I was having trouble sleeping this weekend, so I went online with two purposes. I wanted to watch a clip or two of Jimmy Fallon’s version of The Late Show, since it’s been a popular topic of discussion as to how he will do. With Leno out of the way (kind of, at least), Conan took over The Tonight Show, which I’m happy with as I enjoy Conan’s comedy. Jimmy? I wasn’t sure what to think. I was very skeptical of the choice of Fallon for a few reasons.
For one, his comedy is often times bland to me, and appeals to a certain type of viewers. More importantly, I doubted his ability to be a showman, as every time I see him, all I can think is “improv comedian.” I was afraid that Jimmy wasn’t electrifying enough to pull off the act. Guys like Leno, Letterman, and Conan have a lot of charisma, but that’s because they’re not one-dimensional.
It was obvious from his little ads online before the show even started that Jimmy was taking a new-generation approach. I wasn’t sold in it one bit. His internet ads for the show were garnered towards a younger audience, and he used social services like Facebook and Twitter to attract a younger audience. I grew pessimistic. The only thing that kept me interested was the news that somehow Jimmy Fallon landed one of the best music bands of all time (in my opinion, as they’re a personal favorite) — The Roots — as his in-house band. I am not sure how he managed to pull this off, but I thought it was a great opportunity. I was very interested to see how The Roots would be used on the program.
Then I saw clips from the first few shows. Jimmy was nervous. He seemed out of place. He was uneasy with a lot of his monologues and jokes, and was approaching the show with a feeling of “I’m failing live on TV.” It took him three shows to get his swagger back. His jokes were getting more over with the audience, and he seemed to be catching on. Still, he’s nowhere close to the level of his predecessors. He has big shoes to fill, but I hope over time he’ll get better.
I loved Ludacris performing with The Roots. I feel that’s something they should do with every musical guest to separate themselves from the late-night competition. Have the musical guest do one or two of their songs solo, and then have them do a piece with The Roots, who are the definition of real musicians, and could mix it up with any genre of music. Other than that performance, I saw no good usage of The Roots. I was disappointed.
The shows didn’t do it for me. Jimmy is still new to the game, and his style will develop better over time, but he needs good advice and guidance. And after all, the new needs friends, so let’s not get on his case just yet!
Speaking of Fallon and late-night TV, I watched a few clips from Dwayne “Uncle D.J.” Johnson’s appearance on SNL. Talk about change. SNL’s trip down the toilet has been gigantic over the last five or so years, but it’s to the point where I just don’t even understand half the segments. This appeals to younger people, but if at 23 I’m too old for this, then I don’t know who’s watching it. Justin Timberlake’s weekly cameo’s are becoming lamer by the second. The comedy often times makes no sense. Weekend Update is nowhere close to the amazing segment it once was, although it still held up okay. As far as The Rock goes, he was decent, but he had little to work with or show for. I used to always wonder why nobody watches SNL anymore, but now I know!
All Kinds of Humor, Sports & Poker | Eddie | 
February 8, 2010 1:55 am | 
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