The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon Recap – 12/17

It’s nearly time to say goodbye to Fallon and the gang in 2015. There are just two episodes remaining before The Tonight Show goes on holiday break, and they’re going out with a bang. Thursday’s episode hosts Bruce Springsteen and Friday has Channing Tatum and Star Wars’ John Boyega. Here’s the full recap of Thursday’s show.

Monologue

Of course, the monologue starts with the cultural phenomenon known as Star Wars: The Force Awakens. At the premier, Oscar Isaac said he would leave Earth forever if he could take a family member. As Jimmy puts it, that defeats the purpose of leaving earth. In the political spectrum, Hillary Clinton is reportedly above Bernie Sanders by 30 points. Jimmy said that she’s getting conformable, and in her last debate she just stood behind a podium and drank champagne. In a strong joke of the monologue, congress passed a bill to fund the government for next year and include tax breaks for NASCAR racetracks. “Cause if there’s one thing congress is about, it’s white guys sponsored by corporations going around in circles.

Joke of the monologue: “I heard Hillary was in Nebraska the other day and told republicans in the midwest that she doesn’t have horns. The crows said, ‘Oh don’t worry. We know which one the horny one is.'”

To the Desk

12 Days of Christmas Sweaters

With just two more episodes until the crew goes on Christmas break, Jimmy continues his holiday tradition of giving away an ugly Christmas sweater at every show leading up to the holiday. Like all the sweaters before it, Thursday’s was another doozy. It was black with white reindeer on it, plus a puffy red dot for Rudolf’s nose. It went home with an audience member from Washington D.C.

Tonight Show Hashtags

This week’s hashtag was #StarWarsRaps where people could send in ideas for raps set in the Star Wars universe. Tariq of the Roots helped by performing them. Check out the clip below.

The Guests

Bruce Springsteen 

It’s always nice to see celebrities who are usually relegated to strictly musical guests on talk shows to get the full guest treatment. I’m not sure if any other musician is more worthy of that treatment than Bruce Springsteen. Bruce came out to a standing ovation from the crowd. He seems like a genuinely great guy; down to earth and friendly. They talked about his new box set that has a bunch of cool stuff for fans of The Boss. It has a replica of his actual notebook in which he wrote all of his famous songs. Jimmy and Bruce talked about his career: how he never had a number 1 hit and how some of his most popular songs came to be. “Hungry Heart” was originally written by home for The Ramones. A friend of his suggested that he keep the song. Check out the interview below.

Jeffrey Tambor 

Jeffrey Tambor is out promoting his Amazon original Transparent. He’s such an effortlessly funny guy from his work on The Larry Sanders Show and Arrested Development. He told a funny story of a bad audition. He auditioned for a musical, and did well, but forgot his own name when was asked. He didn’t get the role. The two then compared height. It turns out Jeffrey is the same height as Jimmy. He eventually talked about his new season of Transparent. 

According to tonight’s 12 Days of Christmas Sweaters bit, there are just two more episodes before the go on break. I’m not sure if that includes Thursday’s or if he will have just a Monday show next week. Tomorrow is probably his last show before the new year. Check back tomorrow for a full recap of his Friday show. Stay tuned!