Jimmy Fallon, We Hardly Knew Ye
I give Jimmy Fallon a 6 /10 for his first show. In all, he had poor interview skills and the jokes were so-so. His monologue sounded like the stand up of a crap guest comedian. The one funny point in the monologue was when an audience member “wooed” and Fallon snapped “I hate it when my dad drinks”. Funny — but he probably had that retort in the can for weeks. Anybody want to bet on whether he uses that again before the end of next week? He even managed to make the exact same joke as Letterman to open the show — except worse.
“New York City was hit with a huge snow storm,” Fallon noted, “and I woke up this morning and said, `Please, let it be a snow day! Please!’”
In terms of skits, Slow Jam News was marginally funny (enough to appreciate… but not laugh). And I’ve seen that the internets have given it mixed reviews. Target Demographic had no humorous points whatsoever. He did have cool interaction with the crowd by bringing up audience members to lick random items, but “Lick It for 10″ fell flat. However, I thought that was the one bright spot in the show.
The greatest movie poster in history
The main problem is that Jimmy Fallon has absolutely ZERO interview skills. He had the kind of conversation that you have with deli guy as your food cooks … when you don’t actually want to talk to the guy at the deli. Fallon was visibly sweating after a question to De Niro broke down into a story about hassling Jack Nicholson by yelling “You can’t handle the truth!” De Niro responded “I don’t understand the question.” They had a skit together (video below) that was sort of/not really funny. It was clear that Fallon was having trouble connecting and that his interview skills were weak. Most of his Justin Timberlake interview broke down into “remember that time when _____”.
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The one redeeming factor was Justin Timberlake’s appearance. His John Mayer impression was spot on — but then followed by an obnoxious plug for Bud Light Lime… that fell flat. I can’t believe more people haven’t mentioned this. It was a horrible attempt at product integration (perhaps they should have sponsored the John Mayer impressions directly preceding this performance). The only thing more painful than listening to that garbage was seeing the look on De Niro’s face as he sat there awkwardly. Jimmy Fallon did not talk about anything interesting which doesn’t bode well for a “talk show”.
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I don’t want to hear this “Conan was shitty his first episode” or “Did you know Conan was canceled in 1995?” crap. Jimmy Fallon was a full cast member on SNL from 1999 to 2004. He also has a history of stand up comedy. He’s been in movies. So being on television should not make him nervous. Expectations are a different story, but I took that into account when I graded him. His main problem isn’t going to be finding rhythm — that will come with time. He needs to find a connection to the young men that will be watching a talk show at 12:35AM… and that won’t be easy. Here’s what Lorne Michaels had to say about his appeal last week:
“When he was on ‘Saturday Night Live’ he had enormous appeal to young girls,” he said. “That means young men are going to be a bit ambivalent. But they’ll come around.”
From what I saw, he’s not going to win over the 18-35 male demo. The question is: what is Jimmy Fallon most known for? He made his name with impressions — which are much more useful on a sketch show than a talk show (unless you’re a guest). Conan relates to people by being a nerd. Letterman relates to people by being a goofball. Leno relates to people by being bland and generally acceptable. Craig Ferguson related to people by being a witty foreigner. What is Fallon? He has no identity other than cutesy cooing and “huh, what?” looks. He was on SNL for five years without building a male following, failed at a movie career for four years (Rob Schneider has probably grossed 5X more in his career), and now he slides into the position following two of the most prolific television personalities in history.
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I think the monologue will improve as he gets more comfortable. They’ll probably also find their stride with the skits once they figure out the “sweet spot”. But I’m not convinced that Jimmy Fallon will ever be a sharp interviewer like Letterman.
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I can’t help but think he’s not quite cut out to be “in our homes” every night. I could think differently after watching his second show in a few minutes (and admittedly, Fallon did turn in huge ratings). Even so, Carson has been on for 5+ years. And Lorne Michaels loves the distinction as “hit-maker” after choosing (and sticking with) Conan. So I think they’ll probably stay with Fallon for a while before he goes out with a wimper. At least Jimmy Fallon can take solace in the fact that he has the greatest movie poster of all time. Some great comments, links to reviews, and video clips from the show are below. Also, his favorite baseball team is the Boston Red Sox. You know why? BECAUSE HE DECIDED HE LIKED THEM DURING TH FILMING OF FEVER PITCH. He’s from New York. Pathetic.
SELECTED COMMENTS/QUOTES:
- jay ashland Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 10:42 AM EST
I think he was almost as good as Magic Johnson’s talk show.- danmartin00: Prediction: @jimmyfallon will have more Twitter followers than Late Night viewers in 12 weeks .. I’d bet a Bud Light Lime on it.
- @TheFatJew: JIMMY FALLON IS ABOUT AS FUNNY AS DATE RAPE
REVIEWS:
OPENING SKIT WITH CONAN
SLOW JAM W/ THE ROOTS
TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC: BLONDE MOTHERS FROM CONNECTICUT
ROBERT DE NIRO SKIT W/ FALLON
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE FULL
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