The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon Recap – 1/4

Jimmy Fallon and The Tonight Show are back to ring in 2016. After a long two-week break for the holidays, the NBC staple returned on Monday with guests Sylvester Stallone and John Stamos. Jimmy tried out a new game called Kid Dictionary with John Stamos that didn’t go very well. Don’t expect the bit to be tried again. Here’s how Monday’s episode went down.

The Monologue

Fallon is feeling the love in 2016. During the opening applause he greeted a member of the audience in the front row and brought them in front of the camera to say “hello” to America. I wonder if that’s going to be a regular sign of goodwill toward his fans going forward. It’s a nice touch and similar to what Conan does when he hits the stage. Fallon kicked off the monologue with some humor about “New Year’s Resolutions.” He cracked that he’s sure we’re all sore after going to the gym for the first time since last January. Jimmy segued right into political humor with jabs at Trump on his recent appearance on Meet the Press. Apparently Trump accused Cruz of stealing his immigration plan, but in reality the wall idea was always China’s to begin with. Keeping it political, Fallon toasted to Lindsey Graham who suspended his presidential campaign over the holiday. He then played a supercut of Graham saying that we will all drink more if he’s elected.

Jimmy went from politics to football where he was able to poke fun at a popular clip from Sunday where Buffalo Bill’s kicker Dan Carpenter slammed his helmet in the ground only to have it bounce back up in his face.

In a lengthy monologue by Tonight Show standards, Fallon concluded with some news that China will offer free wifi in some public bathrooms, or as we call it in America, “Starbucks.”

Joke of the Monologue: “A man in London just celebrated his one billionth Uber ride. Uber rewarded him with a year’s worth of free rides. The man said he looks forward to spending 2016 drunk.”

To the Desk

Screen Grabs

Monday’s bit before the break is one of my favorites: Screen Grabs. Screen Grabs is the evolution of Leno’s headlines. Print media errors are harder to catch because most people spend their time online. Hence: Screen Grabs. In classic Screen Grabs fashion, the bit concluded with Fallon dressing up like a submission of a person who looks like him. Unfortunately, the visual jokes don’t translate well to a written recap. Check out the whole segment below.

The Guests

Sylvester Stallone 

The dapper Sly Stallone hit the stage to talk about his surprise hit Creed and to talk about his life. Sly explains that he wasn’t sure he wanted to do Creed because he was happy with how Rocky Balboa turned out. He credits director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan with how it turned out. Sly tells a story about about the journey of his past from before he wrote Rocky. He had a bull mastiff dog in his tiny apartment, and eventually couldn’t afford to feed the dog. He had to sell the dog to someone for $50. Then Rocky happened and he was able to buy the dog back, but for $1500 and a part in the movie.

It’s been well publicized that Michael B. Jordan had to take some punches during the filming of Rocky. Sly says that getting hit during a Rocky film is almost a rite of passage. Dolph Lundgren put him in the hospital for four and a half days with a punch to the chest during the shooting of Rocky 4. He brought the behind-the-scenes footage of Michael B. Jordan getting knocked out, and oh man is it brutal!

John Stamos

Jimmy talked to the star of NBC’s Grandfathered about the first time they met. It was at a Paul McCartney concert at Citi Field and Fallon was introduced to Stamos. Jimmy turned around and Stamos’ outstretched hand went into Jimmy’s mouth. The two recreated the fateful scene. Instead of moving on to talk about Grandfathered Stamos talked about the upcoming Netflix spinoff Fuller House. Stamos said it was like a family reunion where some of the family members didn’t show up. That’s surely a shot at the Olsen Twins who elected not to return for the show. Eventually conversation got to Grandfathered. Stamos says he’s been waiting his whole life for this show. He really sounds passionate about it.

Kid Dictionary

Jimmy and Stamos played a game of Kid Dictionary. Before the holiday break, Fallon asked parents to submit videos of their kids attempting to define words from the English language. Jimmy and John watched the clips and tried to guess what words the children are trying to define. As Stamos puts it, “Out of the 10,000 games that are played on this show I get the bomb.” He’s absolutely right. Kid Dictionary was not a good bit. It wasn’t well executed and it wasn’t funny. Stamos salvaged it at the end with proposing a double fish hook between he and Jimmy.

Monday’s show concluded with a performance from Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello singing their new hit “I Know What You Did Last Summer” with The Roots. The two were on point in the live performance. Mendes sang and played the guitar while both nailed their harmonies. Great pop music performance.

Check back to Last Night On tomorrow for a recap of tomorrow’s show when Jimmy has guests Kristen Steward and Michael Shannon.