Saturday Night Live alum and star of movies like ""Fever Pitch"" and ""Taxi,"" Jimmy Fallon made his debut as a late-night talk show host Monday on NBC. Although some mourned the loss of Conan O'Brien, previous king of late night, I welcomed a new face to the talk show scene.
I'll just come out and say I am not a fan of Conan. I know most people love him and I'm in the minority here, but his whole shtick just makes me want to barf. He'll say something funny and then completely ruin it by following said joke with a stupidly exaggerated ninja pose or bowing repeatedly as if he deserves the wild applause being prompted by cue cards. At any rate, my opinion doesn't matter because he's being promoted to regular ""Tonight Show"" status, which will probably be no different from his old ""Late Night"" show anyway.
Fallon did a passable job Monday night. He looked nervous as hell, but his guest stars helped him out. Impressions are his biggest strength, which is why it was uncomfortable when he coerced guest star Justin Timberlake to do a John Mayer impression when his own is much better. But it's only his first week and, with time, Fallon may settle into the host chair comfortably.
What will be most interesting to see is how Fallon's SNL-bred humor fits into the old school world of talk shows. Recent SNL cast and alumni, as well as ""30 Rock,"" ""The Office"" and most Judd Apatow-driven vehicles, get their humor from the uncomfortable, humiliating and the relatable. It's a far cry from the more professional, comfortable humor of David Letterman and Jay Leno.
Think of Letterman's professionalism when Joaquin Phoenix came on his show and acted like a brick wall. Had Fallon been in Letterman's position, he would have wet himself and apologized profusely for not being a better host instead of putting Phoenix in his place like Letterman did.
However, Fallon may never be that kind of comedian. Case in point: Fallon invited studio audience members to come up onstage and lick appliances for 10 dollars. The ""humor,"" I suppose, was in Fallon's uncomfortable and bizarre breed, an alternative to Leno's reliable news clippings or Letterman's Top Ten. The question is if it's right for Late Night.
Let's look at the comedic equivalents during prime time. ""30 Rock"" may have garnered enough Emmys and Golden Globes for a lifetime, but CBS comedies like ""How I Met Your Mother"" and ""Two and a Half Men"" are currently earning much higher ratings than ""30 Rock."" CBS sitcoms are more conventional, laugh-track programs that suggest, in our current economy, America may not be in the mood for satirical comedy when it comes time to turn on the TV.
Whether he knows it, Fallon has been given a tall order. He needs to incorporate the newer, younger comedy for the audience who loves watching ""Superbad"" and YouTube clips of children getting high on laughing gas into the world of professional comedy. In today's hard times when people turn to nighttime talk shows for safer, comfortable laughs, will Fallon's comedy pass? Or will he need to mold his humor to that of a Letterman, Leno or God forbid... a Conan?
Wanna give Ali a piece of your Conan-loving mind? E-mail her at rothschild@wisc.edu.
