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Jimmy Fallon wades into the late night television waters
Letterman and O’Brien both revolutionized the position of late night talk show host with their own brands of absurdist humor and rapport with guests. With Letterman long since moved to CBS and O’Brien moving to Los Angeles to take Jay Leno’s place, former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Fallon has found himself in the catbird’s seat.
Most remember the boyish Fallon as an over-laugher on “SNL” who could never keep a straight face in sketches, so it was somewhat curious that he landed one of the sweetest gigs in television. Of course, Letterman arrived to NBC as an unknown (outside of the few who had seen his short-lived NBC morning show) from the Midwest (by way of a brief stint in L.A.) in 1982, and O’Brien had worked behind the scenes as a writer on “SNL,” so Fallon does bring with him as much bona fides as those two. Yet with that prior recognition come people’s previously held opinions of the guy. Fallon’s charge will be to keep viewers who thought he was cute and charming on “SNL,” while trying to convince those who are lukewarm on the guy to give him a new shot.
Fallon’s show opened with a segment featuring him preparing for his show in his new dressing room, while O’Brien slowly and sullenly removed the remaining personal effects from the space that was his for 16 years. The back-and-forth between the new kid in town and the old veteran mostly highlighted O’Brien’s self-effacing wit, but was a nice touch on both men’s part to recognize Conan’s importance and Fallon’s reverence. The best line, maybe of the entire show, came when Fallon asked Conan if he’d be moving into Jay Leno’s old dressing room in L.A., to which Conan sheepishly (with a tinge of faux anger) responded, “Jay isn’t leaving” — a line that perfectly encapsulated the feelings of many O’Brien devotees (and possible the host himself) who thought the tall redhead got the shaft by moving to L.A. only to find Leno still maintaining a spot on NBC’s late night roster as a lead-in.
(Thanks to the power of Hulu, you can watch the entire episode of Fallon’s first show here.)
The title sequence for the show was a high-speed drive through downtown New York City with flashing neon lights and quick edits that had the feel of a hyperactive “SNL” open. Fallon walked out to the center of the highly polished wood stage of his classy and intimate set and acknowledged The Roots. As a sign that this show would definitely try to appeal to a different generation than Conan’s, the legendary hip-hop band from Philadelphia will be Fallon’s house band. On a somewhat sad note for Roots fans, NBC has apparently refused to pay royalties for their original songs, so the band is writing 200 new pieces of music to use as bumper/bed music, or as drummer ?uestlove calls them, “sandwich music.” So, while we won’t be treated to anything from “Things Fall Apart” or “Game Theory,” we will be treated to some of the more funked out music late night television has seen.
The monologue opened with Fallon saying that he woke up to a snowy morning in New York and had hoped for a snow day. While he obviously had a case of the jitters, probably compounded by unruly audience members shouting out during his jokes, Fallon made it through his first monologue unscathed and, surprisingly, without cracking at his own jokes. After a news-literate joke about Rush Limbaugh calling him to say he wish he failed, Fallon’s first big joke of the monologue went a little something like this: “President Obama wants to bring troops home from Iraq in 18 months, when the troops found out, they said, ‘Thank you, but the economy is better over here.’” And we’re off. Not a hysterical line, but delivered at a nice pace and with a wry grin, not as hackneyed as Leno or as playfully jaded as Letterman.
Before welcoming his first guest, Fallon did a bit from his desk called “Target Demographic,” in which he explained that executives were trying to target blonde housewives. After pointing out a row of said fair-headed ladies planted in the audience, there was a taped “research department film” segment that employed voiceover from Fallon’s emcee while lampooning blonde housewife stereotypes. (Eg. “They purchase expensive items like minivans, but also everyday items like yogurt, Williams-Sonoma flatware, personalized checks and discreet dolphin tattoos that say I’m two chardonnays away from ruining your wedding”)
From the graphic, it appears this “Target Demographic” segment may be a recurring bit in which he lampoons various stereotypes. I don’t have very high hopes. After a break, Fallon introduced the show’s first “game,” leading me to believe these “game show-style games” will be a regular segment. On the opening night, the game in question was “Lick it for $10,” in which studio members come on stage to lick household items, office supplies, etc. for $10. It was as lame as it sounds. Hopefully the games improved.
After the first two bits, the show was feeling a bit like a rehashed “SNL” episode, and that was only enhanced when Fallon’s first guest, Robert DeNiro, graced the stage. The two had scripted a bit wherein Fallon would ask DeNiro simple questions that required one-word answers, thus lampooning DeNiro’s propensity for reticence and brevity. Stumbling through this, Fallon then digressed to some weird DeNiro genuflecting and suffered a horrible bout of forehead flop sweat and nerves that left him resembling Chris Farley from the old “Chris Farley Show” segment on “SNL.” Following the awkward interview, there was a brief sketch in which Fallon and DeNiro did a scene from a never-released film they did together. It had something to do with space and the humor was supposed to come from the idea that Fallon could land a role in a movie with DeNiro, who would presumably never deign to lower himself to such levels. Unfortunately, the irony that art was imitating life was a bit too discomfiting to endure.
Things picked up considerably when second guest Justin Timberlake came out. The magnetic Timberlake showed great ease in helping Fallon to generate laughs with hilarious send-ups of John Mayer and Michael McDonald, of whom J.T. did a spot-on imitation with an impromptu beer commercial parody as The Roots bust out McDonald’s “I Keep Forgetting (We’re Not In Love Anymore.)” Definitely the highlight of the night (though DeNiro looked like he’d pay $50,000 for someone to drag him off the set). Maybe Fallon should see if his NBC bosses will pay Timberlake, with whom the host has a great chemistry dating back to “SNL,” $20 million a season to be his sidekick. The actual performing musical guest was Van Morrison, a nice (and obviously personal) get who played “Sweet Thing.”
Fallon may never be as acerbic or as quick as Letterman. He may never play brainy and disarming as well as O’Brien has all these years. But I think he will eventually find his voice and a level of comfort that can hopefully temper his overly eager-to-please schoolboy persona. The strikes against Fallon seem to be that he is a little too cute, a little too safe, a little too been-there-done-that.
Unlike O’Brien, who was able to capture the imaginations of college-aged kids and 20-somethings with his brand of Dada-esque humor, the affable Fallon is having to present himself to young people who have already been segmented and distracted by 1,000 different memes. They have seen all the Internet videos, read all the snarky blogs. Hell, most of them have created their own entertainment content online. There is nothing new under the sun. Fallon’s challenge will not be to re-invent the wheel or himself, but to make people feel comfortable enough with him that they are willing to spend an hour with him each night as they wind down their evenings. His role will be to make the familiar comforting and not boring, and if he can get people to let down their guard, they just may find his style is a welcome addition to the late night landscape.
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By SamIam
March 4, 2009 9:43 AM | Link to this
He will be replaced soon. That first show was pure awful. I could barely stomach 10 minutes before I tuned in for an episode of Sanford & Son on TV Land. It’s about as bad as Huckabee’s cruddy show on FOX. I think I’m going to start watching commercials and do something during the breaks.
By dinop
March 4, 2009 11:49 AM | Link to this
It was pretty bad. I felt like I was watching a car crash in slow motion. They should replace him w/ the star of “Chuck” or Seth Myers.
Then again, Conan was frequently unwatchable. Broadcast TV is dead anyway.
By waste of time
March 4, 2009 2:26 PM | Link to this
terrible show, terrible host/comedian (if you can call him that)
By KLINK DURF
March 4, 2009 2:51 PM | Link to this
Why didn’t SNL ever make a movie out of Fallon’s “Nick Burns The Computer Guy” sketch? Considering they made movies out of much more substandard ones like- Mary Kathryn Gallagher and The Ladies Man. Nick Burns could of had enough material for a good 90 minute flick, especially at that time with puters and da Internets becoming popularized and whatnot.
By Bruce
March 4, 2009 8:27 PM | Link to this
SamIam, you could try reading a book.