The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon Recap 1/11

The U.S. presidential nominees are making their final media push going into Iowa next month. Despite appearing on The Tonight Show back in September, Donald Trump is back again. He participated in a sketch in his last appearance. He played himself, but that’s the usual fare for him for a Tonight Show appearance or even a Saturday Night Live hosting gig, for that matter. Here’s how his latest appearance went down.

Monologue

Fallon usually relies on a Trump joke to kick off his monologue. What does he use when Trump is waiting in the greenroom? Well, he didn’t shy away from it. He led with a comment that security was tight, and that the detail built a giant wall around the studio, plus The Tonight Show had to pay for it. Fallon pivoted from that joke to commenting on the fact that Trump, along with other nominees, have been bringing up Ted Cruz’s eligibility since he could be Canadian. Fallon stuck to a political-heavy monologue, and was even able to squeeze a Chris Christie weight joke out of it. Pretty standard stuff. Eventually he got off of politics and made a couple jokes about El Chapo being captured once again. The monologue was pretty brief compared to other episodes.

Joke of the monologue: “The Playboy Mansion is up for sale. This is true, the person who buys it has to let Hugh Hefner live there. It’s actually the first time a person can get to know a ghost before he haunts it.”

To the Desk

Fallon took the time at the desk to remember his friend David Bowie. He said that he and Bowie would talk and email from time to time. He didn’t use this as excuse to shoehorn a joke. He just remembered the legendary musician, and said he would email him again so he can check it in heaven or space. RIP David Bowie.

Picture This

Picture This was the desk sketch of the night. It’s a bizarre little sketch where Jimmy shows fictitious Instagram posts from two people with the same caption, but the pictures are different. It’s very similar to a Twitter bit he does. It’s not his bet, but it’s perfectly suitable as a time filler. If you missed it, you didn’t miss much.

The Guests

Donald Trump

Trump his the stage and Jimmy’s guest chair with his trademark smirk. Jimmy brought up the enormous Powerball lottery and asked Donald what he would do with all the money. He said he would give it to the vets. What a good answer for a presidential nominee. Jimmy moved on from that topic to some of Donald’s controversial comments and ideals. Trump says that it’s about starting a dialog, and it’s about keeping the country safe. He says that’s why he’s the republican front runner. Jimmy responded by saying some people agree with him, but there are plenty of people who don’t. That comment got some applause from The Tonight Show audience. The conversation eventually went to Obama, the second amendment and Hillary Clinton. Trump touted polls that favor him against his republican competition and Hillary. Fallon surprisingly wasn’t lobbing softballs to trump, which is a bit of a change compared to his last appearance. It wasn’t exactly a Colbert level of depth, but more depth than I was expecting.

After the break, Trump wasn’t a part of a sketch. Instead the conversation continued about Trump’s future campaign journey. He talked about Iowa next month and the future republican debate on Thursday. Trump says it’s nearly impossible to prepare for debates and that you can’t overload yourself with information. In other words, it’s better to be natural. Fallon used this as a segue to start a mock job interview with Trump. Fallon gave Donald some questions that would likely be heard in an interview. He asked him why he wanted job, how he heard about it, what his strengths and weaknesses are and if he’s willing to relocate. Check out the clip below.

Ken Jeong 

Ken Jeong came out dancing to Morris Day and the Time. He’s always full of energy. He doesn’t seem jet lagged at all after being in L.A. for the Golden Globes. Fallon kicked off the interview to talk him about his finger accident. Ken said that his injury was no joke. Eventually conversation get to his show Dr. Ken and his upcoming movie Ride Along 2. It was a brief interview, but Ken made a point to say that diversity is a great thing. Ride Along 2 is a product of diversity. It was undoubtedly a swipe at the Donald Trump who didn’t stick around for the Ken’s interview.

Next: Making A Murderer Directors to Appear on Colbert on Tuesday

The Monday episode of The Tonight Show wrapped up with a ballad performance by Grammy nominated artist Cam. Tune into Last Night On for a full recap of tomorrow’s episode when Jimmy welcomes Kevin Hart and Danny DeVito.