Late Night with Jimmy Fallon – Week One/Weak One

Jimmy Fallon... only looks half-baked

I watched the first week of the preview of NBC’s newest “Late Night” host, Jimmy Fallon, as found on the show’s official website. Fallon still has more than five months before taking over as host, but the NBCUNI PR juggernaut wants to get the word out ASAP. Exactly which word the juggernaut is trying to get out, however, remains a deep, dark mystery.

Day One: How about that band?

Seriously, how about them? I always believed that the one thing missing from hip-hop was a tuba player. To paraphrase Opus the Penguin, it ain’t heavy metal… it’s weighty brass.

Day Two: “Fans of the Band”

Fallon showed a model of the set on the 2nd video blog installment. When a musical guest performs, the back four rows of his audience (which the NBC Pages are supposed to fill exclusively with fans of the band) will move down onto the stage and be positioned behind the band as they perform. Bad idea.

When Leno first took over The Tonight Show, a temporary set was built in Studio 3, so Carson’s studio could be cleaned out. Due to what can only be described as a serious lapse of common sense, the set was built away from the stage doors used to load in equipment. Instead, it was built closer to the audience entrance, which meant audience members had to literally pass through the set to get to their seats. I
wasn’t a Page at the time, but from all accounts I heard, and I heard many, it was a logistical clusterf*ck of epic proportions (and that was without any talent on the set with the audience).

The only way this visual gimmick, reminiscent of the late TRL, could work, would be if they shot the show out of sequence, taping the band segments first, then breaking to clean up the mess and reset the stage, then going on with the show. But Craig currently does that, and it is really my only complaint about his show. I love live TV, even live-to-tape, and shooting out of show order, coupled with lengthy breaks between segments… well… it breaks up the spontaneity and raw energy of a show.

Day Three: Interview Practice

The best praise I can offer is that Fallon is funnier than Fred Armisen, which feels a bit like saying, “I wouldn’t want an STD, but if I was forced to have one, I’d choose Chlamydia.”

Day Four: Taxi

The fourth installment if Fallon’s VBlogs, webisodes, or whatever you want to call them featured the new Late Night announcer. Steve Higgins seems an affable guy. Today’s pain came in the form of pre-planned yet ad-libbed banter between the two guys. The alleged comedic misunderstanding came in the form of Higgins being “confused” over the exact title of “Taxi,” one of Fallon’s movies. If you want to keep an open mind about Fallon, don’t watch the December 11th installment.

Day Five: Questions

Good day. And welcome to Day Five. And with Day Five comes playback problems. I don’t know if the website is clogged, or if NBCUNI simply opted to devote less bandwidth to it.

Fallon took questions from his… what do you call them (us) at this point… viewers, readers, Twitterers? He fielded questions on such diverse topics as his love affair with Axel Rose (ugh), audience involvement (think: Colbert’s green screen challenges), and potential co-hosts (none… he’ll banter with the announcer and the band). And he did it all while dressed like the guy from “Blue’s Clues.”

I may not always enjoy the current roster of late night talk show hosts, but I can at least understand why others might find them likable. Five days and roughly 20 minutes of streaming video later, and I still haven’t found anything likable about Fallon. Which is not to say he is unlikable… frankly, he just doesn’t register. He has all the on-screen charisma of a lesser Baldwin brother. I haven’t written him off yet, but it is an underwhelming debut for the guy.

Then again, all he really has to do is convince enough stoners to stay awake long enough to watch Carson Daly, and if his style remains this… well… vacant, then at least he won’t ruffle anybody’s feathers.