Why Tom Hanks is successful

I have come to the conclusion that Tom Hanks may be one of the coolest people of the last 60 years.

This was a suspicion that I've had for a lot of years after watching most of his movies and a lot of his TV shows. I am aware that he is an actor and he could be acting so his movies and TV shows may not show his just general good human nature.

I drove up to Sunnyvale for an appointment today and during that time I had the opportunity to listen to a podcast where he was being interviewed. The podcast was Nerdist and Chris Hardwick had made a pretty clever plea to get him to the show around antique typewriters. The story is worth checking out on Nerdist if you get a chance to read it. The point being that he was on the show of a web series that doesn't garner any kind of ratings or popularity outside of the nerd community. During his time on the show, he was funny and engaging. He shared stories of his time during Bosom Buddies and his career. And by shared he wasn't spewing a bunch of trite crap meant to make him look good. He just talked. Similar to the way we all talk every day.

Tom Hanks is successful because he is someone we'd all like to hang out with. He is a normal guy who works hard and has a personality that he shares with everyone.

Now why does that make him successful?

How often have you went to see a play or a concert because someone you know was in the band or cast? I know that I go to something like this 6 or 7 times a year just so I can support the person. Tom Hanks is that guy we all go see in a movie because we want to support him. The main difference is that everything  he makes is pretty good. We all want to know Tom Hanks and we go to support him because he seems like a buddy we'd like to hang out with.

There are actors that we'd all like to hang out with but I feel like with Tom Hanks there is some kind of larger chance that it might actually happen. He is a super nice guy who lives in California that I hope someday I'll be in the same Starbucks as him and who'll automatically strike up a conversation with me because I look super interesting to talk to and he is genuinely interested in what I have to say and...oh sorry. I was caught in a monologue.

End of post. Tom Hanks is the bomb. I'd like to drink coffee with him. Go see his movies and enjoy all that is Hanks.