Jimmy Fallon Succeeds on “Tonight”

By ARIANNA SCAVONE

Jimmy Fallon has so far brought in record-breaking views for NBC, thousands of thumbs up on YouTube sketches, and welcomed a myriad of celebrities to kick off this new era of the infamous “Tonight Show.”

Jimmy Fallon, former host of “Late Night” on NBC, recently passed that torch to Seth Meyers and is now the very successful host of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” which airs weeknights at 11:35 on NBC. “My goal is to just make you laugh and put a smile on your face so you go to sleep with a smile on your face and live a longer life,” announced Fallon on his first night.

Fallon was recently handed the torch by Jay Leno who had hosted since 1992. Fallon kicked off the first New York City “Tonight Show” in over 40 years by strutting on stage in a grey suit and thanking the crowd. Fallon quipped, “I’ll be your host for now,” referring to the many previous “Tonight Show” hosts: Steve Allen, Jack Par, Johnny Carson, Conan O’Brian, and Jay Leno, and thanking them for their help. He also credited his success to the love and support of his parents who were in the audience. Fallon then enthusiastically introduced Roots from Philadelphia as the house band and his best friend, announcer Steve Higgens, whom he met on SNL. Then Fallon launched the show with an impressive array of celebrities, who had supposedly bet him $100 that he would never be the host. Musical guest U2 performed their new single “Invisible” on the Top of the Rock Observation Deck, and Will Smith, as the first official guest, did an evolutionary dance with Fallon.

Since stepping on stage, Fallon has already received overwhelmingly positive tweets, reviews, and feedback from viewers, and many of his sketches have become hits on YouTube. Jimmy Fallon’s skit, “The Evolution of Hip-Hop Dancing” with featured guest, Will Smith, was posted online on February 17^th and has already received over ten million views and over 70,000 likes. This comedy sketch consisted of the two comedians traveling through time dancing the Running Man, the Wop, the Soulja Boy, and the Twerk in nineties-style overalls.

So far, Fallon has welcomed a number of close friends and celebrities to guest star on his show, including Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Will Ferrell, Usher, Justin Timberlake, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin. Jericho High School sophomore and long-time “Tonight Show” fan, Jack Josephy, was impressed by the celebrity appearances and said, “The lineup so far has been great. I love Paul Rudd, and I loved seeing him lip sync.”

Fallon has since performed several new comedy sketches, while continuing some of his older skits from “Late Night.” Michelle Obama participated in Fallon’s popular sketch, “Ew!,” dancing and acting alongside actor Will Ferrell. Jerry Seinfeld performed comedy stand-up as the first comedian introduced on the show, and told jokes about the US Postal Service. In a segment that reached nearly 4 million YouTube views in one day, Paul Rudd beat Jimmy Fallon in a lip syncing battle to Tina Turner’s “Living Legend.” These celebrity performances have earned “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” a roaring 2,473,487 subscribers on YouTube, with numbers sure to increase.