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Jimmy Fallon's 'Tonight Show' debut: New show, old Jimmy
updated 12:52 AM EST, Tue February 18, 2014
Jimmy Fallon's takeover of "The Tonight Show" has been inevitable, show producer Lorne Michaels told GQ.
"He's the closest to (Johnny) Carson that I've seen of this
generation," Michaels said. Fallon is the latest in a six-decade line of
"Tonight" hosts.
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'Tonight Show' hosts
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- He starts the show by introducing himself to new viewers
- A parade of celebrities come out
- He adds old bits with fresh takes
- The challenge: Will he be able to retain viewers
"I am Jimmy Fallon and I will be your host -- for now," he said.
His first joke out of the
way, he spent the next few minutes introducing himself to the audience
-- his childhood, his family, his career. He was pretty subdued through
it all.
But then when the
formalities were out of the way, he re-entered the show through the blue
curtains -- the ever-hip Roots playing him in -- and started his show
proper: the usual monologue and his usual self.
The laughs came easy.
And even before the new
show's first guests appeared -- Will Smith and U2 -- a parade of
celebrities walked up and dumped money on Fallon's desk.
Why?
"To my friends, you know who you are, who said I'd never be host," Fallon said, "you owe me $100,"
And out came Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian, Rudy Guliani and many others, slapping down bills.
During the rest of the
show, Fallon pulled out old bits with fresh takes -- such as an
evolution of the hip-hop dancing with Will Smith.
The challenge now
With Fallon at the helm,
the show moves back to New York for the first time since then-host
Johnny Carson took it to Los Angeles in 1972.
For the rest of the week, the star power will burn equally bright.
Fallon's guests will include Jerry Seinfeld, Justin Timberlake and Michelle Obama.
The real challenge will be next week, and the next month, and the next year.
For most of his 22 years, Fallon's predecessor, Jay Leno, sat at the top of the late night talk show totem pole.
Sure, Leno was critically panned for his milquetoast interviews and his predictable jokes. But the masses loved him.
How will Fallon fare?
That's the big question.
For one thing, the late
night landscape has changed. The hosts -- like Conan O' Brien and Jimmy
Kimmel -- skew younger. And with Fallon, NBC hopes the audience will
too.
While one-time host
Johnny Carson has been the template all future hosts emulated, Fallon
says he will fashion his stint after a different host: The original
host, Steve Allen.
Allen's was a free-wheeling hodgepodge of chat, skits, piano-playing, ad-libbing, man-on-the-street interviews and loopy stunts.
Fallon is a capable
guitarist and musical mimic who has done dead-on parodies of Bruce
Springsteen and Neil Young, among others. Bits with guests such as
Michelle Obama and Justin Timberlake have gotten millions of views
online, and segments such as "Slow Jam the News" have some of the
whimsical quality that Allen was fond of.
CNN's Todd Leopold contributed to this report.
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