If you take Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert out of the equation, then the answer to the above question is probably yes. Over on the the AV Club, ahead of Jimmy Fallon’s third-year anniversary, Steven Hyden has come around to what I’ve been saying elsewhere since Fallon became the only network talk show host to come out of the Leno/Conan controversy unscathed.
Fallon’s transformation from widely derided lightweight—a man assumed to have secret knowledge of where Lorne Michaels keeps the bodies buried in order to continue getting such good jobs—to heir apparent to the King Of Late Night crown is complete and shocking. Jimmy Fallon is now so likeable that it’s actually a cliché to point out how likeable he is. Not only has he become the opposite of what he used to be, he’s made thinking otherwise seem mean-spirited. He is the puppy-basket of late-night talk-show hosts.
Hyden continues on to say that Fallon “has the brightest future of any late-night host.” I don’t disagree. As someone who grew up on Dave, disliked Fallon on “SNL” and hated his short-lived movie career, it took me a while to warm up to him, but now if I bother to watch any of the late night network talk shows at all, it’s always Fallon.
Here’s the thing: If Dave and Leno are cut from the same cloth as Johnny Carson, most of the rest of them are clearly molded after Dave — Conan’s more eggheaded, Ferguson is more acerbic, and Kimmell is more meat-headed, but they all seem to have a similar self-deprecating, mainstream “edgy” approach. Their shows are all nearly identical. They simply put their own spin and personality on the same format that has been in the works for 50 years: Monologue, segment, personal anecdote, interviews, musical guest, credits.
While Fallon has borrowed a lot of those elements, he’s put a strangely refreshing post-irony spin on them. He’s amiable and awkwardly charming in the way that the way the others are not. He tries new things, some of which fail, some of which succeed. But he’s not trotting out the same gimmicks to the point of tiresomeness. The guy plays board games with his guests for God’s sake.
What’s most refreshing, however, is his lack of irony. He’s not sarcastic. He’s not mean-spirited. He doesn’t put others down, and as much as I love Letterman, his brand of crankiness does not jibe with our current cultural landscape. I don’t want a bitter old coot railing about the problems of a monkey on a rock. At that time of night, I want a guy who looks like he’s having a good time, and Fallon’s good-natured, goofball spirit is infectious. He is, as Hyden describes him, “the puppy-basket of late-night talk-show hosts.”
It doesn’t hurt, either, that he has the best house band on TV in The Roots. Moreover, nothing on network late night TV has topped this in the last five years (except maybe Stephen Colbert’s rendition of “Friday,” also on Fallon’s show).
(Source: AV Club)
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Sadly, if I’m up that late anymore, I’m watching Comedy Central. They have these two guys over there who do this fake news type show that I find amusing.
Or I’m looking at porn and wondering if a Flesh Light would be worth the money.
Ferguson is by far the best late night host. He rarely has any musical guests and his sidekick is a robot.
I love Ferguson. He just acts so unhinged and his show is a spectacularly entertaining mess (I mean that in a good way). It’s almost as if he’s drinking again.
I’ve only seen Fallon a handful of times and his show is really good, but I’m still partial to Ferguson.
Another vote for Ferguson. Dude has a recurring Aquaman sketch. Win.
I honestly don’t know how you can write this article and not mention (or perhaps you didn’t notice) that Ferguson is the only one doing monologues WITHOUT applause breaks. Plus, when he does it, it’s not a tenuously held together string of unrelated material. It’s an actual f*cking monologue. Add to that that he doesn’t do pre-interviews with the guest and holy bejeebus you said his show and KImmel’s is the same.
I shouldn’t be this mad.
Fallon’s good. I like him. But this article sucks.
Ferguson no doubt. And not just because I’m homeless and sit in his audience for the free chicken.
Mark me down for another vote for Ferguson. I like evrything about his show, Lesbian Row, his robot sidekick, his self dpricating humor about his own network and how much his show sucks and his monologues that can be hilarious and filled with sexual inuendo
After watching the one-on-one interview that Craig Ferguson did with Stephen Fry with no audience, no sidekicks and no distractions, I decided that Ferguson was the best late night talk show host. Would any of the other hosts do that?
Fallon is a terrible interviewer. He seems like a nice guy but he can’t hold up a conversation to save his life. I would watch the show if they had Fallon do 30 minutes of jokes and goofy crap at the beginning and had ?uestlove conduct the inteviews, preferably while ?uest and the roots compose an impromptu soundtrack to the interview as it happens.
Ferguson is for my money the most innovative non-Stephen Colbert* talk show host since Johnny Carson, and I include Ferguson’s mentor Letterman in that statement.
I think craig himself would probably agree that even he would struggle to conduct an interview on the fly and in character with the same precise skill that Colbert makes look effortless.
I support this insurrection. Fallon might be good but even flipping back and forth makes no sense given how the Ferguson show operates. So I’ll probably never know.
SEX PARTY!
+1
Yup, I used to at least watch Conan’s monologue before bed, these days its all him dancing around dragging out his jokes, making fun of himself….its painful to watch. NBC ruined him, and I’ll never forgive them for that.
yep. tell joke that bombs. squirm. dance. spend a minute talking about why the joke bombed. reaction shot from Andy. Love Conan (longtime!) but something is different now.
Yeah. Conan’s pre-recorded stuff is still gold, but his monologue is just bad nowadays. So are most of the recurring live bits. I guess maybe I’m losing patience for phoniness in my old age, so I prefer Ferguson’s more improvisational style.
I still have doubts that he would be able to hold the show on his own without The Roots. The music segments are far and away the best feature of the show and you know that even if they aren’t directly involved said sketches, they probably had something to do with the idea.
I’d actually argue that one of the best aspects of the show are the walk-off songs used for each guest.
The Roots are essential to his show being so loved. I know that when he got the gig I would hear it described as “Yea, Fallon is going to host the late show now….but did you hear his band WILL BE THE ROOTS?!?!?!”
I love their inclusion.
i wrote my comment about ?uestlove before seeing this one:
1. awesome username
2. Fuck yeah the Roots!
Man not only is Fallon in a wig a dead ringer for Neil Young, he’s got the voice and style down pat. He’s a dead ringer.
I know he’s too old to be doing this sort of stuff anymore but I miss the era of Letterman when he would stop mid-joke, get up, and run across town just to do something stupid like switch chairs with Dan Rather and then run all the way back.
Conan did that with Leno a couple times. Turned out to be not that funny.
“Jimmy Fallon is now so likeable that it’s actually a cliché to point out how likeable he is.” I understand this is from the AV Club, but when did we become a NATION of Hipsters. We can’t take the time to enjoy ANY-fucking-THING before some asshole says “Over it.”
He’s no Chelsea Handler.
I still got mad love for Conan. I tape every one of his shows on DVR and only skip one when absolutely every guest is boring (and that’s rare for me). I’ve loved his time on TBS.
That said, I’m definitely a Fallon fan. I’ve been to two tapings and they’ve both been great. I love the Roots and how they are mixed in with the comedy stuff at times and the skits/games they play are fun. Absolutely love the mannequin hands/arms thing they’ve done a few times.
I love that you say “I TAPE his show on DVR.”
The key, as you mentioned, is that Fallon looks like he’s having an incredibly good time. He’s got an energy that permeates through the show.
Unfortunately, it seems like Conan is trying to show that he can do a better Tonight Show than Leno, when he should really be doing his own thing.
The answer to your headline: no.
I agree that he has grown on a lot of people, including me. I just don’t find myself watching late night on TV anymore. If I catch anything, it’s online.
I feel exactly the same as everything you wrote, but about Ferguson. Fallon is doing exactly what everyone else does (albeit very well) but Ferguson is deconstructing the whole talk-show thing. Nothing against Fallon, it’s a good show, but I tune in to see what unhinged crazy idea Ferguson has on any given night.
“Whip My Hair” was awesome, but there is one greater thing that happened on late night TV lately, and it wasn’t Ferguson. It was Conan’s Human Centipede Menorah. Seriously.
So this is for the bronze right? Because no one beats Stewart/Colbert.
Did you skip over the (literally) first line of the piece?
You fuckin’ left Arsenio Hall out?!!
Wait, oh, sorry.
Oh please, there is only one answer to the question “Who is the best late night host?” and it’s Craig Ferguson. Besides the fact that NOTHING he does is scripted, (unlike everyone else, who are to busy reading from cards or the prompter to do anything original) he’s the only host who is actually FUNNY. You have no idea how frustrated i get when i see an interesting actor/actress being asked generic questions about their career by some boring guy in a suit, while Craig is making his “unknown” guests laugh their asses off while having an actual conversation with them. Plus, Geoff Peterson puts all the other awkward sidekicks to shame.