made his epic debut as the new “Tonight Show” host Monday with with his guest Will Smith, a performance from U2 and cameos from Tina Fey, Seth Rogen, Tracey Morgan, Robert De Niro, Stephen Colbert and more. It’s all a good indication that the “Tonight Show” will carry on the pattern of comedic and musical excellence Fallon has brought to late night television.
The final episode of “Late Night” featured a teary-eyed Fallon chatting it up with fellow “Saturday Night Live” alum Andy Samberg, who just won a Golden Globe for his new sitcom “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” and playing drums alongside Animal with the Muppets.
Aside from the outstanding comedic bits and always-entertaining banter on his previous talk show, “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” the host has played his part in attaching his own respectable music taste to the program. Hopefully Fallon will maintain his reputation for bringing many talented musicians on to the “Tonight Show.” While any talk show is going to be subject to having some flops and pop-sensations-of-the-week guests, “Late Night” saw some great musical, somewhat lesser-known acts that are highly respected in the music community, like Dr. Dog, Hot Chip, Wilco, Pinback, Regina Spektor and Silversun Pickups. Check out Canadian superband Broken Social Scene rip through “Almost Crimes” with Feist. One could even make the argument that Fallon’s love of Bon Iver helped the indie-folk singer-songwriter reach mainstream success in 2012.
It hasn’t all been indie rockers, though. Some of the classic greats that have plugged in on the “Late Night” stage include Paul McCartney, the Pixies, Jeff Beck, Primus, Tom Morello, Tenacious D, Willie Nelson, Fiona Apple, Tom Waits, They Might Be Giants and many more. Check out Primus do their thing on his show back in 2012.
He’s had hip-hop acts like Ludacris, N.E.R.D., Public Enemy, Rick Ross, Mos Def and Soulja Boy. And don’t forget Tyler, The Creator and Hodgy Beats of Odd Future made their insane television premiere in 2011 on Fallon’s Show. Check out Tyler freak out his guests, with their very memorable performance of “Sandwiches” from his album “Wolf.”
What this shows is that Fallon has the ability to dig into what is the cutting edge of music, rather than bring in acts already at the top of the charts. This builds his own credibility as a music fan, as a host and draws a younger audience to late night shows that tend to bring an older crowd. Would he have had the same success on “Late Night” without these guests? It’s impossible to say, but his taste shaped the tone of the show.
The second tier to the argument that Fallon’s musical taste has propelled his career is in his legendary house band, the Roots. Aside from being fantastic and flexible musicians, the Roots also provided some much needed musical comic relief from the non-musical hilarity. Luckily for Fallon and his viewers, the Roots have followed him to the Tonight Show and will be led by Questlove.
Some of the best musical acts actually contributed to the comedy: Hannibal Buress, Reggie Watts, Bo Burnham, Spinal Tap and The Jonas Brothers. Watch Fallon and The Roots team up with Lonely Island with “YOLO.” On Reverb, we’ve shared bits where Fallon and the Roots cover everything from Miley Cyrus a capallea to the “Sesame Street” theme song.
Quality music has certainly been a mainstay in the Jimmy Fallon ethos — contributing to his musical and comedy credibility. With his new time slot and taking on a position so many great comedians have had before him, he’ll be under pressure to bring in mainstream pop acts to contribute to ratings. We can only hope that his taste will follow to the “Tonight Show” and he has a role in keeping the musicians as fresh as he always has.
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James Garcia is a community reporter at the Loveland Reporter-Herald and a new blogger at Reverb. Follow him on Twitter @JamesGarciaRH.
