey, guys, we better get going because we have a problem, or, hey, guys, we better get going because we have a situation. And we were doing. We had some previews the other night. Kenny Leon says, when we were in rehearsal, the play is ours. When we are performing, the play is theirs. Meaning that audience gives you something that is just undeniable. And we were out there, we had a difference between, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, problem. And the audience was like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, situation. They go, ooh, a situation. And this is. You start playing or playing around with it. It's a very, very malleable, exciting thing. And having being one of the co writers is Just. It's a pleasure and a joy, but it is also as terrifying experience I've ever, ever had.

[Stephen Colbert]

Why terrifying?

[Tom Hanks]

Well, because you just wake up in the morning, problem situation, problem situation. And will they know how to find us? You know how they find us? Well, by the vessel off the high line is the shed in Hudson yard. So that we get that taken care of her, we'll be all right.

[Stephen Colbert]

You started doing theater in high school?

[Tom Hanks]

I did.

[Stephen Colbert]

And your first job on a play was.

[Tom Hanks]

I mean, like, got a. Got a.

[Stephen Colbert]

Just working on a play at all.

[Tom Hanks]

Oh, working on a play. I was in high school thinking, that is my life. Just going to be having to deal with a track team and classes with ology on the back of them. Sociology, biology. And then I saw some friends of mine were in a production of Dracula up. And I said, whoa. And I just, whoa. This is school getting up and monkeying around in front of people. Sign me up for that. I've been doing that since I came out of the womb, for God's sake. So the first play I did in high school, I played Sir Andrew Aguecheek.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, okay.

[Tom Hanks]

And Twelfth Night.

[Stephen Colbert]

That's a good part.

[Tom Hanks]

Mr. Raleigh Farnsworth, our teacher, he wanted us to do real plays. And so I played Sir Andrew Agguecheek. And I couldn't understand the words, so I didn't read the play. I just read my lines and learned them and essentially went out on stage every night trying to make John Gilkerson laugh.

[Stephen Colbert]

By the way, is your back getting wet? Because. No.

[Tom Hanks]

I do have a feeling that I have put on my child's wet diaper.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yes. Because the reason is. I just wanted to tell you this, is that right before you came out here, I did something I have never, ever done on the show before, is that I knocked an entire cup of water.

[Tom Hanks]

Oh, really?

[Stephen Colbert]

Onto this. I switched him out. We moved it over there. Is that still wet?

[Tom Hanks]

Oh, yeah. Oh, my God, it's sopping wet.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, that would have been. And onto my producer who is preparing this right now. I just want to make sure you're not getting wet.

[Tom Hanks]

Is there anybody on after me? Let's switch them back. Tell them.

[Stephen Colbert]

Is there. Wait, we actually. I'm told they actually have the footage of you.

[Tom Hanks]

Oh, you have the footage. Oh, here it is. Ah. Oh, no, no. Hey, that's a segment producer. It's a disaster. You know what you are? You're fired.

[Stephen Colbert]

You can't fire me. You can't fire me. Cause I quit. In seven months, we're gonna take Another break. Hey, everybody, you know who that is? That's Tom Hanks. Do you remember any Aguchic? Do you remember any Andrew?

[Tom Hanks]

Oh, yes, I can. Okay. All right, all right. Years later, when I finally get a. I'm now a professional actor. And how that happened is beyond me. I'm now a professional actor at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Cleveland. Cleveland, Ohio. And I was there for the 77. 78, 79 season class. And in 78, this thing happens when you're in the company. You sign a contract that says as cast. Other people sign contracts and they're playing Malvolio or Iago or Othello. But if you're just in the company, you signed a contract that says, as cast, play as cast, which means you're at the mercy of whoever's coming in direct the show. And in that fabulous Twelfth Night is a role that is notoriously, truly the worst role in all of Shakespeare. It's called Fabian. He is the tender of the hounds. Okay.

[Stephen Colbert]

He's a dog's body.

[Tom Hanks]

Yeah, he's like that, but his name is just Fabian. They're like, what, does he come on and sing a couple hit songs and then disappear? But there was a scene where Malvolio. I'm gonna tell you, okay. Welcome to Shakespeare with 101. Malvolio is reading a joke letter that we have planted for him, and it'll lead to his demise. And there's three of us. There's three of us in what is called the Box tree. It's the famous box tree scene. It's Sir Toby Belch and I think Aggie Aggy Cheek and. Oh, and Feste and Fabian, the tender of the hounds. Fabian has this line, and the line is, sauter will cry out on't, though it be as rank as a fox. That's the line. Okay.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, yeah, sure.

[Tom Hanks]

And we're up rehearsing, and the director was Dan Sullivan, who is a incredibly accomplished director. And I knew nothing. And I said, what are we doing here in the box street during this? And he said, oh, you're cracking each other up. We are. He said, yes. You guys are just saying stuff that is so funny. You just think it's the greatest. You're having the greatest time, and you're just laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing. Okay? Blah, blah, blah. Sauter will cry out on't, though it be as rank as a fox. I tell you, if you can figure out what that means, you're way ahead. Again, parse it. Sauter will cry out on it. It means something. Like, you know, somebody will say, this is great, though it be as rank as a fox, which means it stinks. But the hardest thing is to laugh like crazy about it. But anytime I have seen a production of Twelfth Night, I go backstage and I find Fabian, whoever played Fabian, I say, dude, Fabian club. And I just have to say it. I just have to say it. Souter will cry out, though it be as rank as a fox. What do we do with this? Notoriously, the worst role in all of Shakespeare, which is why I was cast in that role.

[Stephen Colbert]

It is 30 years since we first got to meet Buzz and Woody.

[Tom Hanks]

Wow. How about that? Okay.

[Stephen Colbert]

Isn't that amazing?

[Tom Hanks]

How about that? Tim Allen and I walked in. Actually, it's more than 30 years because Tim Allen and I and everybody involved in it, we recorded a Toy Story movie that, for about 80 minutes of it, that was completely thrown out. Different story. Well, yeah, it was everything. We did the same. We had the animatics, the whole bit. Because the people who were running the studio, not Pixar, Pixar people are very. The people who are running the studio said, look, it's a cartoon. Let's make them wisecracky. Let's let them improv and insult each other and come up with goofy things, which we sort of did for a while. And they showed it, and quite frankly, it didn't work. It wasn't Toy Story. It wasn't what Pixar was going for. So I got one of those calls from. John Lasseter would like to speak to you. John Lasseter was the director, the origin of Toy Story. He said, okay, whenever you get an advance call that says the director is going to talk to you, it means one of two things. You are so f apostrophe star k'd that you're gone, baby, gone.

[Stephen Colbert]

Or at any moment, any moment.

[Tom Hanks]

Or. Or they have this great idea that they want to invite you or you invited in on the process, which hasn't happened to you in a long time. So I don't know why. I know. I love it.

[Stephen Colbert]

I love it. What an honor.

[Tom Hanks]

No, it's great.

[Stephen Colbert]

What an honor.

[Tom Hanks]

But I got a call. Got a call from.

[Stephen Colbert]

Is this a good story?

[Tom Hanks]

No, that's a good story.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay.

[Tom Hanks]

John, John, John, John called up and he said, hey, listen, we've looked at it and, you know, it's. It's just not working. And we would like to start all over from scratch.

[Stephen Colbert]

How long had you been working?

[Tom Hanks]

We had been working on it for about two years, I will say. About two years. Wow. So then we began the process all over again, which is about a two and a half to three year process, which is why on the credits on Toy Story movies, I always say production babies, because there are babies that are, you know, the mother and parents, mother, dad, meet, fall in love, go to confession, and then have a baby, you know, in the course. So that's a lot. So we know that we actually started that more than 30 years ago is quite an extraordinary thing. We just feel. And Tim is just, you know, and.

[Stephen Colbert]

There'S gonna be another.

[Tom Hanks]

There's gonna be a fifth Toy Story.

[Stephen Colbert]

Fantastic. Well, Tom, wonderful to see you as always.

[Tom Hanks]

Thank you so much.

[Stephen Colbert]

This World of Tomorrow is currently in previews at the shed. And where's the shed?

[Tom Hanks]

I'm going to tell you right now. The shed is by the vessel off the high line is the shed in Hudson Yard. By the vessel in the high line is the shed in Hudson yard.

[Stephen Colbert]

Officially opens November 18th.

[Tom Hanks]

World up tomorrow is a play that you all can see where at the shed by the vessel off the high line at Hudson yard.

[Stephen Colbert]

Tom Hanks, everybody. Thank you for listening to the late show pod show with Stephen Colbert. Just one more thing. If you want to see more of me, come to The Late Show YouTube channel for more clips and exclusives.

[Tom Hanks]

Tulsa is my home now. Academy award nominee Sylvester Stallone stars in the Paramount plus original series, Tulsa King. His distillery is a very interesting business. And we got to know the enemy from Taylor Sheridan, co creator of Landman. What are you saying? If you think you're gonna take me out, it's gonna be really difficult. Tulsa King new season now streaming exclusively on Paramount plus. Now streaming on Paramount plus.

[Commercial Announcer]

Brandon was the full package. I felt like I met my guy.

[Tom Hanks]

Just stop, stop, stop talking. God.

[Commercial Announcer]

But he's not even close to the person that I thought he was. When you do break up with Brandon, that is when the stalking begins. I just knew something horrific was about to happen happened. I saw the devil in his eyes. We're going to tell everyone what he did.

[Tom Hanks]

Don't date Brandon. Now streaming on Paramount plus.