Earlier on Thursday, Rolling Stone published allegations from two current and 14 former employees, including production crew and writers, who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation. Rolling Stone claimed they had approached an additional 80 current and former employees, but “not a single one agreed to speak on the record or had positive things to say about working on the Tonight Show”.
According to Rolling Stone’s report, multiple sources alleged Fallon had a history of “outbursts” and lashing out at staff when under pressure; that previous senior staff on the show had bullied and belittled them; and that guests’ dressing rooms were commonly known as “cry rooms”, where employees could go let out their stress.
Nine showrunners have worked on the Tonight Show since Fallon took over from Jay Leno in 2014; a much faster turnover than comparable late night shows like Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
I never understood how this unfunny douchebag got famous. Are people really fans of him or was having him TWO shows purely a studio decision? He was never funny on SNL.
I thought maybe it was just me, maybe I wasn’t seeing something in ‘slow jam the news’ that was hilariously funny. But then he sucked up to Trump during the campaign in 2016 and I didn’t give a fuck any more. Fuck him.
Jimmy Fallon is all that awkwardness of Nathan Fielder minus the intent or semblence of humor. He is the most boring, lame host I have ever seen on a show like this and I find him painful to watch.
Hence his prime spot. That’s why he’s famous. He’s milquetoast, he’s lowest common denominator, he’s white bread, he’s Big Bang Theory, hes Two and a Half Men, he’s a laugh track, he’s Jay Leno.
I haven’t asked everyone I know or anything but I’ve yet to meet someone who I know likes Jimmy Fallon.
I think he’s way, way, WAYYY worse than Leno, though. At least he leads a somewhat interesting life (albeit not interesting to me). Like I would be surprised to hear that Jimmy Fallon has any hobbies.
I don’t know anyone who likes big bang theory. But it’s the most popular show (or at least it was at some point). But there are sort of…layers/circles in which different types of people remain. The “Big Bang Theory” types hang out together, talk on Facebook, still use Reddit and mainly just subscribe to r/aww and r/funny, they go out to eat at the olive garden after church…that type of thing. Then there are the non-BBT types, that find a suitable instance on Lemmy and discuss how it’s possible people like jimmy fallon lol
I know somebody who loves the big bang theory. Legitimately. Small town conservative guy. I don’t have much good to say about him.
That seems to be true of a lot of SNL Alum. I don’t find the (infinitely more likeable) Will Farrell funny either, though from what I’ve heard his success is largely in his ability to get people motivated, so you see a lot of good films with unfunny Farrells, where Farrell is the reason why it’s funny, but it’s not obvious because Farrell himself isn’t.
For Fallon: I suspect the fact that he couldn’t get through a single SNL sketch without breaking character and bursting out laughing “humanized” him to a sizable amount of the audience, and despite Lorne Michaels’ dislike of that kind of thing, meant Micheals ended up going to bat for him.
I… don’t think that should be the basis of putting someone in the slot that should have been gone to Conan, but I’m surprised how unpopular Conan is among people I know who aren’t part of my circle of friends, and how popular Fallon is.
Even though SNL is built around comedians and comedic actors, it is really all about the writers. Occasionally you get a Farley/Hader/Hartman where they can transcend a skit. But mostly you get folk like Kenan or Sandler who can add flourishes but really need a solid “script” to work off of.
But EVERYONE (… except MAYBE Farley) live off of the writers. People like Tina Fey and, funny enough, Conan who can make those gags t hat stick with you forever.
I am not a fan of Fallon but he has that “empty vessel” vibe to him. Give him a good writing team (… and he’ll be an asshole to them. Err) and he can fill the time in between the press pieces for actors.
Which is more or less what the Leno/Fallon style late night show is. It is a stand up segment that makes you understand why Seinfeld would open with that trash for so many years followed by mostly smiling and nodding as an actor or actress talks about their movie and plays a clip.
Personally? I always preferred the Conan/Ferguson approach. Similar structure but the comedy and riffing continues well into the interview and the actor/actress is expected to join in. Sometimes it is incredibly awkward, sometimes it makes you wonder just how much certain people knew, and sometimes it is a truly spectacular conversation that gets to the heart of the business. But I can also get how a studio might not appreciate the same Mac and Me clip being aired for the hundredth time for the movie they just spent hundreds of millions of dollars on.
And then you have people like Letterman/Colbert/Meyers who are very much in that middle ground to the extent that “everyone likes them”
I don’t disagree with anything you said, at all, but do feel the need to point out during all 3 you mentioned (Farley, Hartman and Hader) all had absolutely crazy good writers on SNL at the time as well, who were exceptional at using the talent offered. I think back to Hader doing Stefon and it was Mulany writing those, and always changing the script to make Hader break. Things like that.
Oh, Hartman and Farley very much had one of the all time great writers rooms. I very much feel that is what Adam Sandler owes his entire career to (he is a shockingly good dramatic actor, but he never would have been given a chance without the comedy background)
Hartman I feel was incredibly good at taking complete nothingburgers of a script and adding mannerisms that could elevate them. And there are some stories of him doing particularly good improv on a few sets. Hader very much “came into his own” after SNL and a lot of his best work was when he IS a writer, but similar deal and he does have some amazing moments on the show.
Farley is the one who I would actually give the nod. Basically every story is about how he would figure out something in wardrobe or do a weird mannerism to elevate everyone around him. And he made some god awful scripts hilarious. He still benefited a LOT from a solid writer’s room but, of basically all of SNL, he is probably the only one that I feel was better when he actively ignored the script.
I came to this conclusion too! always considered Will Farrell to be unfunny.
But I think he has like a “funny aura boost”. Because when he’s in a movie, it feels like the whole staff is having a lot more fun and are looser. And that makes the whole film more enjoyable.
Not sure, I’ve never watched him. I don’t really watch late shows that much lately, but I’ve enjoyed content from Last Week Tonight, Seth, Colbert, Jon Stewart when he was host of Daiky Show, and yes, Trevor Noah’s show roo (I’ve heard people lambasting him as being Neoliberal, which probably is true, but I liked how they had some angles based on black people. Same with Seth’s jokes Seth can’t tell for black and lesbian stuff). Of those I probably liked Last Week Tonight the most.
The others can be charming sometimes even in ways that’s not inherently funny, but more like hamming it up (Colbert and Seth).
I’ve never found a clip of Fallon that made me want to watch.