Well, we can hope Jimmy Fallon got the most awkward moment of his first week out of the way last night: Impersonating Robert De Niro while the actor sat next to him, and then asking De Niro for approval: “That was pretty good, right?” Oh dear…
Everyone’s first day on the job is bound to be a bit awkward, and even though Fallon has spent months trying out ideas for Late Night on his website, he still looked nervous, his eyes locked onto the cue cards more frequently than at us. He did an ultra-ordinary monologue — one liners about President Obama and the deficit that sounded like material Jay Leno’s writers had faxed over from L.A. He tried to tweak the material by enlisting his house band, The Roots, to accompany him in a little segment he likes to call “Slow Jammin’ The News,” which consisted of Fallon and the band sing-speaking more topical jokes. There was also an audience-participation segment, “Lick It For Ten,” in which a few folks from the crowd came onstage to lick things like a lawn mower and a goldfish bowl, and Fallon gave them each ten bucks. The host didn’t display much rapport with ordinary citizens. Again, probably just opening-night nerves. As for De Niro:
The interview might have gone better if it hadn’t been scripted to within an inch of its life. Then again, given how monosyllabic De Niro tends to be, maybe not. There was also a very brief bit: Fallon and De Niro in the movie-we-never-knew-they-made-yuk-yuk, Space Train, with De Niro reading off a cue card, being a good sport. Being a good sport is not all that entertaining a pose to maintain.
Thank heaven for Justin Timberlake, Fallon’s next guest. The guy is such a relaxed, confident pro, the atmosphere energized and relaxed simultaneously. Fallon seemed truly thrilled to see his Saturday Night Live sketch-pal, and laughed with genuine, grateful appreciation when Timberlake busted out excellent John Mayer and Michael McDonald impersonations. This, and the closing-credit seconds, when Fallon hopped into the audience to greet two people I assume were his parents because we saw signs that said “Mom” and “Dad” over their heads, were the host’s most winning moments.
Van Morrison came out and rumbled through an Astral Weeks number and Fallon rattled off the week’s upcoming guests, who will include Tina Fey and Cameron Diaz.
Meanwhile, Craig Ferguson was over on CBS as loose as a goose, referring to himself winkily as “the Scottish Conan guy” and getting Paris Hilton to talk about her (as Ferguson called them) “farty dogs.”
Since even Ferguson has implored people not to judge Fallon by his first few shows, I’ll conclude with something positive. I like the way Fallon turns to the Roots and says, “?uestlove, give me a little noise.” Maybe pretty soon, he’ll relax a bit and make some spontaneous, amusing noise himself.
What did you think? Will you keeping watching Fallon?
More on Jimmy Fallon: The New King of ‘Late Night’
The interview might have gone better if it hadn’t been scripted to within an inch of its life. Then again, given how monosyllabic De Niro tends to be, maybe not. There was also a very brief bit: Fallon and De Niro in the movie-we-never-knew-they-made-yuk-yuk, Space Train, with De Niro reading off a cue card, being a good sport. Being a good sport is not all that entertaining a pose to maintain.
Thank heaven for Justin Timberlake, Fallon’s next guest. The guy is such a relaxed, confident pro, the atmosphere energized and relaxed simultaneously. Fallon seemed truly thrilled to see his Saturday Night Live sketch-pal, and laughed with genuine, grateful appreciation when Timberlake busted out excellent John Mayer and Michael McDonald impersonations. This, and the closing-credit seconds, when Fallon hopped into the audience to greet two people I assume were his parents because we saw signs that said "Mom" and "Dad" over their heads, were the host’s most winning moments.
Van Morrison came out and rumbled through an Astral Weeks number and Fallon rattled off the week’s upcoming guests, who will include Tina Fey and Cameron Diaz.
Meanwhile, Craig Ferguson was over on CBS as loose as a goose, referring to himself winkily as "the Scottish Conan guy" and getting Paris Hilton to talk about her (as Ferguson called them) "farty dogs."
Since even Ferguson has implored people not to judge Fallon by his first few shows, I’ll conclude with something positive. I like the way Fallon turns to the Roots and says, "?uestlove, give me a little noise." Maybe pretty soon, he’ll relax a bit and make some spontaneous, amusing noise himself.
What did you think? Will you keeping watching Fallon?
More on Jimmy Fallon: The New King of ‘Late Night’
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Jitters or not, the show was just plain awful. Not one joke, skit or idea was remotely funny. Give Timberlake his own talk show. Poor DeNiro.
Yikes
i feel bad for him and am still rooting for him, even though tonight’s show was a bit awkward.
give him some time to find his footing and then decide what you think.
Fallon and the writers may have some potential, but they will have to realize it FAST, before people will give up on him. I didn’t expect the show to be great, so I wasn’t disappointed or surprised. If Fallon can develop the type of rapport he had with JT and maintain it throughout the whole show, it will be much more enjoyable.
I’ll keep watching, because I like Fallon, and I want to see him do well. But not everyone will allow for the same time buffer.
On SNL, Jimmy never stopped laughing at his jokes, much like tonight, why should we expect this to get better? Draft JT to do a variety/talk show and post-Conan Late Night would be worth watching.
Give it time I guess, but needs a bit of edge, especially with the big stars. Think Shirley MacLaine-ish interviews that made David Letterman legendary. Guesses hated coming on his show yet the fan couldn’t get enough of him burning people. Know Jimmy Fallon isn’t David Letterman, but the Late Night show was always a bit more edgy then the Tonight Show as it should be.
The show turned out pretty much how I expected, but cut the guy a break. It was obvious that he was nervous and you could tell he felt a bit awkward. He’ll get the hang of it. Critics ripped into Conan when he first started, and look how how great his show turned out to be. Give him some time. I’m looking forward to tomorrow night’s show with Tina Fey.
It was like a very awkward SNL sketch that went on for an hour.
First night or not, the show was poor. Timberlake as always was funny, comfortable, and the best part of the show. The house band is awesome. Jimmy’s interviewing skills need some help. His monologue was flat. The Space Train skit was horrible.
That being said, I am giving Jimmy a chance. He is a funny guy and as soon as he has a couple weeks under his belt, things will be much better.
Best of Luck Jimmy.
Let the Death Watch begin….
I’ll say while I didn’t watch Fallon’s show I remember the first night Craig Ferguson did the Late Late Show as the permanent host and the critics ripped him to pieces too. Fallon will have to figure out what to do to make the show his own (which means he’ll actually have to grow a pair and stand up to Lorne Michaels to do it). I wouldn’t pronounce him DOA just yet, but if he tries to do what he’s not comfortable doing or Lorne keeps making him do what doesn’t work, NBC may have to start looking for a new host pretty soon.
Have you any of you people seen the first Leno? Letterman? Conan?
They all sucked in the beginning.
Wasn’t the “Worst Thing Ever”…Justin Timberlake pulled Jimmy’s butt out of the fire and was a breath of fresh air. Give him his own weekly segment… I’ll give Jimmy the benefit of the doubt for his first show, and it is clearly a work in progress…A little early though to invoke the “Chevy Chase Death March” though. Let’s give the kid a break til he finds his rhythm. His house band The Roots kick some serious musical ass. Will be interesting to watch the show’s evolution, as NBC has committed big time $$ towards the show, building the big new set and all, plus a s**tload of advertising and promotion…Christ, we have to wait til June for a new Conan Show? Screw that– I’m headed down to a place I like to relax, a little place I call “Joe’s”…
It was easier rooting for Conan because you realized this was “his shot” and you wanted him to succeed, especially with that low-frills set and Richter and Max Weinberg. With Fallon, a guy who seems to have been given every chance, get another one, and yet still seem unprepared (even after several years on a live show) – it’s just baffling. I hope he gets better, but Kimmell’s first half hour is better and Ferguson’s show is more interesting.
I honestly thought he was great! He made me laugh out loud at points at how quick witted he was. Yes he needs to stop laughing at himself all the time…. but that actually kind of makes it funny.
Jimmy was so nervous he had sweat on his forehead during the DeNiro interview.
. I think the guy has potential.
Give him some time, he needs to find himself like Conan did… He sucked at first and now he’s going to do the tonight show!
I’m still on team Jimmy
It was so bad, I turned it off after the $10.00 lick contest. I wonder if SNL has an opening?
This was like an awful long SNL skit. Fallon is good in small doses. He’s a Weekend Update kind of comedian: One liners kind of guy, not an hour host.
Even Conan, in his early days, sounded more in control and stable than Fallon did. Fallon looks like he needs to go to the bathroom at times.
And seriously “Lick for $10?” That’s not funny no matter who you put in charge. I realize that they are trying things, but licking a lawn mower or printer, is nothing to look at.
Timberlake saved his butt.
Didn’t care for the band either. Too PTA-school auditorium sounding.
Yes, he was nervous, but overall I thought it was a very good start. The whole Deniro/Fallon dual impressions had me dying…in a good way. I think that the next show will be smoother, with Tina Fey and Drew Berrymore. There is a lot of pressure on Fallon to do good and its pretty much his last career option so I think there’s no need to talk about being DOA yet or remotely. He will be great. Already i think hes funnier than Conan.
I always thought he was great on SNL. This was terrible and he looked very awkward and uncomfortable. But I hope everyone cuts him some slack and over time he’ll become the Jimmy Fallon we all know and love. He needs to dump the lick for ten bit.
“Didn’t care for the band either. Too PTA-school auditorium sounding.”
Jeanne WTF are you smoking?! The Roots were and always will be great!
All talk show hosts are awkward at first(Leno is still awkward). Fallon was clearly nervous and read the cue cards too much. However, he has a great band and good presence. I say give him a chance.
The bit with the licking of things was especially weak. Also, what was up with all the product placement – for beer and lawn mowers and printers – on the very first show? I’m not counting him out after one show, though – I’ll watch at least the rest of the first week. Tina Fey is up next. They should turn the room temperature down to control Fallon’s sweating.
I think that it was probably a mistake to book DeNiro as his initial guest, a man who, as Mr. Tucker pointed out, is not only monosyllabic but legendarily intimidating. Yes, the man is awesome, but perhaps it would have been easier on Fallon to have booked only easy-going friends, like Timberlake, for the show’s entirety. But I’ll allow the guy some leniency. He was incredibly funny on SNL at times, and once he regains his comfort with teleprompters and live audiences (it’s been nearly 5 years since he left SNL, after all) I think he’ll excel.
Even worse than I thought it would be. Couldn’t have been much more agonizing and awkward to sit through. I’m a huge fan of Conan, and it’ll be a long few months waiting for his new show to start. I might try to watch Fallon one or two more times.. but if he doesn’t get his act together soon I’ll have to check in again a year from now.
I recorded it on my computer DVR, can’t imagine how anyone could persist watching it live.
Some positives: the “house band” (Roots) is clearly fantastic. Better than all the other talkshow bands aside from Conan’s Weinberg 7. Timberlake was a good guest and always a funny character. The set looks quite good.
I’m not convinced Fallon has what it takes to be honest. He just isn’t a natural. Also, WTF was with that “lick for $10″ bullshit? and Space Train?? Didn’t have better material for his FIRST SHOW?! that barely passed as filler.
I love Jimmy Fallon. I admit the show was a bit jittery as everyone says. But I did enjoy it and laugh. And I think that with more familiar guests (like JT) and Tina Fey tomorrow will help him get into the swing of things.
But I will support him & watch him tomorrow. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon has potential and I hope it does great.
But can’t wait for Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien!
I thought the sketches/jokes could have been better (esp. the outdated, early-Lettermanesque “Lick it for Ten”), but I was surprised by how well Jimmy excelled at the interviews and monologue. If the writers can find their footing, we could have a winner on our hands.
Monlogue a little better than expected. ‘Lick it for 10′ was beyond insanely terrible. Writers need to throw that one in the garbage fast. Is that REALLY the best they could do??? Would have liked it of the last kid took the goldfish OUT of the bowl and licked it….something….anything. Throw me a bone. Dinero = weak guest – the guy barely budged. Timberlake as usual helped a little and Van Morrison surprised me how good they were. Fallon needs to work on his interviews and intermediate sketches but overall not the worst start. I’m wondering how funny the band will work, too. Max and Kevin add alot to the shows, these guys are from a totally ‘nother background. But I’ll be watching, and for the love of it all, NO MORE ‘Lick it for 10′. I almost turned off the entire rest of the show after that sad attempt.
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For a first show, I thought Fallon turned in a valiant effort. No one’s first day on the job is perfect, and I think that as the show goes on, he’ll find his niche and settle in.
But as for tonight, I enjoyed the show. I thought “Slow Jammin” and “Lick it for Ten” were amusing, but then again, I have a strange sense of humor.
Tomorrow night: Tina Fey. That’s the moral of this story, kids.