--- title: Ron Howard Recreates Tom Hanks's SNL Impression of Himself description: The famous 'Inferno' director clapped back at his leading actor's comedic portrayal of him in a recent skit on 'Saturday Night Live.' canonical: https://time.com/4546034/ron-howard-on-tom-hanks-impression/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-26T14:48:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:38:01.369Z og:title: Ron Howard Recreates Tom Hanks's SNL Impression of Himself og:description: He's responded to his leading actor's take on the famous director og:url: https://time.com/4546034/ron-howard-on-tom-hanks-impression/ 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: Ron Howard Recreates Tom Hanks's SNL Impression of Himself twitter:description: He's responded to his leading actor's take on the famous director twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Ron Howard Recreates the Affectionate Tom Hanks _SNL_ Impression of Him > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 26, 2016 2:48 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 26, 2016 2:48 PM UTC Tom Hanks and [director Ron Howard](http://content.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,3845707001%5F1864645,00.html?iid=sr-link7) have worked together on movies several times, from [1984’s _Splash_](http://time.com/4433935/channing-tatum-mermaid-splash-remake/?iid=sr-link1) (Hanks’s career-launching start) to the new installment in the _Da Vinci Code_ series, an adaptation of author Dan Brown’s [history-minded action-adventure _Inferno_](http://time.com/4323037/inferno-trailer-tom-hanks-felicity-jones/?iid=sr-link1). But just because they’re longtime buddies doesn’t mean they can’t poke fun at each other. On Saturday, Hanks parodied the notoriously scruffy and folksy Howard in [one of his _SNL_ sketches while hosting](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFwoZx3ml2U) the [late night comedy show](http://time.com/4543494/david-pumpkins-costume/?iid=sr-link3). So on Conan O’Brien’s show on Tuesday night, O’Brien gave Howard himself the chance to respond directly to the impression. “He warned me. This is an impression that he occasionally does,” Howard explained on _Conan_. “But would you say he’s an impressionist? Is he any kind of real impressionist?” he then asked, his mannerisms in the delivery proving that Hanks is, indeed, a “real impressionist.” “He nailed it,” Howard finally admitted, right down to Howard’s signature look (a black zip-up jacket and baseball hat). Apparently Hanks had a bit of a grudge to excise in the skit: on the last day of filming for the action-intensive _Inferno_, Howard made Hanks perform all kinds of dangerous stunts, leaving him a little peeved. Late night host James Corden [also gave Howard the chance to clap back](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THdHi27DuM4) at his leading actor, getting a Hanks impression out of him. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4546034/ron-howard-on-tom-hanks-impression/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4546034/ron-howard-on-tom-hanks-impression/"},"headline":"Ron Howard Recreates the Affectionate Tom Hanks SNL Impression of Him","datePublished":"2016-10-26T14:48:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:38:01.369Z","description":"\"He nailed it\"","url":"https://time.com/4546034/ron-howard-on-tom-hanks-impression/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","movies","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/4546034/ron-howard-on-tom-hanks-impression/","name":"Ron Howard Recreates the Affectionate Tom Hanks SNL Impression of Him"}}]}] ```