Late Night Shuffle: Jimmy Fallon to Late Night...

[jaybird2001wi]

As all of you may know, Conan O'Brien will replace Jay Leno on the "Tonight Show" next year leaving an opening for the Late Night gig. It has long been rumored and now it has been made official that Jimmy Fallon will take over Conan's studio once Conan makes the switch.
I think this is a great move, I always liked Fallon when he was on "Weekend Update" on Saturday Night Live with Tina Fey. It makes me wonder if Conan, a person who has been born and raised in the Northeast, will be successful in Los Angeles once he officially takes the keys to Leno's studio.
From the interview with Fallon last night on Conan's show, it has been made clear that Fallon will get the Late Night studio once Conan departs.
Fallon stated in his Late Night appearance that he is going to feel the pressure once he takes over on Late Night. On the positive side, at least we know of Fallon's comedic abilities prior to his takeover of Late Night rather than a "no-name Conan" when he took over.
It is going to be weird hearing these show names for awhile:

"The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien"
"Late Night with Jimmy Fallon"

[Glennron]

I'm not much of a Jimmy Fallon fan. I thought it was really funny when they parodied him in a Family Guy episode about laughing while looking at the camera.

[berniebrewer4life]

Looks like i will be watching Craig Ferguson alot more. I really dislike Fallon.

[Glennron]

Unfortunately Craig Furgason isn't funny either. It's too bad Craig Kilbourn left, I always really enjoyed watching his show.

[And That]

Ferguson has gotten a whole lot better in the past year or two, IMO. His show was brutal when it began, but they've really picked it up. The little I watch of late night talk shows, I almost always watch Ferguson over O'Brien now.

[Oldcity]

Wow, AndThat, you are the first person I've ever heard say they watch Ferguson over O'Brien. Not judging, as I've never really watched Ferguson, but I love Conan.

[jwill535]

for all i know these shows do not exist, as 10:30 is the absolute latest i am awake during the week and even then it is under major protest of my wife. I have never see Jimmy Kimmel Live nor Craig Ferguson. With that said, Jimmy Fallon has Rob Deer written all over him, he is either going to hit a bomb or strike out in fantastic form.

[Invader3K]

I really like Conan...I'm glad he'll be moving to an earlier timeslot, when I'm actually still usually awake. As far as Fallon, I'm fairly indifferent to him. I agree that he got old on SNL, as he couldn't seem to get through a single skit without cracking up. It's like "Dude, you're not that good or that funny to pull this off, get over yourself."

[rwa12]

Really don't care for Jimmy Fallon. I think he will have a short lived tenure on the show. Can't imagine him being a good interviewer.

[dadofandrew]

What's funny is, ABC has supposedly agreed to give Leno the 10:35 (Central) slot if he agrees to move, unique in that they have never done that before. Jay is still the ratings leader, and Conan and Dave will certainly split the "hip, sarcastic" audience, leaving Jay as a huge ratings leader. I now like Kimmel far more than anyone else, though Dave is still watchable. None of them can come close to the sheer hilarity of 2.5 Men, which is on locally here.

 

EDIT: I don't get Fallon at all. I wish someone would have offered it to Tina Fey. Also, Jon Stewart will be taking over for Dave in a couple years...again, the youngsters will watch anyone other than Jay, and Jay will dominate the 40+ crowd.

[uecker9]

I wrote down 25 songs only to find out this has nothing to do with music. The only show I watch late night is Corner Gas - I have no idea why.

[Ando Calrissian]

I'll second And That's preference of Fergason over O'Brien. I actually think he's much, much funnier than Conan.

[bjkrautk]

I usually won't watch any late night shows unless I want to see one of the guests (ie., they booked an attractive lady), so I'll watch either Conan or Ferguson.

 

I'm not going to google up the reports, but since the strike, Ferguson has actually beaten Conan in the ratings once or twice. Considering NBC is pushing Leno out the door to give O'Brien the keys to the 10:30 show....that can't be great news for them.

 

Open-minded on Jimmy Fallon; I liked him on SNL. The key will be finding out whether his new writers will stack up against his old writers.

[jaybird2001wi]

I think one of the reasons people may not like Conan is that he does a lot of "arbitrary" humor. His old material was much much better than his most recent material.

I prefer his old material better when he is on the street interviewing people, but now it seems like he NEVER goes on the street to interview people. His strength is finding humor in random people rather than just arbitrary humor inside the studio.

For example, the comedy sketch where he tries to find an apartment for his writer, Andy Blitz a few years back, is downright funny and also the sketch where him and Andy Richter were Ice Cream men were hilarious. But now it seems like he plays the same stuff all the time and the same bits that don't seem to work as well now.

I also thoroughly enjoyed it when he discovered that the Houston NBC affiliate didn't air his show until 3:30am so Conan made a road trip to Houston and interviewed people at 3am at bus stops, college campuses, etc. That is what makes him funny, but now it seems like doesn't know what to do now.

He also over-utilizes his self-depricating sense of humor now, which has gotten old now. He needs to go back to what made him great and not do "random" humor that either doesn't make sense or doesn't appear to be funny to mass audiences.

 

Jay Leno's comedic style has also gotten old. I find myself truly bored with both shows on NBC at times but Ferguson isn't any better. But the one thing that Conan has that Leno doesn't is that Conan finds a way to unleash celebrities inhibitions, like when Gwyneth Paltrow is a guest. Paltrow is a seemingly professional actress and Conan always finds a way to get her to talk more openly about issues which produces a laugh.

[danzig6767]

I don't find Conan to be funny at all

 

Leno isn't really funny either, but i think he does a good interview. Then again, i rarely watch any of these late night shows unless a guest is on that i want to see interviewed and i just DVR the show, then fast forward through everything else except the interview.

[PeaveyFury]

I rarely miss Craig Ferguson- I think he's become considerably funnier than Conan.

[Brewtacular]

I also on the train that heading toward Ferguson. I have really started to like him. I also believe he has passed Conan in the ratings.

[JJHardy7]

The thing with humor is that it's in the eye of the beholder. It's the same as "The Office" thread where some dislike an episode while others love it. I personally don't watch too much late night shows on a regular basis, but I do find Ferguson to be funnier than Conan. Ferguson just seems to have this natural honestly funny thing about him in my mind. I thought he was pretty good on Drew Carey back in the day and it appears to me he's just naturally funny and doesn't have to try and come up with too much to be funny.

 

Jimmy Kimmel still is easily my favorite -- does anyone else remember when that show first started a few years back? I believe it was on at 11 PM Central or something like that and eventually got pushed back because of Kimmel's antics. I do remember Snoop getting drunk on one of the first shows taking shots and then ABC told Kimmel he couldn't have liquor bottles on the set...Kimmel then put the liquor in a orange juice carton the next show.

[dadofandrew]

Kimmel seems to be the only one who really tries to be funny...there's a lot of agendas elsewhere.

 

Dave used to be hilarious, back when he went through the drive-thru at a Taco Bell over and over, or was the drive up guy at a Taco Bell. When he had the Asian-American store guy, in disguise, wait on tables. When the lady complained his fingers were in the water, Dave had him say, "It's my thumb".

 

Rosie Perez guested on a Top 10 list and uttered the classic line, "Sometimes, big feet, just mean big feet."

[homer]

And here I thought Fallon's 15 minutes were just about up. Didn't know you could renew for another 15.

[TooLiveBrew]

At least FtJ will be overjoyed

[Point Beer Is Best]

When I told my wife about Fallon taking over for O'Brien, her response was, "But... he's not even funny!"

 

I have to agree.

[giffted1]

Not a huge Jimmy Fallon fan. He was funny on SNL but I'm not sure it was the kind of funny that would do well in a talk show. I'm just glad they didn't move Carson Daily up a spot.

 

Conan is alright. I usually find myself skipping between him and Kimmel when I'm up that late. Conan's old shows were a lot funnier than his recent stuff, but I loved his stuff during the writers strike.

[Fatter than Joey]

On the positive side, at least we know of Fallon's comedic abilities prior to his takeover of Late Night rather than a "no-name Conan" when he took over.

 

I agree we know Fallon's "abilities", and I think most scientists have concluded that Fallon needs to be fed through a wood-chipper ASAP.

 

Conan was hardly a "no-name" though, he was a very popular writer for SNL in its heyday of the early 90s, and wrote for and produced The Simpsons when that show was at its peak -- I don't think that there was any question Conan was a great talent.

[RU Rah Rah]

Jimmy Fallon is remarkably un-funny.