2022 may have been the year of House of the Dragon and actor Emma D’Arcy’s negroni sbagliato with prosecco, but 2023 could be the year of Tom Hanks and the “Diet Cokagne.” After D’Arcy went viral last year for naming their favorite drink when promoting their new HBO show, Hanks headed to late night television to introduce the world to the new drink that he invented.
Fortunately for Emma D’Arcy, they didn’t go viral because they left a negroni sbagliato on camera to give House of the Dragon its own coffee cup moment a la Game of Thrones, but because of a clip of them chatting with co-star Olivia Cooke. Neither star was channeling their House of the Dragon character, and they were getting along well, clearly with no idea that their drink picks would spread across social media. In fact, D’Arcy later shared their reaction to going viral. Tom Hanks and his “Diet Cokagne” have yet to go viral, but he shared the recipe on TV for anybody curious to try!
Tom Hanks dropped by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to promote his new film, called A Man Called Otto, which has already beat the box office odds. He and Colbert didn’t immediately start talking about the movie in which he plays a lovable grump, however, as they had something else important to discuss: the delicious drink that the Academy Award-winner accidentally invented on a night out with his family over the holidays.
When out with his wife and kids, they had a celebratory bottle of champagne brought to their table, but according to Hanks, he prefers Diet Coke to champagne. The actor revealed:
They brought the champagne around, they brought the nice flutes. It was like the last episode of The Bachelor… and I just had this Diet Coke. And I said, ‘Oh, just give me a shot of champagne in there, for crying out loud.’ In the Diet Coke. And everybody says, ‘You are insane.’ And I said, ‘Well, I may be insane, but I want to celebrate the season.’ So I had a sip of this. Stephen, it was delicious.
Colbert had heard this story before, and naturally pulled out two glasses, a couple cans of Diet Coke, and a bottle of champagne for Hanks to mix their drinks in front of the audience. While the host didn’t seem too optimistic about the drink being as delicious as it sounded from how Hanks told the story, he was singing a different tune after taking a sip, leading the actor to continue:
Everybody at the table tried it. They said, ‘Ooh, you know what, Dad? That’s pretty good.' We were debating what the name of it should be, and I came up with it, because it is Coke and it’s champagne, so it’s obviously Diet Cokagne.
He even spelled it out, while Colbert had a different suggestion for the name: just as there’s a Tom Collins cocktail with gin, the Diet Coke/champagne mix should be the Tom Hanks. The actor supported Colbert’s suggestion, and the two men seemed to be having a pretty great time. Not many people can say that they got to make and/or try new cocktails while working, but at least most of us could get away with a virgin Diet Cokagne whenever we wanted!
In all seriousness, Tom Hanks and Stephen Colbert went back and forth for four minutes (after the audience finally stopped applauding the arrival of the Hollywood legend), and the whole video is worth a watch. Take a look:
Will Stephen Colbert start offering Diet Cokagne in the mugs for the guests on his show? Will theaters start offering cola mixed with champagne as a beverage to enjoy with popcorn during a viewing of A Man Called Otto? Is this the next drink that will go viral across the internet and add to Tom Hanks’ legacy? Maybe not, but Hanks and Stephen Colbert both vouched for the drink on The Late Show, so maybe some people will be willing to give it a try. There aren’t exactly a lot of ingredients!
For now, you can see more of Stephen Colbert with new episodes of The Late Show on weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS. For some more viewing options now and in the coming weeks, check out our 2023 TV premiere schedule.
