The Tonight Show with Jimmy Faillon

[xboom28x]

how drunk do you get before bed?

 

Leno isn't even funny when I do get drunk before watching him.

[DW711]

[Splint7438]

Animal makes this an epic performance. I busted out laughing when he joined the chorus.

[BaseballMom]

 

I'm an old lady...so why wouldn't this appeal to me?

[DW711]

To be fair, I don't watch a lot of Fallon.

 

The best thing I saw him do was BY FAR have 'Zach Morris' on the show.

[BaseballMom]

I don't watch any late night shows...You can see the funniest clips the next day everywhere, so why?

[DW711]

You can do the same for baseball games, Jody!

[BaseballMom]

You can do the same for baseball games, Jody!

 

Blasphemy!!

[mancini79]

After his first week, Fallon has silenced the critics. The ratings were huge (the Olympic lead in helped a lot) and reviews have been mostly positive. His monologue is still weak, but killed it with his skits an guest participation. But he didn't do any of his audience participation skits. The true test will be next week without the Olympic lead in and start time with Kimmel and Letterman. I'll end up watching Kimmel live and Fallon online. This was my favorite skit this week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YCeIgt7hMs

[HaloFan85]

Fallon's biggest downsides in my opinion: 

 

1. over the top, constant giggling at things that aren't funny

2. conflicting body language.  He looks nervous or serious while trying to be funny. 

3. no natural humor, everything is manufactured. 

4. catering to a specific demographic group and making the show relevant to their lives

 

In terms of the last one it drives me crazy how often he mentions Twitter, Facebook, hashtags, etc on the show.  I watch television to escape from everyday life and get something else on my mind.  Fallon and NBC seem to think there's a shortage of social media in our lives.  I think that's why Leno never lost appeal...he kept his format and the various segments unique.  Jaywalking and Headlines were cool because he used other people's ineptitude to make us laugh. 

The one and only thing that stops me from watching Fallon these days is his bromance with Timberlake.

[red321]

I haven't seen much of Fallon's show when it was on 1230...but we figured we would tape the first week. Must say I was impressed, more than once we were laughing out loud. The bit mancini highlighted above was fantastic.

 

They are definitely targeting a younger audience than Leno for sure. His penchant for yelling might get a little old, but you can tell he his truly enjoying himself and his enthusiasm is fun to watch. Now...will he be able to hold on to that after the first week..or month? When his guests aren't the top of the A list? I hope so, it was fun to watch this week for usre.

[mp170.6]

After his first week, Fallon has silenced the critics. The ratings were huge (the Olympic lead in helped a lot) and reviews have been mostly positive. His monologue is still weak, but killed it with his skits an guest participation. But he didn't do any of his audience participation skits. The true test will be next week without the Olympic lead in and start time with Kimmel and Letterman. I'll end up watching Kimmel live and Fallon online. This was my favorite skit this week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YCeIgt7hMs

 

I remember that rap skit on Late Night, something very similar anyway.  I liked it. 

 

He had some pretty lively guests to direct the attention elsewhere this past week and that helped a lot.  I was actually enjoying it the other night until Kristen Wiig came on playing Harry Styles. Jimmy Fallon was giggling worse than the teenage girls in the audience!  

 

There's something terribly wrong when a 40-year old man gets that excited over barely legal teenage boys. 

[LBHalos17]

Two of my favorite entertainers- Fallon and Timberlake.  Jt is the best tho.

[jshep]

Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised by that 1st week. Will be interesting to see how it holds up.

 

I'm also really excited to see Seth Meyers on Late Night.

[CaliAngel]

Makes you wonder how Conan's ratings would have been his 1st week if he had the Olympic Lead-In advertisements and a list of high profile celebrity guests like Robert De Niro, Tina Fey, Joe Namath, Rudy Giuliani, Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey, Tracy Morgan, Joan Rivers, Kardashian, Seth Rogen, Lindsay Lohan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Mike Tyson, Lady Gaga, and Stephen Colbert to help the audience "overlook" some of the flaws that come with starting a new late night show.

 

This is clearly an instance where the executives are doing everything in their power to make the show work.

 

Can't say they did the same for Conan.

[Tank]

i wish conan still had the tonight show. he was a good fit for it. whether it was leno wanting his job back or the execs at nbc pulling strings, i wish he would have kept the job.

 

i give fallon credit for doing a good job his first week. his monologue was improved, and i even laughed a couple of times.

[sneaky_flute]

I like Conan, but he acted like a spoiled child during the whole ordeal. I doubt network executives had it out for him. His ratings were just poor and even his TBS show was in danger of being canceled at one point.

[red321]

Makes you wonder how Conan's ratings would have been his 1st week if he had the Olympic Lead-In advertisements and a list of high profile celebrity guests like Robert De Niro, Tina Fey, Joe Namath, Rudy Giuliani, Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey, Tracy Morgan, Joan Rivers, Kardashian, Seth Rogen, Lindsay Lohan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Mike Tyson, Lady Gaga, and Stephen Colbert to help the audience "overlook" some of the flaws that come with starting a new late night show.

 

This is clearly an instance where the executives are doing everything in their power to make the show work.

 

Can't say they did the same for Conan.

 

Conan had plenty of high profile guests to kick things off, including Will Ferrell (his first guest), Tom Hanks, Gwenyth Paltrow, Bradley Cooper, Pearl Jam, John Mayer, Green Day, etc.

 

You are correct in that NBC didn't fully commit to him by keeping Leno on at an earlier time slot...but Conan didn't deliver either.

[Sully151]

Conan did what Conan does and the over 50 crowd that had been watching Leno didn't like it. Leno wanted back in, NBC was afraid to let Conan settle in and the rest is history.

[CaliAngel]

NBC was afraid to let Conan settle in

 

Pretty much.

 

And with Fallon's show it really feels like NBC Execs are doing everything they can (advertisements throughout the Olympics, airing the first week to align with the Olympics, filling the show to the brim with dozens of celebrities) to skip that "settling in" period Conan had to deal with.

 

Another thing about Conan is that IMO his strengths are his monologues and his interviews. It really seems like he's able to get to know the guests by getting unique answers out of them with the questions he asks and how he asks them. His opening monologue is also pretty legit. With Fallons' weaknesses being both the monologue and his interviews, which IMO are the most important parts of late night talk shows, it seems like they're trying to compensate for Fallons lack of those skills with a lot of time burning SNL-esque skits and videos. Which is fine, I guess, but to me late night isn't supposed to be a 5-day a week SNL show. If I want to watch an SNL style show, I'll tune in on Saturdays. We'll see how Fallon pans out, I have a feeling he'll stick around for a while, but I won't be watching.

[nate]

I still don't get it.  How are Conan interviews good?  He constantly interrupts the guest and acts like an obnoxious idiot.  His interviews are so narcissistic, that was the thing I couldn't stand about him.  His monologues are definitely strong though.

[Tank]

I still don't get it.  How are Conan interviews good?  He constantly interrupts the guest and acts like an obnoxious idiot.  His interviews are so narcissistic, that was the thing I couldn't stand about him.  His monologues are definitely strong though.

 

while i like his self-deprecating humor, i can see how it's annoying to others in an interview.

 

he has his quirks, but i'd watch him in a heartbeat over guys like fallon and letterman.

[CaliAngel]

He constantly interrupts the guest and acts like an obnoxious idiot.  His interviews are so narcissistic, that was the thing I couldn't stand about him.  His monologues are definitely strong though.

 

Not always, though. He has his days, it IS his show. And well, sometimes he has to spice it up if the guests are boring! 

 

But I just feel like when he's talking to guests and asking them questions, he genuinely tries to find a way to avoid the standard boring interview talk. He'll set up questions in a way that open up opportunities for the guests to talk about stuff maybe they haven't talked about before. A good example of this (even though it wasn't on his show but is an example that personifies what I'm talking about) is the sit-down interview he did with Jack White of the White Stripes, look it up if you haven't seen it. He really gets down to the nitty-gritty, and you really feel like you get to know the person, instead of just having another person like Fallon feeding the persona people already know them for. Then he mixes in the interrupting and obnoxious idiot stuff because that's his thing, which I'm fine with.

 

 i'd watch him in a heartbeat over guys like fallon and letterman.

 

Hell yea, no doubt.

[nate]

Not always, though. He has his days, it IS his show. And well, sometimes he has to spice it up if the guests are boring! 

 

But I just feel like when he's talking to guests and asking them questions, he genuinely tries to find a way to avoid the standard boring interview talk. He'll set up questions in a way that open up opportunities for the guests to talk about stuff maybe they haven't talked about before. A good example of this (even though it wasn't on his show but is an example that personifies what I'm talking about) is the sit-down interview he did with Jack White of the White Stripes, look it up if you haven't seen it. He really gets down to the nitty-gritty, and you really feel like you get to know the person, instead of just having another person like Fallon feeding the persona people already know them for. Then he mixes in the interrupting and obnoxious idiot stuff because that's his thing, which I'm fine with.

 

 

Hell yea, no doubt.

 

I seemed to notice it more when the guest was funny.  To me as soon as the spotlight was off of Conan he would interrupt and blurt something out and make some wacky motion or something or even just start talking over his guest. When I used to watch Conan I would turn it off once the interviews started.  Kimmel is much better in interviews, he asks great questions and allows the guest to speak but also makes sure the interview doesn't get boring.

 

I saw some Fallon and he was ok, nothing spectacular.

Edited February 26, 2014 by nate

[CaliAngel]

Yeah, I agree that Kimmel is a great late night talk show host. Definitely a different kind of humor, and I do enjoy his monologue and interviews just as much as O'Brian.