Legendary actor and filmmaker Tom Hanks was the guest on the CBS talk show “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Wednesday, May 13.
Hanks was making his 18th appearance on the show, which will come to an end with its final episode on Thursday, May 21.
The chat between Hanks and host Stephen Colbert included several sweet and funny moments. Notably, Hanks humorously suggested Colbert get his hands on some CBS stationery before he departs his long-running job. He also presented the host — who was celebrating his 62nd birthday — with gifts, in the form of a classic Underwood typewriter and a box of dot matrix paper.
Hanks is famously a collector of classic typewriters. His chosen gifts for Colbert were because he said, “you’re going to be doing some serious résumé writing and what have you” (per Entertainment Weekly).
The most lovely moment, however, came in the form of an anecdote. Hanks told a sweet story about himself, the late Rob Reiner, and their respective families. The story involved the 1993 rom-com “Sleepless in Seattle,” in which both Hanks and Reiner starred.
Tom Hanks and Rob Reiner Went to Disneyland Together
Tom Hanks’ story about Rob Reiner was uploaded to the official Instagram account of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
The 164-second clip, shared with the account’s 5.9 million followers, is captioned, “This may be the happiest Los Angeles traffic story in history.”
Hanks insisted the story is true, saying, “This is absolutely 100%.”
He began the story by saying, “Rob Reiner, God bless his eternal memory. We, we worked with Nora Ephron in ‘Sleepless in Seattle.'”
Hanks and Colbert then referenced the famous tiramisu scene in the iconic rom-com. In said scene, Reiner’s character Jay Mathews mentions tiramisu during a conversation about dating with Hanks’ character Sam Baldwin. Tiramisu wasn’t a well known dessert in the United States back in 1993, so Sam mistakenly believed Jay was referring to an intimate act.
About the movie, Hanks explained, “We got to know each other really well on this. And our kids were all about the same age. And so one day we go to, we say, ‘let’s go to Disneyland.'”
The actor said they all traveled in one car; Hanks, Reiner, Hanks’ wife Rita Wilson, Reiner’s wife Michele Singer, and their respective children.
They had a great day and, on the way home, Hanks said they experienced “the most hideous traffic that Los Angeles can allow.”
The group found themselves alongside a commuter bus on the I-405, slowly driving adjacent to it for what seemed like forever.
Hanks said, “And we happened to notice that, in this bus, because people are stuck on it for so long, they have TV monitors that play movies.”
You can probably see where this is going!
The Bus Was Playing ‘Sleepless in Seattle’
At this point, Tom Hanks reiterated, “I swear this is absolutely 100% true.”
He then said Rob Reiner looked up at the bus and said, “I think that’s ‘Sleepless in Seattle!'” The revelation triggered a raucous laugh from the audience.
Hanks went on, “Our movie is playing on a TV screen, right there! And not only that, Rob says, ‘I think, I think the tiramisu scene is coming up!'”
Sure enough, the tiramisu scene was playing on the bus moving slowly next to Hanks, Reiner, and their families.
Hanks said he started honking his car’s horn to get the bus passengers’ attention. At that point, a guy looked down at him, did a double take, prompting Hanks and Reiner to point at themselves and hilariously mouth “that’s us!”
Instagram users loved the video of the story, with one person writing in the comments, “Great story!! ❤️❤️❤️Imagine the shock of those on the bus! No wayyyy!!! 😂😂😂😂😂”
Aside from “Sleepless in Seattle,” Hanks and Reiner explicitly worked together on one other occasion. It was the 1997 television special “I Am Your Child,” which blended documentary and staged segments (per IMDb). Reiner directed it, while Hanks hosted it.
Hanks did also star in the 1999 movie “The Green Mile,” which was produced by Castle Rock Entertainment, of which Rob Reiner was a co-founder. Whether or not that counts as a collaboration is open to debate.
One thing that isn’t open to debate is the friendship Hanks and Reiner enjoyed.
We wish Tom Hanks all the best with his ongoing career — and may Rob Reiner rest in eternal peace.
