This is late night check-in, a feature where I watch a full week of one talk show and discuss how it was. Last week I watched “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”, from 4/27 to 5/1.
The Tonight Show has taken a lot of flack over the past few years. Since the Conan-Leno debacle and the backlash against the latter, The Tonight Show is no longer the cultural touchstone it once was (when every conceivable adult in America gathered around a television to watch Johnny Carson.) Today, there are plenty of late night options to choose from with no real king – though it’s easy to argue that Jimmy Fallon could claim such a title. His incarnation of the show is currently the highest rated late night talk show. His YouTube channel has 7 million subscribers with nearly 3 billion total views and produces at least one viral video per week.
A lot of comedy nerds will tell you The Tonight Show is crap. There’s no comedy, it’s just a bunch of meandering games, etc. Andrés du Bouchet, a long-time writer for Conan, recently caught some heat for tweeting about his dissatisfaction regarding the aforementioned. “Comedy in 2015 needs a severe motherfucking shakeup,” he said in a now deleted tweet. “No celebrities, no parodies, no pranks, no mash-ups or hashtag wars. I’m fat.”
So how much of that is accurate? The current incarnation of The Tonight Show features a regular dose of celebrity-based comedy, parodies and mash-ups. There’s few pranks and certainly no hashtag wars but the show does feature Tonight Show Hashtags (we’ll get to that later.) How much of this is pandering to the audience and how much is actual comedy? What’s to be expected when you watch a full week of The TonightShow?
First things first. Jimmy Fallon has come a long way since his nervous, jittery Late Night debut six years ago. He’s now a seasoned performer with all the chops necessary for being a talk show host. Like all good talk show hosts, he’s crafted a niche for himself. Fallon is an entertainer, ideally one for the whole family. He’s immensely positive and likable. It’s hard to hate a guy who wants the audience both at home and in studio to have fun. Both the show and its host are completely devoid of cynicism.
His monologue at the top of the show is quick, efficient and confident. Like Conan, Fallon tends to act out things at the end of jokes. His chameleon-like impressions can elevate a joke further or even save a particularly bad one. He’ll riff and improvise with his sidekick, Steve Higgins, and it’s usually pretty good. And anytime The Roots chime in, it’s just icing on the cake.
The Post-Academy 