Tom Hanks’ son goes viral for his super-cringey impression of Heath Ledger’s Joker from The Dark Knight. Fans were famously skeptical when Ledger won the role of the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s follow-up to Batman Begins. But the actor quickly won over all the doubters, ultimately going on to snag a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Batman’s most anarchic enemy.
The Joker is of course arguably the most iconic of all comic book movie villains and has been portrayed numerous times by various actors. On the big-screen, Jack Nicholson gave audiences an over-the-top jokester Joker in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman. Later after Ledger’s still-definitive take on the character in The Dark Knight, Jared Leto gave his own divisive interpretation of the Clown Prince of Crime in David Ayers’ Suicide Squad. The Joker was then taken outside the context of Batman by Joaquin Phoenix in his own Oscar-winning turn in 2020’s Joker. Most recently, Barry Keoghan put his stamp on Joker lore with his brief appearance as an incarcerated version of the character in Matt Reeves’ The Batman.
Movie fans of course will happily stay up all night arguing which of these takes on the Joker is the best of all. One person who won’t be joining the roster of great Joker performers however is Chet Hanks, the “celebrity” son of Tom Hanks. For some reason, the younger Hanks recently decided to share his Joker impression on the Showtime show Ziwe and gave one of the more cringey performances in recent memory. See the uncomfortable clip in the space below:
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Known “professionally” as Chet Hanx or Chet Haze, Hanks the son is obviously no stranger to going viral after his infamous 2021 “White Boy Summer” video and his online anti-vaccination stances. But as embarrassing as his prior performances may have been, they pale in comparison to the above video in which Hanks’ Joker impression causes host Ziwe Fumudoh to become visibly flabbergasted. Hanks himself seems unconcerned about Fumudoh’s confused reactions however, as he continues giddily doing lines from The Dark Knight while incongruously sitting on top of an exercise ball with no shirt on.
Ledger’s Joker is of course the exact kind of iconic character that inspires people to do impressions, most of which turn out to be very bad and very embarrassing. Hanks’ impression happens to be extra-cringey because it’s evident from a lot of his behavior that he sees himself as an agent of chaos just like Joker was in The Dark Knight. But while Ledger’s Joker evoked terror in the people of Gotham with his chaotic and destructive acts, Hanks only makes people snicker at what a terrible impressionist he is.
