Jimmy Failin'

So the big NBC late night shakeup started this week. As you may recall, said shakeup, in the end, will consist of Leno moving to a 10:00pm show, Conan taking over the Tonight Show at 11:30pm, and SNL alum Jimmy Fallon getting Conan's spot on Late Night in the 12:30 AM slot. At the moment, Leno's still doing the 11:30 show, but the transition has begun, with Conan having done his final Late Night and Jimmy Fallon having taken over as of this week.

You always want to catch the first episode of a new talk show, if for no other reason than to be able to brag about it years later. I'm able to say I watched the very first Conan ep of Late Night after Letterman bailed. So during his final week I was able to sound all connected and relevant, telling people, "Yeah, I remember watching the very first one...", as if this will somehow impress your average internet surfer who was still crapping their own pants when I was doing that. But it makes you feel part of the history. Sometimes that works out, like with Conan. However, I also caught the first eps of the shows for Chevy Chase (ugh...) and Magic Johnson (ugh!!!). Seriously, who gives a talk show to Magic Johnson? I'm a HUGE Magic fan from back in the day...for his ball-play. But I'd also seen enough interviews to know that Magic, while being a very good speaker, is NOT FUNNY. And his speaking is much better suited for children's books-on-tape than bantering with other adults. So Chevy (anyone remember the Doritos ad campaign he was part of during his show's run, and how they did a follow-up commercial about his commercials being cancelled like his show? That was much funnier than his show) and Magic didn't stand the test of time. But you want to be there to find out, just in case.

So I've been setting the DVR this week and have watched the first three airings of Jimmy's attempt at talk show immortality.

In honor this weekend's premiere of Watchmen in theaters, and with a nod to my favorite Watchmen character, Rorschach, I will sum up Fallon's run thus far by saying--

Hurm.

Understand that I walked into this fully knowing that shows like this (and new hosts) need a little time to get their feet and get their confidence up. So one expects awkward pauses, clumsy gags, some growing pains. So I'm handing out the benefit of the doubt like candy here. I didn't show up gleefully waiting to watch someone's career implode, like many who've tuned in praying for a train wreck. I just can't do that with Jimmy. There something about the guy - an underdoggy, one-of-us quality - that makes me want to root for him. More than anyone who's stepped into this line of work the past couple of decades, he makes me imagine what it would be like if *I* got a talk show. Screenwriters dream of creating characters like that that put the audience in their shoes, that make you live the drama right along with the hero. Jimmy is that hero. I stopped being a big SNL watcher around the era of Mike Meyers and Chris Farley, so it's not like I was a regular fan of his. But he's a funny, likable guy, and one I really dug in movies like Almost Famous (few people seem to realize he was in that, mostly due to the beard) and moments like his hosting of the MTV movie awards. I'm on Team Jimmy. I had my Jimmy hat and my big foam finger ready, and wanted to cheer.

The first night was surprisingly painful to watch. I expected ups and downs, but I can't pinpoint a single "up" thinking back on it. Okay, scratch that - there's one. He did an intro bit before the show, guest-starring Conan, where he was in his dressing room while Conan was packing up all his stuff and acting bitter and giving dour advice. It's not that the bit was that funny, but I really liked the way they ended it - not on a laugh, but in an unexpectedly honest statement. Conan's asking Jimmy who his guests are the first week, and Jimmy's excitedly rattling off these A-list celebs. Conan says, "Uh, huh" and then asks him who they have lined up for the SECOND week. Jimmy, suddenly deflated and facing reality, says they have one of the guys from Survivor (the show, not the band)...from season one. Conan nods. Jimmy's quiet for a moment and then says, "So that's how it's going to be?". Conan looks at him, very seriously, and says "That's EXACTLY how it's going to be." And that was it! They ended it like that and went into the opening credits. I thought that was genius, the unexpected play-it-straight piece of honesty. I liked that a lot.

Unfortunately, there was still about fifty-seven minutes more to go.

Opening monologue? Not good. It was off, and he was clearly struggling with it. The first audience bit (I do like the way they're doing audience participation each show) involved a game show called "Lick It for Ten", where items are brought out for these members to...well, to lick, for ten bucks. I'm sure it sounded funny in the writer's room. Then came the Robert De Niro interview. Your first guest ever, and it's a lousy interviewee like De Niro? Who came up with THAT? It was extra, extra painful to watch, even if you discounted the flummoxed Fallon's really obvious flop sweat. There was a pre-taped bit with him and De Niro even, a scene from a film they fictionally did together called "Space Train", about an astronaut afraid to fly, so he has to take a train into space. Huh? It was a bad SNL sketch idea, and looked like De Niro had been hosting a stink episode some time in the past and they were showing a clip of it. It failed. The "blonde mom demographic" bit they did? Fail. Justin Timberlake's interview? Hmm. Some moments there (can't stand that guy's music, but he's really quite a funny dude), but not enough to save it from being a FAIL. I felt really bad for Jimmy, because I know that first show was his worst nightmare given form. I can only imagine what it must have been like for him cruising the internet the next morning. So much for building any confidence.

Second ep came. Another moaner of a monologue. The post-monologue bit with the audience was actually a clever idea. Maybe it's only funny to people like me who are regular Facebook users. They did this thing where they superimposed a Facebook profile page on the screen, and pointed the camera at particular audience members and put that head shot on the profile pic spot. And then they'd show what the Facebook status update for that person was...humorous ones, obviously. And you'd get to see that audience member's reaction. Very Carson-like, something Johnny would have done if they'd had Facebook back then. It didn't go really well, but I liked the notion, and it could work for a regular feature. The big score for him was getting Mayor Bloomberg to show up (and sit there in the audience unannounced and be one of the Facebook people). He got to do a bit with the Mayor, a part of which was the Mayor making a crack about Jimmy's sweating from the night before, so that was well-done. The interviews were better. You can't really go wrong with Tina Fey, and obviously she and Jimmy are known to work well together. They had a good time with it. Jon Bon Jovi was pretty funny as well, and I enjoyed the bit they did where they brought in an actual Bon Jovi superfan to sing "Wanted Dead or Alive" karaoke-style to Bon Jon, who got to sing a duet with him at the end of things. Still, though, not working well. Know what else doesn't work well? Internet Video of the Day. Isn't someone already doing that on another show?

I've just watched ep 3. Same problems to start, but a funnier bit after the monologue. I thought "Beef Solvers" was clever and has potential. It's supposed to be about celebrity beefs - such as, as showcased this ep, the one between Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie. And about Jimmy trying to finally solve them. He has a couple of audience members come up, and he puts a sign on each (two males for this one - one got the "Jennifer Aniston" sign hung around his neck, the other the "Angelina Jolie"), and has them read off cards to each other containing dialogue that expresses the celeb's "beefs" with one another. His first guest was Cameron Diaz, who should have been his guest the first night (personality of 10 compared to De Niro's 3). He seemed really relaxed with her and was much funnier. Their dance-off they had after the interview was quite the crowd-pleaser. His interview with Billy Crudup? Occasional misfires, but mostly better. No greatness yet, but less suck, which can't be a bad sign.

The one element of Fallon's show that's always on, though, is the band. He's managed to land himself the coolest band to ever grace late night talk - The Roots. Normally you barely think about the music going on when the host is first introduced and comes out on stage, but I'm always aware of their music and totally digging it. Loving these guys. They've also earned the unique honor of becoming America's #1 band that everyone now pretends to have heard of and been a fan of before this week. That's a prestigious accolade.

The show's main problem is that it doesn't feel organic in any way. Everything feels scripted, down to the interviews. Now, yes, we know that celebrity guests don't just pull up at the studio, come in, sit down on the couch and start talking to the host with no idea what questions are coming. But the successful shows create that illusion of spontaneity. As viewers of Fallon, we keep realizing at the end of things that the jokes and such between guest and host are planned out in advance, and we're left with this irrational feeling of somehow being tricked. Aside from this, Fallon stammers continuously, his comedy timing is off (for someone who worked in front of a live studio audience for years, he's surprisingly inept at creating audience rapport), his bits aren't very well thought out, and his interviews tend to involve a lot of cutting the guests off and going into drawn-out stories of his own life. You can tell that the potential is there with Fallon, but you're just perplexed as to why it's not surfacing yet. Again...maybe it's just going to take time.

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is not great. And yet, I can't stop watching yet. Maybe it's that underdog thing again. I want to see him rise above the sub-par start and surprise everyone with a monster comeback. I'm guessing he can't wait for the next two nights to be over. He's probably just trying to survive the first week, and is focused on week two as the fresh start (if I were him, I'd have a lot of drinking planned for this weekend). I still like Fallon, and I want him to succeed in this. Not enough where I'll keep on watching for that much longer, but I feel like I need to ride week one out, at least. So I will.

Jimmy, if you're listening (it could happen), try to weather the critical bashing and sail on. Relax - it's your show, it's your studio audience, and it's your sense of humor that got you this far. Trust that. Be yourself. Wing it more. Trust your guests to be interesting all by themselves. If you're booking the good ones, they will be. Chat with the band more (you still seem kind of scared of them. I swear, they're not going to rob you). Continue playing with the audience - that makes people at home like you more. Just get these first week jitters behind you and get in your groove. I think you can do it. Own it, Mr. Fallon!

And consider less licking.