Why Jimmy Fallon isn't going anywhere, no matter how bad it gets

It's a new day at "Late Night." NBC's 40-year-old post-"Tonight Show" show, dating back to Tom Snyder and "The Tomorrow Show" (still one of the best names ever dreamed up for a TV show), is being handed over to the first person who wasn't alive when Tom Snyder began broadcasting late nights on NBC.

How will Jimmy Fallon fare? Based on what we know, let's just say he's going to be around a good long time before anyone even thinks of pulling the plug. And that guy over there in the photo is a big reason why.

Read my story in ye olde Kansas City Star

UPDATE: NBC just sent along the monologue jokes from Fallon's first show tonight; they're below. Seven is more than I thought he'd tell, but it's still not that many. And one of them is for the geeks -- how sweet!

"As you know New York City was hit with a huge snow storm. And I woke up this morning and said "please let it be a snow day." Not even a delay. Nothing."

"I've been getting so much encouragement. Last night, Rush Limbaugh called me up and said he wants me to fail. (That's so nice of him. He didn't even have to)"

"The good news - President Obama announced that he plans to bring the troops home from Iraq in 18 months. The troops actually responded and said "Thank you, but the economy's better over here.""

"Did you hear about Obama's new budget? A record deficit for next year of 1.7 trillion dollars. 1.7 Trillion. He's gonna explain it in his next State of the Union address... brought to you by China. So that should clear everything up."

"In California, a sixteen-year-old boy had sex with his twenty four-year-old teacher. Traumatizing. Doctors are saying it will take years of therapy just to wipe the smile off his face."

"Despite the Recession, Microsoft is planning to open new stores to compete with Apple. Microsoft says they'll be just like Apple stores except the staff will freeze when you ask them a question."

"In Ohio, a woman was arrested yesterday for driving while breast-feeding her baby. She was charged with reckless endangerment and driving with an open container."

Comments

[Michael]

Well...it is a truly terrible show, but it took about two years before Conan got the hang of it himself.

[ML]

It seems that Jimmy's goal tonight was to just survive the first show. It will be interesting to if he is capable of settling into his new gig before his viewers switch back to the competition. I think he will make the show his own, but, after watching tonight, it seems it will take a while.

Did anyone else notice his channeling of Carson - emerging from backstage through the curtains at the the start of the show, the Carson suit jacket, the cup of pens and pencils on his desk.

ML

[jayhawkprguy]

I really liked his first show.

Sure, you could tell he was nervous, and his interviews were bumpy. But honestly, I don't care about most of the interviews on any of the late night shows. With a few exceptions Brian Williams is hysterical on the Daily Show and Late Night with Conan), they’re normally lame…I don’t care about your latest project.

I'm there for the monologue, sketches, and desk bits. For the first night out, I thought he did well with those. I can totally see "Slow Jamin' the News" being a regular bit. Sure, it's easy to make double entendres when talking about a stimulus package...but I think the bit will get even funnier when not talking about topics that don't have such obvious set ups.

Lick it for 10 has potential...I think the premise is clever. The interaction, setup, and items to lick need some work.

And having The Roots as your house band…that’s awesome.

I can't wait to read Aaron's take!

[Randy Reichardt]

.: I appreciate that it was his first show, and I was really rooting for him, because he is immensely likeable, but I thought the show was awful. I couldn't believe De Niro actually sat through the whole thing - how far has his star fallen? Then again, I give him credit for appearing as Fallon's first guest, and being a good sport about his appearance on the show.

Lick It For Ten was completely juvenile and uninteresting, almost offensive. Do we need to see someone lay spit on inanimate objects in slow motion? Yuck.

I wish him well, and hope the show finds its bearings. He appeared nervous, especially with De Niro. I don't know what to make of the band, but clearly The Roots resonate with his demographic.

Good luck, Jimmy.

[hatercopter]

Fallon wasn't funny. He wasn't funny in his own way (which I haven't quite figured out) and he surely wasn't funny compared to Ferguson, Letterman, Conan, Colbert, Kimmel, and John Stewart. He is a comedic hack in a field of competent and witty competitors. Timberlake outshone him...

[Voiceover Talent Tom]

All I can say is YIKES! I've watched the past 2 nights and finally turned it off and moved to something else when he had the "lick something for 10 bucks" segment. JF's quirky and fun, but I feel this gig is above his pay grade. True, like another has said, it took a while for Conan to find his place. Fallon, however, doesn't seem to bring the same strength of comedic talent to the writer's table. Tina and he seemed like a couple that had a bad split years ago and were forced to chat. It looked uncomfortable for both. I've got it Tivoed every night to see if things improve. For me Craig Ferguson is getting my vote for fun "new" late night talent.

[jayhawkprguy]

@Randy: I agree that “Lick it for Ten” was completely juvenile. Isn't that the point? It's the second hour of late night television…targeted to males 18 to 40-something.

He is replacing the man who brought us the Masturbating Bear, S&M Lincoln, a cigar-smoking dog whose catch phrase is “for me to poop on,” and a recurring bit in which a disgruntled audience member stands up and walks out of the studio to reveal he is wearing a Speedo and a t-shirt with an arrow pointing toward his buttocks that reads "fun hole."

[Randy Reichardt]

@jayhawkprguy - good point. And I am outside of that demographic, to be sure. And your references to the scatalogical Conan segments is acknowledged. I think it's unfortunate if that is where the show might be headed, but I do wish him well. I dialed up the first show in hopes for something better, perhaps, than what he delivered. I really like Fallon, and missed him when he left SNL. Perhaps he will find his footing after the show settles down.