--- title: Tom Hanks Ask Zoltar Machine For 'Big' Favor Video, Colbert description: The 'Inferno' actor and late show host Stephen Colbert reenacted a meeting with the famous fortune-telling machine and a modern-day Hanks. canonical: https://time.com/4544497/tom-hanks-colbert-zoltar-video/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-25T16:04:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:37:59.589Z og:title: Watch Tom Hanks Ask a 'Big' Favor of Zoltar Once More og:description: Hanks and Stephen Colbert recreate a scene with the fortune-telling machine. og:url: https://time.com/4544497/tom-hanks-colbert-zoltar-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Tom Hanks Ask a 'Big' Favor of Zoltar Once More twitter:description: Hanks and Stephen Colbert recreate a scene with the fortune-telling machine. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch Tom Hanks Ask the Fortune-Telling Zoltar for a _Big_ Favor Once More  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 25, 2016 4:04 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 25, 2016 4:04 PM UTC Getting older isn’t easy—not even for a [mega-watt star like Tom Hanks](http://time.com/4323037/inferno-trailer-tom-hanks-felicity-jones/?iid=sr-link1). In a charming skit on Stephen Colbert’s _Late Show_ Monday night, Hanks took a look back at his cinematic past (in this case, [the classic movie _Big_](http://time.com/4543418/tom-hanks-big-rap/?iid=sr-link1)) and sought out the means to turn back time in a conversation with the [fortune-telling machine Zoltar](http://techland.time.com/2012/09/25/finally-you-can-buy-your-very-own-zoltar-machine-for-9000/?iid=sr-link1), played by a straight-faced Colbert, of course. “What can the all-knowing do for you?” the heavily-bearded Colbert-as-Zoltar asks once he has been discovered and brought to life in a dusty storeroom. “Well Zoltar, last time we met, I was a 13-year-old boy who wanted to be older,” Hanks begins, outlining the plot of _Big_. “And I woke up the next morning as a 30-year-old man.” “But don’t you remember the heart-warming lesson you learned last time?” Zoltar intones. “Yeah. I learned that being older isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be, a lesson I’m constantly learning every day at my age,” Hanks says, a little peevishly. After some haggling (the _Inferno_ actor’s eternal soul is not, it turns out, for sale), he agrees to take a look at Zoltar’s _Big 2_ screenplay in exchange for the gift of youth. Watch the amusing exchange above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4544497/tom-hanks-colbert-zoltar-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4544497/tom-hanks-colbert-zoltar-video/"},"headline":"Watch Tom Hanks Ask the Fortune-Telling Zoltar for a Big Favor Once More","datePublished":"2016-10-25T16:04:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:37:59.589Z","description":"\"Being older isn't always all it's cracked up to be\"","url":"https://time.com/4544497/tom-hanks-colbert-zoltar-video/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Television","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4544497/tom-hanks-colbert-zoltar-video/","name":"Watch Tom Hanks Ask the Fortune-Telling Zoltar for a Big Favor Once More"}}]}] ```