???In baseball, people often say that one can tell how well the season will go for a team based on the first at-bat. Monday, Jimmy Fallon swung and missed.
???Fortunately for Fallon, he's not a baseball player. It is still far too early to tell if Fallon will be able to fill the canyon-esque shoes of Conan O'Brien, but for the premiere of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon he was understandably nervous, and it was painfully obvious.
???On Feb. 20, O'Brien's last Late Night show aired. The host was in rare form, as noticeable tears formed during his farewell speech. On Monday night, he appeared in a brief skit with Fallon, where his trademark humor eased into the night's first laughs.
???Tragically, the rest of the night's hilarity was few and far between, as almost none of audience's chuckles were the direct result of Fallon. It was evident his opening monologue was inspired by O'Brien's quirky style, but most of the jokes fell flat.
???Fallon attempted to break the ice with a game called "Lick it for 10," which is exactly what it sounds like. He pulled three people out of the audience and gave them $10 for licking random objects. Monuments should be built for how embarrassingly tragic it was.
???There was a short segment on the attractiveness of blonde moms and, to top it off, there was even a Star Wars parody.
These jokes have been beaten to death and they are definitely not the best way to make a standout impression for the show's premiere.
???Of course, it wasn't all bad. One of the best new additions was nabbing The Roots as the house band. How they were able to pull this off is still a mystery, but the interesting investment will definitely be one of the show's main attractions. When Fallon "slow-jammed the news" with The Roots it was a breath of fresh air from the otherwise stagnant monologue, the host reading run-of-the-mill political updates to be repeated by The Roots' lead singer channeling Barry White to sensual harmony.
???The guests were great as well. Despite his standoffish demeanor, Robert De Niro was in true and hilarious form. The skit he performed was not funny, but it was unintentionally funny because De Niro knew it wasn't funny.
???When Justin Timberlake took the stage, he immediately took control of the conversation with Fallon. After plugging his new show, Timberlake delivered some surprising laughs with his dead-on John Mayer and Michael McDonald impressions.
???However, the highlight of the night came at the very end, when legendary Van Morrison performed "Sweet Thing" off his highly celebrated Astral Weeks album. It was performed with as much passion and heart as it has been done for decades and was a great way to close the show.
???To put it simply, the best parts of the show were when the focus was not on Fallon. The guests carried the show for him, but in order for him to be a successful host, he needs to establish himself as force, not an aid.
???It is important to remember that O'Brien had a rocky start as well. There were countless times when he came close to losing his job before he became popular. It took time before he got both feet on the ground. Maybe time is all Fallon needs.
???It wasn't long ago when Fallon was ruining skits on Saturday Night Live by looking into the camera and laughing constantly. He then tried his hand at movies, with snoozers like Taxi and Fever Pitch. Arguably, his biggest success was the song "Idiot Boyfriend," which brings the word "success" to a new low. However, he has never been a talk show host before, so maybe he deserves the benefit of the doubt.
???Fallon's job now consists of looking at a camera most of the time. Since he's one of the best in the business of looking into the camera and laughing, at least he has finally taking the step in the right direction career-wise. He didn't laugh as much either, but that might be because the show wasn't that funny.
???Again, it's still too early to tell if Fallon was the right choice to replace O'Brien, but he's up to the plate and behind in the count. He's got a lot of ground to cover and hopefully for him, it's all uphill from the premiere.
???Strike one.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
