Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (1 Viewer)

[Citizen87645]

So what'd you think?

His interview skills need a bit of polishing. DeNiro may not have been the best "get" as he didn't have much to say; by contrast his time with Justin Timberlake was too familiar. So with neither guest did he become a liaison between us and the celebrities.

The other option is just not available to him yet - to be a personality in his own right that the viewer wants to see interacting with guests.

The comedy bits were so-so and the pacing a little sedate.

But we all have to start somewhere.

 

[Scott-S]

I think it was ok for a first try. Hopefully, he will get better a time goes by. He will be able to find what works and what doesnt and make the appropriate changes.

I agree that Deniro was not a very good guest. I did like how Jimmy even sort of acknowledged this when mentioning the questions that had one word answers.

I am willing to give it some time to grow.

 

[Joe_H]

I couldn't stand Jimmy Fallon on SNL. But I did watch this today and was reasonably impressed. I mean, I agree entirely, he needs to find somewhere in between the two interview styles he showed in the first episode, and you could tell he was very nervous and jittery, and I thought the sketches were all horrible, but I think by next month this will turn out to be pretty good.

Oh, and I hope that "lick it for ten" segment is gone on the second episode, because that was just horrible.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The problem is that Jimmy Fallon is the weakest link in Jimmy Fallon's show. The only thing that saved his opening monologue was the lively, seemingly inebriated crowd and the steady flow of hilariously inappropriate outbursts. The Roots transitioned perfectly to being a house band, and made "Slow Jamming the News" the most tolerable scripted part of the show. "Lick it for $10" was dead air; what's supposed be funny about paying people to lick completely clean, seemingly random things? The DeNiro segment was awful, especially the scripted "Space Train" bit. In the case of both DeNiro and Timberlake, Fallon did most of the talking. Why have someone on if you're not going to let them talk? Hopefully Fallon learns to relax, shut up and let his guests talk. Timberlake's John Mayer and Michael McDonald impressions were the highlight of the show overall.

Early Conan was rough but interesting. Other than Jimmy having the sweats pretty bad, his "Late Night" debut was pretty solid. Unforunately, the humor he seems to be shooting for is the same type of humor I never found funny on SNL. That he used his Weekend Update voice for the monologue didn't help. I'm just not a big Jimmy Fallon fan, and I didn't see anything to chang my mind.

 

[Brent M]

You just wrote pretty much EXACTLY what I was thinking. "Lick it for $10" is probably one of the worst ideas for a skit I've ever seen in my life and "Space Train" isn't too far behind on the suckage scale. As for Fallon talking too much, the only thing I will say in his defense is that DeNiro is basically like having a corpse on the couch so he had to do most of the talking in that scenario.

 

[Michael Elliott]

DeNiro usually talks but gives gives the short answers so I would have prefered Fallon to just throw more simple questions his way. That $10 gag was horrid but tonight's episode with the Facebook thing was fairly funny. The Mayor of NY made a good joke about Fallon sweating it last night with DeNiro, which was probably true.

 

[Joe_H]

His interview with Tina Fey just now was a lot better than either one last night, so that's a plus. He still talked a little bit too much alike old friends with her (which of course they obviously are, but who knows how it'll be when it's someone he doesn't know.)

 

[Citizen87645]

I enjoyed the interview with Fey.

I can't say I like the set. It feels so small. I know they aren't that big to begin with and are smaller than what they seem on TV, so it must be miniscule.

 

[Joe_H]

I don't know about too small, did you see the 108" plasma on Tuesday? I wouldn't mind one of those.

Honestly, I'm surprised at how fast he's getting better. The sketches are all horrible, but other than that, I'm really surprised at how well this is going so far.

Also, was it just me or was the guy in the 'fixing beefs' or whatever it was thing, the same guy who went last in the 'Lick it for Ten' segment? I'd assumed that it was just random people from the audience, but if I'm right, I guess that's not the case.

Edit: Maybe not. I just looked it up and they're not all that similar at all, I guess I wasn't paying too much attention to the Lick it for Ten segment because it was so horrible.

 

[Citizen87645]

It feels small to me because there's no apparent depth to the set. It feels much more boxed in compared to Conan's or Letterman's sets, which have fake skylines and layers behind them.

I don't think the direction has really helped either as they'll cut to wide shots that show the entire set and follow Fallon as he goes from one area to the other. It seems like the other shows keep the performance stage very separate from the talking stage and you rarely get a sense they are right next to each other. So far with Fallon you seem him get up and walk five paces and he's there. Maybe they want things to feel more intimate, but it winds up feeling a little rinky dink.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

I think it's a decent debut week for someone who never hosted a show before. Certainly no worse than Conan.

 

[Scott-S]

So far, So good for me. Jimmy seems to be getting better as the days goes by. That should mean good things are to come.

I am afraid that the skits like the "Wheel of Carpet Samples" might turn some people off.

I also wanted ask, Who is this band, the Roots? Everyone mentions them like we all should have heard about them. I have never heard of them before watching this show. I think they are doing a great job, but I find it weird that all the guests mention them as if the show managed to get U2 to be the house band.

Are they a New York thing?

 

[Citizen87645]

I'd heard of them, maybe heard some of their stuff in in passing and I live on the opposite side of the country. When I heard they were go to do Late Night I was intrigued, in part because of their relative popularity and the fact the last "name musician" to take a late show gig was Branford Marsalis and he didn't last long because the gig was ultimately too restricting.

 

[Joe_H]

Yeah, I wonder how long they'll stick around though. I mean, I guess they have all night every night to do shows, plus weekends, and I read that they have something like 10 weeks off a year for touring, but it seems like a band that's used to touring all the time is going to get bored by it relatively quickly. Then again, it IS a steady paycheck that gets them much more exposure.

I don't know too much about them myself other than I've heard the name before and that they're a hip-hop band, but apparently (according to Wikipedia) they've been nominated for like 5 Grammys.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

They are a hip-hop thing. If you don't follow that genre, it stands to reason you would have heard of them. They're known for bringing in influences from a lot of other genres and actually playing instruments. From what I've seen, that versatility has paid off in spades as a house band.

 

[ChristopherG]

Been watching this more and more. Jimmy seems to be finding a groove and his child-like sincerity makes him fun to watch - at least for me. Did anyone catch the episode earlier this week with Alec Baldwin? I watched this on my DVR last night - my wife and I were howling. The bit where they were improvising with Baldwin as Tracy Morgan a tennis pro and Fallon as DeNiro a ball boy had us in stiches. You can catch this whole episode on Hulu.

 

[David Norman]

Obviously a highly IMO thread.

After giving up on Fallon after March and April, I'd heard he's improved (how could he do otherwise) so I went back to watching for a while.
I've honestly tried to watch Fallon, I;ve forced myself to watch full shows for several weeks just to see if my first impressions were coloring my judgement, but when I sit through an hour and don't even come close to laughing it's just not working for me. Other than a couple interviews or skits he's done with the Old SNL people like Tina and Amy where they carried the work I don't think I've seen anything remotely worthwhile -- that excludes the atrociously bad Sanz and Farrell shows.

His monologues are awful, his guest interview technique is worse (shut up Jimmy while the guest is talking), most of his skits are just not funny (audience air guitar/air drums, Jeopardy, Lick It). The Band is OK, but so what. I actually liked Fallon on SNL and a couple movies he did so I thought the show would be fine. He seems to to better with the non Celebs (or peripheral celebs) far more than the A-list guests that he stomps all over.

I've gone back to Craig Ferguson and find myself laughing a lot more at him than any of the major Late Night shows. Conan is pretty decent at 11:30 though I still prefer Letterman;s show even in it's current state. Kimmel I don't like though vs Fallon I'd have a hard time choosing, Carson Daly is a waste most nights for me and i rarely even watch anymore.

 

[Brent M]

Originally Posted by ChristopherG

Been watching this more and more. Jimmy seems to be finding a groove and his child-like sincerity makes him fun to watch - at least for me. Did anyone catch the episode earlier this week with Alec Baldwin? I watched this on my DVR last night - my wife and I were howling. The bit where they were improvising with Baldwin as Tracy Morgan a tennis pro and Fallon as DeNiro a ball boy had us in stiches. You can catch this whole episode on Hulu.

I never watch his show, but I just happened to be flipping channels the other night and saw Alec Baldwin in the crazy white Elvis-style jumpsuit so I had to watch. It was pretty damn funny, but I have to say it was almost solely due to Baldwin. Fallon did a pretty good DeNiro, but Baldwin doing Tracy Morgan absolutely stole the show. I don't know if Fallon will ultimately grow into the role of a good talk show host, but at this point I'd say his chances aren't too good. Time will tell.

 

[Joe_H]

I haven't watched Fallon since like the second week, but with 4 of the 5 remaining Monty Python members on (Palin was traveling apparently), I tuned in (skipping the monologue though) and it was hilarious, I think partly in spite of Fallon. The first bit he did with John Cleese was one of those garbage audience participation things I thought they'd have gotten rid of a long time ago- the "Wheel of Carpet Samples" but in this case it ended up being pretty funny. Though Fallon's 'punchline' to the game that the two losers get an Apple gift certificate and the winner gets his carpet sample, then that of course he's giving the winner the GC as well... well it's been done every time, it's not funny any more, move on.

But especially once all 4 came out, it was really funny.

 

[Rhoq]

Fallon's monologues and comedy bits are pretty lame and for a 12:30 AM show it's all too tame. Conan takes many, many more risks at 11:30 PM. The Tonight Show is a bigger and better version of Late Night with Conan O'Brien (and I hope Conan is allowed to keep the job for as long as he wants it).

There is something very likable about Jimmy Fallon though, especially while he's interviewing. In the few recent shows I've caught (due to waking up in the middle of the night and there being nothing on but the 3 AM Fallon re-run), he still comes off as struggling to adjust his surroundings. This nervousness combined with bad writing are the reason why he's so boring.