It was late October 2016. The world felt like it was vibrating at a frequency of pure anxiety. Then, Tom Hanks walked onto Studio 8H wearing a denim shirt and a red "Make America Great Again" hat. People held their breath. SNL has a history of hitting the nail on the head, but this felt... risky.
What followed was six minutes of the most surgical comedy in the show's 50-year history. Honestly, it's the kind of sketch that shouldn't have worked. You've got "America's Dad" playing Doug, a guy who looks like he spends his weekends yelling at the local news. He’s standing next to Keeley (Sasheer Zamata) and Shanice (Leslie Jones), with Kenan Thompson hosting as Darnell Hayes.
The setup for SNL Jeopardy with Tom Hanks is simple. It's Black Jeopardy, a recurring bit where white contestants usually fail miserably. They typically show up as well-meaning liberals or clueless professors who try way too hard to "get it" and end up looking ridiculous. But Doug? Doug was different.
Why Doug Was the Ultimate Wildcard
Usually, the joke in Black Jeopardy is the cultural gap. When Louis C.K. or Elizabeth Banks played the third contestant, the humor came from their total alienation. They were outsiders looking in.
Doug didn't do that. He was an outsider who somehow lived in the exact same world as the other contestants. Basically, the sketch argues that a blue-collar Trump supporter and the Black community share a deep, fundamental distrust of "the system."
Take the "They Out Here Saying" category. When Darnell reads the clue about the new iPhone wanting your thumbprint for "protection," Doug doesn't skip a beat.
"What is, I don't think so, that's how they get you."
The crowd erupted. Darnell Hayes beamed. For a few minutes, the MAGA hat didn't matter because everyone on stage agreed that big tech is creepy and the government is probably spying on you. It was a weirdly wholesome moment of unity built on a foundation of mutual suspicion.
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The Handshake and the "Pass"
One of the most talked-about moments in the history of SNL Jeopardy with Tom Hanks is the handshake. Or, more accurately, the lack of one.
When Doug gets a question right about Tyler Perry’s Madea movies ("If I can laugh and pray in 90 minutes, that’s money well spent"), Kenan goes in for a handshake. Hanks flinches. He literally recoils.
It’s a tiny, improvised beat—Kenan later confirmed in a Vulture interview that Hanks’ physical reaction was a character choice made in the moment. It perfectly captured the underlying tension. They are vibing, sure, but they aren't friends. Not yet.
Later, Doug even gets a "pass" from the group after he refers to them as "you people." In any other context, the sketch would have ended right there in a firestorm of awkwardness. But because Doug had proven he understood the "struggle" (even if his version was rural and white), the host just lets it slide.
"I think I'm gonna let that one go," Darnell says. It’s a moment of grace that felt impossible in the real political climate of 2016.
The Final Jeopardy Gut Punch
The sketch is famous for its ending because it refuses to give the audience a happy, "we are the world" resolution. After five minutes of finding common ground over bad store-bought potato salad and distrust of the "global elite," they hit the Final Jeopardy category:
Lives That Matter.
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The studio goes silent. Doug’s face falls. He says, "I have a lot to say about this."
Darnell Hayes sighs, looks at the camera, and delivers the line that still rings true today: "Well, it was good while it lasted, Doug."
The game is over. The bridge they built was made of paper, and it burned the second they hit the one topic they couldn't agree on. It was a sophisticated bit of political commentary hidden inside a silly game show parody. It suggested that while class interests might align, identity and systemic reality are the walls that don't come down easily.
The 2025 Return and the Backlash
Fast forward to the SNL 50th Anniversary special in early 2025. Tom Hanks brought Doug back. But the world had changed.
The reprisal featured a similar setup—Doug refusing a handshake and making comments about going to church—but the reception was vastly different. In 2016, the sketch was seen as a bridge-builder. In 2025, critics on social media slammed it as a "tired trope."
Right-wing commentators argued that the portrayal of the MAGA supporter was an outdated caricature, especially considering the shifting demographics of the electorate since 2016. Some viewers felt the joke had curdled. It’s a fascinating look at how comedy ages. What felt like a radical empathy experiment in 2016 felt like a partisan jab to many in 2025.
Breaking Down the Writing
Behind the scenes, the genius of this sketch belongs to writers Bryan Tucker and Michael Che. They didn't want to just make fun of a "redneck." They wanted to find the overlap.
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- The Inspo: Tucker noticed that working-class people of all races often use the same shorthand for "the man."
- The Casting: Tom Hanks was the only person who could do this. If anyone else wore that hat, the audience would have been defensive. Hanks has that "America's Dad" shield that lets him play a character like Doug without the audience immediately hating him.
- The Detail: The Skoal-tin circle in his back pocket, the faded denim—the costume department nailed the aesthetic of a guy who probably has a very strong opinion about local zoning laws.
Why It Still Matters
We talk about "viral moments" all the time, but most of them are forgotten in forty-eight hours. SNL Jeopardy with Tom Hanks is different. It’s taught in media classes. It’s cited by political pundits.
It matters because it didn't take the easy way out. It didn't make Doug a monster, and it didn't make him a hero. He was just a guy who liked Madea and didn't trust the government, who happened to be standing on the other side of a massive cultural divide.
If you want to revisit the brilliance of this era, you should look for the full version on Peacock or the SNL YouTube channel. Watching the 2016 original alongside the 2025 anniversary version provides a pretty wild look at how American discourse has shifted.
Next Steps for SNL Fans:
If you're looking for more sketches that hit this specific "cultural bridge" nerve, check out the Chadwick Boseman Black Jeopardy (the Wakanda episode) or the Eddie Murphy Velvet Jones return. They all use the game show format to say something much louder than the actual jokes.
You can also find the oral history of the sketch on Vulture, where Kenan Thompson and Bryan Tucker break down exactly how they convinced Tom Hanks to put on that hat in the first place. It’s worth the read for the "how the sausage is made" details.