TOM HANKS: Hi everybody! Hey, hey. 
Yo what's up?
(Applause)
How you doing?
PETER SAGAL: I feel like I should
clarify for the people.
TOM HANKS: Peace and love 
PETER SAGAL: that's Tom Hanks.
TOM HANKS: Yes
(Laughter)
PETER SAGAL: He we often take
each other's place. As you know, 
last year Tom hosted my show.
"Wait Wait, don't tell me"
and a little while after that.
I took his place in the 
latest Dan Brown movie.
(Laughter) 
I mean it is just a wig
they can put the wig on anyone.
TOM HANKS: what you got to do 
is run around with a very 
interested look on your face, 
you know, that's not a trompe l'oeil
 roof. It's actually made of wood
you could crawl around honestly
can. But we had to go out on
the roof of the Piazza San Marco
PETER SAGAL: Yeah, yeah in Venice
TOM HANKS: St. Mark's Basilica 
Chapel in Venice, because there
were a bronze horses of
PETER SAGAL: St. Mark, the
horses of Saint Mark
TOM HANKS: St. Mark that were cast 
by some of the and made a big 
deal because we had to go out 
there and examine them.
Oh and this horse has that and 
that horse has that. Well, the
truth is they are exact replicas
of bronze horses that are indoors..
PETER SAGAL: right
(Laughter)
TOM HANKS: That do not have 
slippery wet tile around them
PETER SAGAL: How cinematic would that be?
TOM HANKS: But I actually,  well
that was exactly what the problem
was. I said, dude. What's it, 
theres write ins. well, we can't
we're not allowed well, we can't
indoors. Yeah, besides that we
want some production value here 
about running around. So you can
take the next one because I'm done.
(Laughter)
I like to call them the Robert 
Langdon Mysteries.
PETER SAGAL: Yes.
TOM HANKS: Are you shooting 
another DaVinci Code movie?
No I'm shooting another 
Robert Langdon mystery
PETER SAGAL: professor of symbology and
TOM HANKS: and no one calls 
them the Robert Langdon mystery
PETER SAGAL: No, no they call
him the Denver. Anyway.
Hello. Tom Hanks. 
Thank you for coming to Chicago.
TOM HANKS:  Thank you very much.
(Applause) 
PETER SAGAL: So You decided that you 
just hadn't done enough with your
life. So you became an author to fiction 
every I mean, I know everybody 
asks you that. I have been a writer.
You have been a fairly 
successful movie star. Why..
(Laughter)
TOM HANKS: My day job, yeah
It's a checkered career, but nonetheless
PETER SAGAL: I mean there's
everything you've done.
There's Turner and Hooch it balances.
(Laughter)
TOM HANKS: There's some damn good 
stuff in Turner and Hooch
PETER SAGAL: really? Turner and Hooch fans?
(Applause)
PETER SAGAL: Seriously?
TOM HANKS: Yes, Yeah.
PETER SAGAL: All right, I apologize.
How about mazes and monsters 
any fans?  No? 
(cheer)  There we go. 
TOM HANKS: That's that's a throw back 
that so kind of hurt there
PETER SAGAL: So I have lived the
life of a writer and I have
dreamed of the life of a movie star.
Why would someone with a life of a  
movie star decide to go be a writer?
TOM HANKS: Well, That the day job is
that of doubt and you go through 
this phase where all you want
to have is a job as an actor
and then you don't get them for
the longest time. And if you're
lucky enough to get one you
really are looking forward to the 
to the next one and you will 
particularly early in the career
 People said, why did you
make that movie and I said because 
someone asked me to be in the movie
are you insane? that's like saying, 
why did you cash that check?
(Laugher)
They gave me the check. And if the 
longevity and you know, the collection of
wisdom is up to the fate of the Gods.
You don't know what's going to happen.
But as time goes on we ended
up, you make alliances with this 
with other people that would
like to stretch themselves and 
get farther across the horizon 
from what they've done and I've had a
I formed an alliance and we called 
the company Playtone 
about many years ago
PETER SAGAL: Record company
 from your film
TOM HANKS: Yeah, and we actually 
yeah and we made we made movies
and TV series and all sort. 
Some of them with me and many 
of them without and we lean in
each other's doorway
all the time and say, you know, 
I had this idea or someone has an
idea someone comes in and says 
something and the first thing we
do is we parse out what the theme
of that is. What's the theme 
and whether or not it's worthy of 
examination. Because sometimes 
people come up with ideas and I say 
"I don't care" but if there's a theme that 
is going to be some aspect of the 
human condition or some aspect
 of why people are nice or 
cruel to each other or a moment 
from history that we don't want
to know. Well then that's a theme
you can land on but then you have
to decide whether or not well,
what's the best medium for that? 
What's the best venue? Is it a
motion picture for which there is a myriad
of obstacles that will get in the way of 
being able to bring that to the screen.
Cost, budget, people, whether or not 
anybody will release it and I've made 
versions of movies that nobody wanted
to release and that's okay. 
We still took a shot.
But then there's also well maybe we
need six or ten or more hours in order
to get down and really get into it as well.
Or maybe it needs to be a documentary.
We just got to go and get the facts and
present them in an entertaining way.
But there is..There's plenty that end up
falling through those cracks that
cannot be examined in any way except
 perhaps in prose. Now.
I'll give you this example of it.
If you if anybody has read it or 
is going to take a look at it. There's a
story in there called Welcome To Mars,
it's about a dad who takes his kids surfing 
on his birthday. And why does he do it
a kid finds it out later on because
it turns out he's having something 
of an illicit relationship and the kid discovers
it. Well that came about because I started
I'm a horrible Surfer and I have more
I have more memories of being injured
in the water than I do of having pleasant
rides, you know, so there is that but I
was surfing one day and I came out of the
water and I'm going to say came out
this was probably 1986 and I saw a guy 
in his surfers outfit sitting in the passenger
seat of a very expensive car. There was 
a very pretty woman behind the wheel.
They were just sitting in the parking 
lot laughing and talking and I always 
thought what's going on there?
What is that?
Is that a lady stopping by?
Is that a guy is this in clandestine?
What is it? And that always just 
lingered in me as a possible story. 
That would be some brand of a
theme about how complicated  
relationships can be with people and
then added some other elements to it.
And that's part and parcel and awful
lot of the stories that are in here if things
you know little embers that had been
burning in the belly for a while
PETER SAGAL: Wondering about the process 
though because you are obviously
have acted quite a bit.
You've produced quite a bit you've
directed two feature films that I know of.
Those are all very very collaborative.
TOM HANKS: Yes
PETER SAGAL: Sitting and writing a book
is sitting by yourself
TOM HANKS: And it's often the
greatest luxury you can afford.
PETER SAGAL: Most people I know including myself
find that a burden that you're just 
have to sit there and just not do
anything or talk to anyone. You just have 
to be there alone with your thoughts.
TOM HANKS: Well, it is a burden when 
nothing is happening. But as soon as something 
clicks it's like Katie bar the door.
I lose weight when I'm writing sometimes 
because you forget to eat because you're
just so you know so possessed and it
is a back and forth and back and forth.
Okay, you might like this.
When I was a kid, Kirk Douglas
was on The Tonight Show.
PETER SAGAL: Yes
TOM HANKS: Everybody knows who 
Kirk Douglas is? Right, okay.
(Applause)
PETER SAGAL: Mr. Danielovitch
TOM HANKS: Yes . This was you know, 
this was in the 70s or the 80s and Kirk
Douglas was on and he had written
his memoir called the Ragpickers Son. 
All right, which I did not read, 
but maybe I did read it. 
 I can't remember it's a long time ago.
But anyway, you're at home and you know, 
you got potato chips and in your PJs and
watching Johnny Carson late at night and
Kirk Douglas is on talking about his new book.
(Laughter)
My father was a ragpicker, you know, that's it.
That's how I got to tell you Johnny.
My dad was a ragpicker.
All right, great.
(Applause and Laughter)
And and I said Okay that sounds pretty cool.
I might have to get to that and 
Johnny asked him some question
about writing and Kirk Douglas said
"Well, you know Johnny the secret
about writing is rewriting!"  
(Laughter)
Wise words from none other than
Kirk Douglas
PETER SAGAL: By the way is still alive and
could see this
TOM HANKS: He is 982 years old 
and I believe he and I believe he
talking about his new book.
PETER SAGAL: I know because I read 
some of the interviews with you that
everybody especially because
you're a person of some public
interest everybody reads this fiction 
and they want to find you.
And I think I found you and I'm going
to ask to your read very very brief 
because we don't have a lot of time.
Just the part that I've highlighted
This is from the center story in the book
it's physically in the center,
which I do not think as an accident.
It's a story called These are the
Meditations of My Heart.
And the character is a typewriter 
repair man and salesman.
TOM HANKS: Should I set it up or
 PETER SAGAL: As much as you like?
TOM HANKS: Well, this is the story of 
how I got my first true typewriter.
I took it to a machine business machine
repair and I handed over my typewriter
and I asked them if they would service
it because it was beginning to you know 
it was plastic it was this cheap thing and
it was coming loose here and there's space bar
skipped and a guy who had an accent
looked at and they said
"I will not touch this machine."
No, he did not "I will not touch this typewriter."
I said, you know, I could swear that the
sign out front that says you repair
 typewriters. He says "Yes, I repair machines."
"This is a toy a toy!" and he pointed over
 to this wall of Trowbridge
"These are machines" and I walked out 
of there with a Hermes 2000 typewriter
 that day that he gave me five dollars
off. I said "you got to give me
 a trade-in for this thing" 
(Grumble) 
"All right five dollars" because
he just wanted me to..
PETER SAGAL: What's interesting is 
of course that is the plot of this story
the five dollar discount,
But when I read the voice of the
typewriter repair man, I heard you because
 I've heard you talk about typewriters
TOM HANKS: Yes. Okay
So, this is what he tells
to the girl who has brought the
typewriter in "Make the machine a part
of your life a part of your day."
Do not use it a few times then
need room on the table and close 
it back into its case and sit on a
 shelf in the back of a closet. Do that
and you may never write with it again.
Why would you own a stereo and never 
listen to records? Typewriters must
be used, like a boat but sail. 
An airplane has to fly.
What good is a piano you 
never play? It gathers dust.
There's no music in your life.
Leave the typewriter out on a table 
where you see it. Keep a stack of 
paper at the ready. Use two sheets
to preserve the plate. Order 
envelopes and your own stationery.
I will give you a dust cover free of charge, 
but take it off when you're home.
So the machine is ready to use.
PETER SAGAL: A manifesto of typewriting. 
TOM HANKS: That's exactly right. 
(Applause)
TOM HANKS: who's got a typewriter?
They know where it is in their home?
Anybody have it out?
All right.
PETER SAGAL: The book is called Uncommon..
TOM HANKS: Hope all your emails 
are hacked by Russia. 
PETER HAGAL: Yes.
(Laughter)
TOM HANKS: And here's the deal, they will be. 
(Laughter) 
PETER SAGAL: Do you live by that creed?
TOM HANKS: Yes, I do.
I use a typewriter every day. 
Back in the hotel. I had oddly enough
one of my typewriters up and
ready for me to use. I typed a letter
to my son this morning because  
he was home in New York and
I didn't see him. So I left a 
A typewriter is a it's a machine 
of permanence anything you type 
on a piece of paper is not typed onto
piece of paper, it's typed into the
fibers of the paper. If you would strike 
a hammer hard the letter k on one side
it will have a dark letter k on 
the back side. You will see the imprint
of the backwards k because it is
gone into the fibers that make up 
the paper. If you keep that letter or 
shopping list or love note or thank you note in
a box out of the sunlight and your house
doesn't burn down that letter will last
a thousand years. It's as permanent 
as words chiseled into stone.
And in fact, words chiseled 
into stone might get washed away 
by rain and wind when if you keep 
a safe piece of paper and there's
oceans of versions of this anywhere
it can last forever and one of the things I like 
to do now and when people ask me, 
what could you really do with a typewriter?
I asked him if they have kids and
 if they have a baby or if they have 
youngsters and I say get out two sheets 
of paper and write a letter to that kid 
about who they are right now and 
where you are and what you were 
doing and put it away in a safe place.
And when that kid is 72 years old
he or she will read that letter and they
will see not only themselves but they will
see their father or their mother and
 it will be a union brought about by a an 
object that is as unique as a snowflake.
No one else can create it that same way.
It is one of a kind.
And that's different as are the irises in
our eyes in the fingerprints that we have.
Now that seems like well, what's 
the point you could do that with an awful
lot of things but I think a well-written
letter that comes from the heart with 
typos and misspellings and whatever
 it is, is still as unique as a
Andy Warhol, silkscreen or a 
Gauguin oil painting or you know
something that was scribbled out by
Wordsworth or Leonardo DaVinci, and
anybody can do because typewriters 
a cheap man, they're all over the place.
You don't need to pay more than 50 
bucks for a good typewriter. But if you
need it working in might have to pay $750
(Laughter)
PETER SAGAL: And that's all the time
we have tonight. Thank you so much.
I actually said to myself don't get
him started about typewriters.
(Laughter)
TOM HANKS: there's typewriters in every store 
PETER SAGAL: There is and was that
something you decided to do as sort of
 just as a thematic theme?
TOM HANKS: No, I we had I had done 
about three of them and one of them
was had a typewriter figured very
prominently and my editor at Random 
House Penguin, Peter Gathers 
who's a brilliant guy, he said I really 
liked that little bit about the 
typewriter in it. I think what 
if I just like an Easter egg put 
a typewriter in every story.
let's go ahead that's a good idea. 
It ended up sometimes if I was stuck 
and I wasn't getting where I would
just think how could I put a typewriter
into a story and out of that would shape
some version of you know, a beat
of something that could become, 
44 Pages or 17 pages of the story. 
PETER SAGAL: Again speaking of 
my own experience. Sometimes 
when I would write I would
discover things about my own thoughts
that I did not know until I 
tribute in the somebody else.
Did you have that experience 
writing this writing this book?
Did you find out somethings?
TOM HANKS: Oh, yeah. There was
sometimes I type some that made 
me laugh so hard I had to stop you know,
which makes me sound like a real dick
(laughter)
I'm sure that's never happened with 
you Peter? No never 
(Laughter)
PETER SAGAL: If I ever write or come 
up with something that makes me 
just think it's the funniest thing.
It is guaranteed. No one else will.. 
TOM HANKS: well, here's what you never do.
You never laugh to yourself and pick up 
the thing you wrote and honey come here 
and listen to this because she
looks up at you. Like "I'm busy".
You know, she doesn't want to hear 
she doesn't think it's funny at all.
There were there were stories that
began that I thought were about one 
thing and ended up being about others 
and I had to go through a process, 
you know, a lot of the times when
you're working on a movie you ask
this question is any of this 
going to work? You know, is 
anybody going to care about this?
How're we going to cut it?
And the smart director I know
said well Tom the movie will tell 
us what it needs to be and that
was true on some of these stories.
There's one in particular that
 is called Christmas Eve 1953
and I thought it was really about 
how this man cape survived the war 
came back had a family and instead 
of being in the Battle of the Bulge 
what watching people die?
He's setting up his the kids toys
around the Christmas tree and 
I always thought a lot about 
the lot of the veterans I had 
met the guys who had been there.
I was thought how did they do that?
I understand how they get to 
be old men you know that but how
do you how do you still be in 
the prime of your life?
You're 29, 30, 31 years old at 
just 10 years before it you
were surrounded by blood and horror.
How do you then go back and start work?
Well, I had a story about a guy 
who did that and that's what
the story started being about.
But then I realize that he was 
going to get a phone call at midnight 
just like he gets every night on
Christmas Eve from a guy who was
in the war who didn't come back in
the same fashion. A guy who will
never be able to sit around his
Christmas tree will never have kids 
PETER SAGAL: and that surprised you?
TOM HANKS: yeah that took 
me that took me by surprise and
there's other elements in some 
other stories that did this in. 
PETER SAGAL: one of the things 
I noticed about that story and I should
say that I grew up like a lot of 
people reading short stories in
the New Yorker say and usually
stories about something when
somebody when something terrible 
happens to them be it a terrible case 
of ennui if it's a New Yorker.
TOM HANKS: ya, yes
PETER SAGAL: One thing I noticed 
is that there are very few bad 
things that happen. For example, 
one story perhaps my favorite the
one about the small boy in his ninth 
birthday. And he's like a lot of 
characters in the book come
from a broken home what they
used to call divorced parents and
he goes off to spend a weekend 
with his mother who may or may
not be paying enough attention to him.
In this I'm actually tensing up 
because you just sense a little
heartbreak, but instead she's taken by
his mother's we assume new Bo
on this airplane ride, and it's fantastic.
It's beautiful and you describe it
so amazingly how it would 
feel to a 9 year old 
TOM HANKS: He let them fly the plane
PETER SAGAL: never been in an airplane and 
he's flying the plane and then
he lands and that's the end of the story.
Yeah, and I'm like what a wonderful
way to look at the world that when
things are going badly or maybe 
things are not comfortable. Maybe bad
things have happened and you find
yourself not in the home you want
to be another thing that shows up.
You get to go for an airplane ride. 
TOM HANKS: you have to ask
this question that you never ponder 
when you're doing it, which 
is what all these stories mean.
You know, what is the connective
tissue that make them what
they are and I'm yeah, you know,
there's no bad guys and there's 
nobody that's.. And there's no 
murderers and none of them are murder 
mysteries are conspiracy theories.
They are about, I think, they're 
about people who just want
to get to the end of their day.
And feel good about themselves 
and there are many times when
it looks like that's not going
to happen until they are aided and
 they are actually promoted along 
by people. They never expected to 
meet or to help them in any way and
I think that's that's an awful lot 
of my growing up in my American experience.
You know, I think that we were
talking backstage with somebody
and I said look, I think ninety 
percent of the people in this world 
are good and I want you to have 
the same fair shake that they had.
Five percent are assholes.
that's just, come on, you know, 
let's not beat around the bush 
and a certain percent of them 
are stark raving mad or not in
control of their own facilities,
but for that 90% that's mostly 
where we live and throughout and I
can tell you from my own experience 
in my own just trying to get by 
to the end of the day at some point.
I have met with some degree of fairness, 
if not, out-and-out kindness hundreds of 
times more than I've been that
I've met with any sort of ass 
holiness to coin a phrase.
PETER SAGAL: Really?
Yeah. Yeah
PETER SAGAL: Can we talk about 
your day job a little bit?
TOM HANKS: Yeah. Sure
PETER SAGAL: So, what's Julia Roberts
like no, I'm sorry.
(laughter)
TOM HANKS: She's just one big 
set of beguiling eyes.
PETER SAGAL: I was thinking about 
the roles you've done recently
and a whole bunch of them 
have been real people.
TOM HANKS: Yeah Yeah
Captain Phillips, Ben Bradlee, I think
most recently that your most recent? 
TOM HANKS: Well, I just 
played  Mr. Rogers.
PETER SAGAL: Well, yeah. Mr. Rogers
(Applause)
people that I think are pretty
excited about seeing that.
TOM HANKS: Can I just say I have 
another movie that will be out
before that we're going to have 
to call the movie that is not 
about Mr. Rogers.
(Laughter)
PETER SAGAL: What is that movie?
TOM HANKS: It's called it's called Greyhound.
It's based on a C.S. Forester novel 
called the Good Shepherd. 
It's World War II a destroyer right 
smack dab in the middle that it's 
48 Hours of a captain who has 
to get to the next day.
PETER SAGAL: So another captain?
TOM HANKS: Yeah, I can't get 
a promotion to save my life
(Laughter)
PETER SAGAL: That's like four captains.
I never see you higher than captain.
TOM HANKS: The thing you say 
about playing real there is a there's
an economic model that is now 
going on in the business of Hollywood
with the business of show. 
They don't call it show art. They call
it show business. And part of that
 is they want to have a pre-sold 
audience. Meaning they want people 
to know what the movies about 
before they see the movie. 
And real life characters help that 
become, you know, a marketing tool.
PETER SAGAL: Oh, I saw that guy
land on the Hudson? 
I'll watch a movie about that. 
TOM HANKS: That guy, you know,
he found the Pentagon papers 
and stuff like that.
PETER SAGAL: But is that something
that you I mean, I'm assuming 
that you have a lot of choices
these days. That the days when 
you're happy to have work.
TOM HANKS: There's been times 
when I said I don't want to do it.
I've played too many real people 
here and I would like to have the 
luxury of making something up 
from whole cloth. As opposed to 
having a meeting with somebody
 and have to accept. 
Everybody I have played that is
lived. Jim Lovell, Charlie Wilson 
when he was still alive.
Chesley Sullenberger, Richard Phillips
everybody. I've had to have this
conversation instead. Look, look
I'm going to be the bearer 
of horrible news right now.
Okay, I am playing you. So for
good or for bad, I am playing you.
All right? You wanted somebody 
else you are shit out of luck.
(Laughter)
say it again with me. I am playing you.
Now, now I want you to know 
that I am going to say things
you never said. And I'm going to
be places you never were. 
(Laughter)
I'm going to do things you never did.
BUT I want to be as accurate as possible.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
PETER SAGAL:  I just want to say 
to everybody out there that having
Tom Hanks do a scene with you 
is weird. I'm not used to it.
Usually I'm looking at him doing 
it from profile to someone else. 
TOM HANKS: That is a burden because
I've said this at times not not just the things
I've been in but also the things 
that we produce down to the company
Which has been guys our job here 
is not to screw up people's lives.
Our job here not to alter their 
motivations in order to give us
a creative beat somewhere and
here's an example of this.
There was a character in Band
of Brothers who was alive at the 
time and there were a lot of many
stories about him about how tough
and uncompromising he was and
one of them was is that the story
was that he gunned down prisoners
that they had taken during the 
D-Day invasion. And these guys 
wrote it and they wrote it and 
they showed the scene where
he guns them down. And I said
you can't, we cannot do that.
They said, well a lot of people
said he did. Yeah lot of people
said he did. We cannot do that.
We cannot show without hesitation 
with all the clarity of a docudrama
that we've made on HBO about
a guy who gunned them down.
Well, there's a lot of evidence 
that he did. Well fine dramatize 
seven versions of it in which he did
and didn't and come close and 
almost did so that we have at least
a Rashomon version of what may
or may not have happened. 
And it end up being 17 times 
more powerful than and it also made
us much more afraid of this 
character throughout the rest of the
we knew he was really tough.
And here's the reason why that
paid off. We showed the movie to a
bunch of veterans at the premiere
at Utah Beach in France and guess
who was in the theater watching
himself being portrayed up there? 
The man himself who may or may
not have gunned down a bunch of
prisoners. And I asked him later
on, are you Okay? He said "yeah, 
that was pretty much what it was like".
(Laughter)
but we would not have been able 
to do that. If we try to turn him
into some sort of like maniacal,
you know anti-hero to our 
PETER SAGAL: Did he tell you 
whether he did it or not? 
TOM HANKS: Oh, he did it
(Laughter)
He did..he did a lot of stuff.
Yeah, but it was it was a vibrant time.
Let's put it that way.
PETER SAGAL: Again presuming 
you have some choice in the work
you choose to do. Is there something 
about the real people or I guess 
even the fictional people you're
choosing to play these days.
That draws you right now I noticed
for example that most of them are 
heroes in a who are caught in 
a moment of intense trial.
TOM HANKS: They all have taken 
on a job and that job has ridiculous
responsibilities and they have 
trained for it and they are prepared
for it and they are they always 
run the risk of making the mistake
that will destroy them for the 
rest of time. Sometimes getting 
themselves killed. Sometimes
getting other people.
Sometimes not doing it right.
I'll tell you, you know Chesley 
Sullenberger, Sully and if you
saw the movie this was hinted at
he still would view the loss of 
any life from that crash as a 
career-ender a tragedy that would 
have altered, you know, the scope
of who he is as a man and what
he did as a professional and that 
includes if somebody had drowned
in the East River by accident 
or been crushed as the taxis 
to ferry boats came and get them 
so the desire on those it's 
actually a huge risk, if you're 
making movie because you don't 
want to screw up somebody's life
life or alter the true record
of why they did, what they did, 
when they did it. Because you don't
you don't get a pass just by saying
putting up on the screen based 
on a true story. If you're going
to put those words up there based
on the true story that you got
to get as close to the truth as
possible. Even though I'm going
to say things you never said.
Or places you never were and
 do things you never did.
PETER SAGAL: I was just thinking
though specifically about the
kinds of characters. You have
played in the kinds of real life
in many cases heroes you've 
played if you've learned anything 
about the nature of heroism?
TOM HANKS: Yes
PETER SAGAL: In a time when
we probably could use it.
TOM HANKS: Yeah. There is,
it's the pressure of command
that the people who do the job
well and look we all have bosses
right? Some of these bosses are
great, smart people and some
of them are clocks, you know
that but they're still in charge
charge and so they still have 
this job to do. They all at some 
point if they're lucky will, let
me put it this, not lucky, but
if they truly have the well 
wherewithal for the jobs that 
they have taken on. Will get into
that spot where they are not 
afraid of their actions and 
they're not even thinking about
of the outcome anymore. They will
 just play it like so many hands
of Solitaire and if they do it,
right they will win the game of
Solitaire. Richard Phillips in 
Captain Phillips his whole thing
when those guys, they were the 
scariest human beings on the planet
by the way, the Somali pirates 
even the guys who played the 
Somali pirates. (Laughter)
They were all four of the scariest 
guys I had and we met them when
they stormed the bridge. We never
 seen them before. They came on 
looking like, you know, the true
skinny Renegades that they were
and that was that was real. 
We were really scared by them
because they were yelling at us
and they were slapping us around
and then we after you know the
third or fourth take, they're 
kind of like I can't believe 
I'm in a movie with you.
(Laughter)
Well, they were. About the third
week the younger one would say, 
we were sitting there I said, 
"how you doing little buddy?"
"I'm okay, how many shots before lunch?"
(Laughter)
So eventually you get to do that
But Richard, I was asking so Rich, 
you know, they're on board.
What are you trying to do?
I said, I'm trying to get them 
off the ship. That's it.
How do I get these guys off the ship?
If you can get them off the ship,
the ship will be safe. The crew 
will be safe. My job as a captain
is to get them off the ship.
That's pretty straightforward stuff.
And as long as he always had
cards that he could play.
So, I don't find that anybody is 
resolute and unafraid and yet
at the same time, they were
preparing, the smart ones were
preparing for the worst and trusting
enough in everything they've been
through to say when the dirt 
hits the fan I'll know what to do.
PETER SAGAL: Right and yet at the
same time, it just doesn't seem
to me that training in any of the 
characters you've portrayed would 
have been enough to I mean,
maybe Sully Sullenberger who
 knew how to land a plane
TOM HANKS: He did do that
PETER SAGAL: But he kept his cool.
But even Captain Phil
TOM HANKS: Let me tell you something 
interesting about Sully Sullenberger 
and this comes back to the long 
experience of it. His control 
panel went completely dead.
PETER SAGAL: Yeah
TOM HANKS: He had no.. which 
was a fake thing. He even said
I said, well what happened when 
the control panel went kablooey
he said "Tom the control panel 
went dead. We had no gauges 
whatsoever" I said "That's not
 going to happen in our movie."
We're going to have all things going 
(control panel sounds)
(laughter)
(warning sounds)
(laughter)
TOM HANKS: We need it all that stuff.
PETER SAGAL: Would've been so cool.
If instead of like because Clint
Eastwood is famously cheap if
he had just had you do that.
(Laughter)
(Control panel beeps)
TOM HANKS: Because as Sully
explained, but Tom when the 
engines go down the generators
go down. So we had no power.
So essentially black screens like
the TVs were turned off. But his
body had been in flight so many 
times that he knew the rate of
descent. He knew the speed that
they were going. He felt it 
all inside. So, luckily they had
the hydraulics that's on a different
kind of system so he could control
the plane. But he also knew how
fast they were coming down.
So, in his mind, he said we have
this amount of time to find a place
in order to land and that's not
 we didn't explain that in the 
course of the movie. That's just
something that you bring to it.
So, you have to take on an awful
lot of the physiological traits
of you know what they did and
how they got there. And if you
know in war movies, they never
show the two years of training
that they went through, but those
guys in the landing craft and
Saving Private Ryan they were
they're actually Veterans of the
North Africa. They were the Rangers
that were at the Kasserine Pass.
You find this stuff out and then
you realize that you know, the 
reason that a guy like Captain Miller
is shaking his head is because
he doesn't want to fuck up.
He doesn't want to get anybody..
He's not afraid to die and they'll
take all that. He does not want
to do something stupid and that
fear I think is actually something
that is in all those people when
the time comes. They don't want
 to do something stupid.
PETER SAGAL: I think what I'm 
getting at is it seems to me as 
someone who has seen your movies 
like everybody else has in the last
decade is that you've gone from
being simply a beloved popular
actor to somebody who represents 
something and I'm trying to 
figure out well..
TOM HANKS: Why that happened?
(Laughter)
TOM HANKS: How in the world? What?
PETER SAGAL: I know look this week
I, just because we were doing
this competition, I got two letters
meant for you because somebody
thought that I could pass on these
messages and these messages are
from people who really admire you.
Who sees something in you that
isn't just about a very successful
actor. You're not just a celebrity
to them. So, do you know who you
are in the world to people who you
are representing these days?
TOM HANKS: Well, look, I know
I know what the social contract
is with Cinema. I am as much, I rely 
on the cinema to expand my life
as much as anybody does.
And I realize I'm lucky as hell in
order to be able to you know to
get to be given a check for doing
what I do. I know the power of either 
being alone in a movie theater,
even if you're in a sold-out crowd
and identifying with something so
deeply up on the screen that you
think that's me. Even if you're at 
Wonder Woman, you know that
there I'm not saying it could be 
PETER SAGAL: Oh you did that too?
TOM HANNKS: Oh stop! Shut up.
(Laughter)
TOM HANKS: I knew I shouldn't have
said Wonder Woman with this guy. 
(Laughter)
TOM HANKS: you can go see a movie 
that is not about anything in your 
world or anything within your
your kin and you can see but 
like I remember seeing the 
Seven Samurai on public television
when I was 13 years old and my
joke was when I went to school the 
next day because it was in subtitles.
The next day I went to school 
I said I read the best movie last
night on TV. But as you were
 watching it, eventually you stopped
reading the subtitles and Kurosawa, 
you know and Toshirô Mifune. 
I'd never seen any of these people
but I just knew this was the most 
powerful acting I've ever seen.
And I was engrossed in a way 
that had me on the edge of the
seat like any movie of a popular
time would come. The power
of the cinema does that to you.
And I have been in a hotel room
somewhere by myself wondering
you know, how did my fate land 
me here with so much unhappiness
and sadness and seeing a movie
on TV that transported me out 
of it. And I will tell you that every now and again
I get a letter from somebody.
I got, don't laugh because if you
laugh at my movie reference in
this I'm going to coldcock you
 Peter Sagal. (Laughter)
I got a letter from a lady who
said I was getting a divorce.
My mom was sick, I was on the
road for my job and I had never
felt worse about my life and 
Turner and Hooch.. 
(Laughter/Applause)
came on and for two hours I 
escaped all of this burden and 
that and she went to bed happier
than she would have if she had
not seen Turner. That's what
movies can do for you. And I know
I'm a part of that sometimes 
and I could give you a list of 
actors and actresses have done
the same exact thing for me.
And when I see them, you know,
I have a tendency to foam all 
over them because I can say
oh my God, you know when I saw
the first time I saw..I sat 
backstage with Fellini at one 
point at the Oscars one night.
And so how do you make small
 talk with with Fellini?
PETER SAGAL: I don't know.
I've been doing it with Tom Hanks.
(Laughter)
TOM HANKS: In the I end  up 
saying something about you know,
how much what La Strada meant
to me. You know, it's at that 
kind of. He directed La Strada? 
 Fellini directed?
PETER SAGAL: Yes, yes
TOM HANKS: Thank God because
if it was an Antonioni
PETER SAGAL: oh that would be 
so funny. If you had said that 
to him and only found out now 
that he didn't really..
(Laughter)
TOM HANKS: Oh that would be nice Thank you.
So I'm aware of what that is, 
but at the same time and I know
that the work that I put into 
it and I you know, I like to think
that I work hard, but I guess 
what I'm saying is I don't 
discount what that connection
is between an individual and 
the movies that they say.
PETER SAGAL: Well, I guess I mean, 
I know we could go back and we
have some questions from the 
audience but let me put it this way
the events in Pittsburgh recently.
I don't need to tell anybody 
about and it just seemed that
probably I would guess entirely
by coincidence. We all saw the 
first shot of you as Fred Rogers.
TOM HANKS: Yes, we drove past 
the Tree of Life synagogue over and over
again because we shot at the 
studios of WQED where Fred made
the neighborhood. 
PETER SAGAL: And I would pause it
that if the news came out, oh
they're making a docudrama
biopic about Fred Rogers 
everybody would go "Oh great.
Yeah. Well, I hope it's better
than the queen movie that just
came out" but seeing you.
I'm sorry. Did I just insult people
who really like the Queen's Lieutenant?
I'm sorry. Okay.
TOM HANKS: I's got Rami Malek in
and he's one of the greatest  
PETER SAGAL: Oh, he's terrific
(Inaudible) 
TOM HANKS: It was a little thing
called the Pacific on HBO 
a production of Playtone.
PETER SAGAL: Yeah, I understand but
I'm going to say that whatever the
reaction might have been the fact 
that it was you in that sweater 
made everybody thrilled because 
there's something about the way
that you Tom Hanks invest 
character that encourages people.
TOM HANKS: Well, there is the.. I..
look I'm not going to there is a
countenance that goes on along 
with this business. There is,
I mean, there's a reason 
Robert De Niro was in Goodfellas.
PETER SAGAL: Yes. Oh I know but 
he doesn't cheer people up.
TOM HANKS: No, but but nonetheless.
It's still countenance with a 
capital C. There is something 
that goes along with that. What
I try to do and sometimes I do
fail but I always try to understand
that countenance in the casting
choice go with it, but hopefully
also expand a little bit of the
horizon of what that's going to be.
I haven't always been able to do it.
But when it clicks that means 
there's just more of something.
On that I can that I get to do 
the job that Shakespeare says
which is hold the mirror up to 
nature. That's what I'm trying 
to do. And I realize that I bring 
a bill of goods along with it.
That's not a bad thing.
Here's the only time that it's a bad.
It's when all reviews about your 
movies the first three paragraphs
are about all the other movies 
you've done. You know, and now 
you're doing this one to it.
"Well Tom Hanks who did this 
and that and that in The DaVinci
Code and was you know been blah
blah that a now he's trying to play
Ben Bradlee of the Washington Post. "
You know, and it's..
PETER SAGAL: he's no Jason Robards 
(Laughter)
TOM HANKS: You and I are more 
or less of the same. I started
working the same year the video
cassette recorder was put on the
market. That means that my movies
or anything I'd ever done as long
as it came out on video and then
DVD and then on Netflix will be
seen for the rest of time any damn
time anybody wants. In the old
days you had to wait till they
came on or played in Revival house
and maybe you remembered in the 
one time you saw them. So that
countenance thing goes along even
farther now because I've been
the babysitter for an awful lot of kids.
PETER SAGAL: I know.
TOM HANKS: All right, Mom and Dad
are about to go out. We've rented
"Big" you get to see it. I know 
you've seen it again. We have
Splash too you can watch Splash
if you want to. Just remember we
cried at the end of Turner and
Hooch we cried but will be..
You know, so I know that I been
there. That's just the beauty
of the art form is that you can
it is revisited constant.
PETER SAGAL: We have a couple of
questions from members of the
audience who submitted them earlier
we've selected a few will put
them up on the screen.
TOM HANKS: Really?
I thought this was a temporary graphic?
PETER SAGAL: No, this is as good
as it gets. Oh my God, they've
 been actually.. (Laughter)
TOM HANKS: Has that been going
on the whole time? So you get to
say I read the best interview 
with Tom Hanks last night.
(Laughter)
TOM HANKS: Anybody Deaf could is
actually doing that anybody hearing..
PETER SAGAL: (reading screen)  Hello!
"I am the person typing the captions
(Laughter)
TOM HANKS:" that's me!!"
(Applause)
TOM HANKS: Let's hear it for this guy.
Are they up there? Or back here?
I commend you!
(Applause)
TOM HANKS: Hey, there you are!
PETER SAGAL: That's great.
We actually do have some 
questions from you. So, if we can 
put them up..
TOM HANKS: That is hilarious
I'm sorry. That is just fantastic.
(Laughter)
I'm sorry that is truly fantastic
(Laughter)
TOM HANKS: "Which character in 
your book, write this as I write it, 
which character in your book do 
you love the most and why?" Says 
Jill Fullin. There you go. We want
Jill's name up there twice. 
I think that's fabulous.
(Laughter)
TOM HANKS: Loving the most is one
thing, identifying strongly with
them is in I mean look, I love them all.
There's just no doubt about it.
And it's some of them are all
quasi versions of something
that I remember from growing up.
I will tell you this that there's
a story in there that is called 
"Go See Costa." That is about
Essentially it is a version of 
the story of my father-in-law.
Who escaped Bulgaria right after
the war and escaped Bulgaria 
in harrying horrifying ways. 
I mean this was a guy who was 
tortured by the Communists,
who was kidnapped in Greece and 
taken back to Bulgaria and thrown
into prison and beaten and tortured 
because he dared to leave the 
communist country. And I knew 
that I was going to write that as
soon as that was actually the
second story that I wrote for 
the book. Long ago my son Chester
had just been born and I got up
 early with them and Dad, 
he was well retired. He always got
up early as well and we would 
have in coffee and "God I tell you
 I tell you know, I like to get
up early in the morning and no,
it's good. It's good. I'm going to sweep.
I'm going to sweep, I"m going 
to have my coffee. It's good.
I like it"   So you're happy? 
"I'll tell you, tell you God Bless America.
God blessed greatest country."
He was a bartender. It's how we 
you know raised his kids and 
"God Bless America". And I say 
Hey Dad, how did you come to
America? And for the better part
of two hours he told me the story
that is more or less what is in
Go See Costa. Which was bent 
on daring luck and the odd
goodness of a number of people.
PETER SAGAL: Once again the odd goodness of
TOM HANKS: Fair people that didn't
give him an easy time, but we're..
And after it was done and my
wife woke up later on the day 
got on it, she said what'd you do
this morning with Chet?
Aw he was fine. I just talking to
your dad, my God. He told me 
the story of how he came to America.
And my wife said "How did he
come to America?" Because he
never told her because he was
 just a guy that made it. 
He made it through the day.
He wasn't doing anything 
spectacular. He didn't know that
he was an absolute friggin Superman that
against every conceivable odd.
He was able to get to where he
was today. He was just a son 
from (inaudible) the old country.
And so when you can get into it
to answer Jill Foland's question,
which character in a book do
you love the most of all? I'm 
going to say, it's Dad. There 
you go. Thanks Jill.
(Applause)
PETER SAGAL: Next question, please 
TOM HANKS: Pat..
(Laughter)
TOM HANKS: I'm fond of a palatino
I like a good palatino, pretty good.
If you have if you write on an
Apple there's nothing wrong
with American typewriter. That's
a good font. I'm not big on the
boring font. Like are being typed
on the screen right now.
(Laughter)
I like a font with character.
I like a font that maybe is not
necessarily needed to be seen by
2,000 people from 800 ft away.
(Laughter)
PETER SAGAL: Do you have one
of those select tricks with a 
little tight ball?
TOM HANKS: I do. I have a couple
of them. Yeah, I have about
200 typewriters and I rotate 
them into use. And they all.. 
Some are objects of 
art that will never be used 
but the others are they.. there's
no reason to have a typewriter
unless it actually works. So you
don't need more than one you 
only need one typewriter. And if
there's 249 people here that
would like to take one home.
I need to get rid of some typewriters.
PETER SAGAL: Jay Leno has cars.
You have typewriters.
Next question, please.
TOM HANKS: President Obama said
of you when you receive the
presidential medal of freedom.
"He is a good man." All right, 
"which is the best title of you
can have. This is the very same
reason that you have been my 
favorite actor", Aww come on.
It's Karynda Walls! "Since I 
was a little girl. Can you talk
about how to be a good man
to be someone known or his
integrity in an industry where
that kind of reputation is somewhat"
Well, let me tell you let me 
tell you Kirinda. 
(Applause)
Start every morning with a
Bloody Mary (Laughter)
That is God bless you that's very nice.
that's lovely to hear and I think
I might have talked about it 
a little bit here in the course 
of it. When I grew up, America
the country were in was fraught
with difficulties that we 
talked about all the time.
PETER SAGAL: I can't imagine
what that would be like 
(laughter)
They were I mean, you know
in school in the dynamics of
everything. We were aware that
that you know, there was oceans 
of trouble that we're everywhere.
But we were also operating on a 
type of faith as well as a type
of instruction that said America 
is a place where you make things
better, that you work at it, that
the best way in order to make
things better is to be fair.
That means everybody has the
same opportunity that they can
blow if they want to in which
case they made their choices.
But if you want to make your 
community better or make or
you know, somehow solve problems,
you have to get together with
like-minded people and you have
to respect certain things that
is in fact, what made us Americans.
Respect for the law, respect for
each other. Respect for your 
neighbor, no exceptions.
And that's the ethic that I got 
naive or goody two shoes or
whatever it is you would like 
to call it and I saw that. 
I grew up in Oakland CA a place
that was rife with all sorts of 
difficulties all sorts of troubles.
But when I got on a bus, an AC
Transit bus for 15 cents, which
would take you anywhere in the
city every color of the rainbow
was on that bus. And the only
thing that happened on that
bus was it stopped, people got
off and people got on.
That I didn't realize it at the
time, but that was an extraordinary
experience to have day after 
day after day after day.
So, translate this to later on will 
where does this come into process?
And what does it mean in the
bigger macro focus?
So, I'll tell you this story when
we were in Philadelphia and we 
were making the movie Philadelphia
we had time off to go see some
of Philadelphia. So, what do you 
do when you're in Philadelphia?
We see the Liberty Bell.
So, we went down saw the Liberty
Bell was freezing cold outside.
So weren't a lot of people and
we went to Independence Hall.
And Independence Hall was you
know, there's a house of Congress
down on one side. There's a house
of the Senate on the other and
upstairs was a supreme court the
original stuff. And we went up 
there and an employee of our 
government, our federal government
employee by that I mean a park
ranger. Yeah, with a green thing 
with the Smokey the bear hat 
he was going through his things
there that the furniture here
all re-creations. None of them
they actually do all that. We do
think that that chair and that 
candlestick on the table are 
from the same era whether or 
not they were place here or not
we don't know? But we do believe
that ages of those are due date
back to colonial times at the
signing of the Declaration of 
Independence. What is unique about
this room is not just it was the first
sitting of the Supreme Court of
the United States, but on that
riser there in that very spot 
when John Adams was sworn
in as the second president the 
United States with his predecessor
George Washington president 
the room surrendering power to
him in a lawful manner in which
there was no revolution or death.
It was the first time in recorded
human history with the leadership
of a nation changed hands without
death or bloodshed being the
cause. And the hair blew
off the back of my neck.
(Applause)
So, I'm sitting there with my kid
having grown up and I realized
that when they decided to do that, 
the only people could vote were
white landowners. If you were
a slave you were not even a 
free human being. If you were
colored you only 3/5 of a human
being. Women were not allowed to
vote. Look where we had come
from that time. And consider
me a dope. But I make a direct
connection between that and
the lessons that I learned when
I was a kid. And I grew up in..
I moved eight million times and
I grew up in every kind of..
I lived in bad neighborhoods, 
good neighborhoods, I lived in
apartment complexes that stretch
to the horizon. I lived lawless.
I've had families that were tight
I had families that were you 
know fractured. But was always
there was this understanding 
that outside the house there
was a fairness that was always
held in the balance by the good
people. So, the good people made
it a point to be fair to each other.
And so I will take, I'm delighted
to be called by Karynda Walls,
you know a good person and
I think it's because I am an 
American and I have been raised
by good fair people and I want 
to be just like them. How's that?
(Applause)
PETER SAGAL: We have one more
question from the audience.
(Laughter)
Describe the perfect sandwich.
Oh, I love "laughter". Oh, yeah.
Michelle Welch the perfect 
sandwich does not have bread.
(Laughter)
Here's why does not have bread
to me. I have type 2 diabetes 
which comes about and it's okay,
it's manageable. And it comes
about because I just ate crap
all my life and I paid the price.
So, I go to my.. do you have 
diabetes or anything like?
PETER SAGAL: No, not that I know
TOM HANKS: Anything any problems at all?
PETER SAGAL: No, I have no problems 
TOM HANKS: hypertension?
(Laughter)
PETER SAGAL: No. My life is good
TOM HANKS: cough. No, I'm going 
to just I'm going to get 
(Laughter)
TOM HANKS: So, I was meeting with
the nutritionist in my diabetes
doctor's office and she was going
to like, okay. Alright, your 
blood sugar's is still too high.
So monkeying around I don't
like the way you're insulin 
jumps back and forth on this
kind of thing. So, let's talk about
what do you have for breakfast?
And I told her what I had for 
breakfast. She says change that
don't eat that eat this instead.
I said Okay. I said well I have like 
oatmeal and I try to have some you
know, sugar-free syrup on it, 
put an egg in there, it'll be okay
the answer to everything was
put an egg in there.
(Laughter)
So, it came around and you know,
what do you have for lunch, 
what do have for dinner you know,
and she says, you know, sugar
is about the dumbest thing you
could eat. I said yeah, I know
and she says, yeah you eat 
sugar don't you? I just said no...
(Laughter)
So we were talking, talking,
talking, and she said okay look
stupid, here's what here's what
you do. You want to have a beer 
every now and again have a beer
every now and again. You want
to have a martini every now and
again have a martini every now
and again. But don't eat rice 
and don't eat potatoes and 
understand this bread is poison
for you! I'm the type of 
metabolism that I if I eat anything
that turns into sugar in my body,
that's why I have Type 2 diabetes.
So, young lady Michelle, the perfect
sandwich alas has no bread.
(Laughter)
You want to play around with 
spelt go right ahead till the
cows come home. You want to try
gluten-free bread? Maybe? 
Maybe not. Go ahead if you could
stand the taste of gluten 
free bread. Go right ahead. 
Along with it, I will say that 
this is what I used to make for
my kids when they were go off to
summer camp. I made I would make
them what I called A Bomb 
Sandwiches. Which is every kind
of cheese that is in the drawer,
every kind of cold cut that is 
in the drawer, some lettuce
that is in the drawer. Mustard and
mayonnaise. Ideally, it's that 
thick. So, I'm going to say cold
cuts and cheese because I can
eat paleo without bread 
wrapped in lettuce.
Michelle, perfect sandwich.
(Applause)
PETER SAGAL: I'm going to ask
one last question because we got 
to wrap it up. But and this 
weirdly is a question.
The last person I asked us was
James Comey. Who I interviewed
and I'll ask it to you. 
TOM HANKS: Hot dog!
PETER SAGAL: I know! I asked him
because he obviously..
TOM HANKS: You interviewed
James Comey? 
PETER SAGAL:  I did 
TOM HANKS: On this stage?
PETER SAGAL: No on actually 
the stage of Wolf Trap in Virginia.
he's exceptionally tall.
TOM HANKS: He's  like 6'4 
PETER SAGAL: No, he's like 6'8 
TOM HANKS: Eyi yi 
PETER SAGAL:  It's terrifying.
TOM HANKS: It's terrifying?
PETER SAGAL: It really is.
TOM HANKS: Yes, but that way
he's so smart. He gets to look 
down on everybody. 
PETER SAGAL: It's true and he
TOM HANKS: He gets to speak down.. 
PETER SAGAL: And he does
TOM HANKS: Was this for the show?
PETER SAGAL: This was..
TOM HANKS: Okay, so this is for well, 
PETER SAGAL: You know, he and
 I get together for lunch.
TOM HANKS: Well Okay.
(Laughter)
PETER SAGAL: I asked him this 
question because he obviously
knew all these secrets of National
Security and what's been going
on of late that we do not know. 
I'm gonna ask you this question
because in addition to being a 
pretty well-known actor and
author you are a student of 
history. You are a producer of
popular entertainment based on
history and documentaries or 
someone who knows a lot as you
just demonstrated about America.
And what makes it actually great.
Here's the question.
Are we going to be okay?
(Laughter)
In your opinion. You're not responsible. 
You're not in charge sadly.
TOM HANKS: The answer is potentially, sure absolutely, because we have
been through worse. We have and we have this amazing thing
that comes around every now and again, which guarantees us
to have the leaders
we want or the leaders we deserve.
And it's this weird thing that I first read about I think
maybe in my Weekly Reader when I was four years old, they're
called elections.
(Applause)
In which there I'm not sure which is more important
putting into office
the people we want. Or yanking out of office the people we
don't want. Because they're both sides of the same.
Democratic coin but I cannot help but know this collection
of words and not see in it the path to all of us being okay.
And here's what the words are. Ready?
PETER SAGAL: Ready
TOM HANKS: I might screw up some
of them so don't hold me that
and Mr. caption man, get ready to go.
 Ready?
(Laughter)
Here are the words that must 
be interpreted by all of us
in our own individual way, but
do aim at the same common
goal for all of us no matter
 how we interpret them.
And here's what the words are.
We the people of the United States 
of America in order to form a
more perfect union to establish
justice insure domestic tranquility
to provide for the common defense
and to promote the general welfare
and to guarantee the blessings
of liberty for ourselves and our 
posterity. Hereby, ordain and 
establish this constitution of 
the United States. No matter 
who we are and no matter 
what our definitions of blessings
of liberty, general welfare.
The common defense all comes
down to what the real goal of
our entire nation is about and 
that is to form a more perfect
union. And in order to do have
a or perfect anything periodically,
you know you got to clean house
and hopefully the people that you
put into office, the men, 
the women, the people you take
out are the folks that will take
their, what's the word I'm 
looking for? Their mandate 
deeply into heart and be what?
Be fair and be good.
(Applause)
PETER SAGAL: I'm just going to say it.
TOM HANKS: Can you go back
go back up to the Preamble.
Can you go back to the preamble?
Is there a back? Oh type applause..
There you go. Just before speaking
of people at Duke be with Kevin
Turk and the folks from the
International Tom Hanks day,
are they here? 
PETER SAGAL: Yes, there is an
international Tom Hanks Day
TOM HANKS: There we go.
(Applause)
These folks started off just for
excuses to have a beer bust in 
in some bar somewhere on the
north side. And now they've helped 
supply all sorts of funds for some
really great charities. 
Thanks good to see you here
(Applause)
Some of the class of the interns
of Great Lakes Shakespeare 
Festival 1977 to 1978.
(Cheers)
You guys here too? Glad you're
 here, thanks for coming.
PETER SAGAL: You wouldn't say it
so I will. I know like every actor
I know, no matter how successful,
you present yourself as an actor
a guy pursuing his trade
which you do very well, but it
seems to me that in the last
decade or more the roles you've 
chosen, the film's you've produced,
the performances you've given
have served a role and that is to
show us again and again and 
again in a convincing way what
actual human courage, integrity 
and goodness looks like an action.
And for that I am going to say 
that you, not only do you play
them but are a hero. 
Tom Hanks!
(Cheers and Applause)
TOM HANKS: Thank you very
much everybody! Thank you!
(Cheers and Applause)
