Late Night with Jimmy Fallon - One Viewer's Reaction

I'm not a huge late night fan, but I usually appreciated Conan's show for what it was, and I'd say Fallon did great for his first show. He was clearly a little nervous or whatever, and the Lick it for 10 was pretty contrived, but the rest of the show was perfectly acceptable for late night fodder. I laughed, I sighed, I killed some time with Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. This stuff isn't supposed to be mind expanding humor, you know?

Some highlights from the show: Fallon and The Roots slow jamming the news, DeNiro’s monosyllabic interview, and Timberlake channeling Michael MacDonald. I keep forgetting what a great all round media performer Timberlake can be, so it’s always a nice surprise to be thinking “the boy band guy?” and end up watching him knock something out of the park.

Hopefully, the show isn’t going to be bringing up Fallon’s history on SNL all of the time. Although he was perfectly funny in most of his appearances on the show, he’s largely remembered for breaking character in giggling fits during skits. I thought those were some of his best moments, but they’ve seemed to of left a bad taste in the mouths of many commentators.

I think this underdog will manage to attract a decent audience; I'll be stopping by if only to check out the Roots some more. They’re an excellent change of pace from the big band routine, and they bring some serious flavor to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.