The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon Recap – 1-27

Wednesday was Fallon’s last new show of the week. He in the middle of next week. Fallon ended the week with a strong episode with high profile guests Sia, Natalie Portman and John Oliver. Here’s how it went down.

Monologue

Jimmy dived right into political humor. Wednesday’s show kicked off some jokes about Donald Trump bowing out of the next republican debate hosted by Fox News. He played a fictional ad from Fox News for the debate that was a spot-on recreation of a monster truck ad. Moving onto Martin O’Malley, which is a rarity for the show or really any late night show. Jimmy joked at a clip of O’Malley playing a sleepy song on the guitar in front of a crowd that didn’t seem to be into it. The monologue concluded with a clip called “Iceking Questions.” One of the writers headed down to the ice rink at Rockefeller Center (who doesn’t know how to skate) to ask people political questions while trying to keep his balance. The bit had plenty of falls from the asker and the askee. Check out the clip below.

To The Desk

Popular Mathematics 

It’s not my favorite bit. Much like Pros and Cons or In Reply To, you can see where the joke is going before it gets there. Jimmy adds up celebrities to create other celebrities. Here are some examples:

Donald Duck + Uncle Scrooge = Donald Trump

Ricola + Drake = Drakula

One Dollar – 99 cents = Nickelback

It’s more clever than actually funny. But like the other bits mentioned above, they have to fill the time somehow.

Singing with the Roots

Jimmy and the Roots have made numerous videos with celebs where they all sing songs we all know. They always seem to go viral. Here’s the most recent one. I’m not really familiar with this song “Iko Iko,” but here it is:

The Guests

Natalie Portman

Natalie came out talking about the experience of making the music video. She said she was pretty nervous about recording the video because The Roots, Jimmy and Sia are all so musically talented. Jimmy gave her a hard time because she researched the song on Wikipedia. Eventually, Jimmy got to talking about her upcoming movie Jane Got a Gun. 

John Oliver

John Oliver’s hit HBO show is coming back, so he’s making the media rounds. He’s always hilarious whenever he’s in the role of guest on a talk show. The two talked about some of the most successful ideas from his show’s last season, like setting up a fictional church and interviewing Edward Snowden. Oliver said he didn’t tell HBO that he was going to Russia for the interview. He said, “It felt like we were in trouble all the time.” They had to split up the interview tapes between the staff members, so if they were confiscated from someone they wouldn’t lose all the footage. The two then talked about the upcoming season and some of the endorsements, or lack thereof, they’ve had from celebrities. Cher is apparently not a fan of Oliver’s or the show. He concluded the interview with an excellent story about running into LL Cool J at an airport baggage claim. His wife went up to LL and started reciting the lyrics to “Doin it.” LL Cool J responded by finishing the entire song. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver comes back to HBO on Feb. 14.

Wednesday’s show concluded with a performance by Sia. Sia’s interpretive dancers are back for her new album. She always brings performances that you don’t see anywhere else. Fallon is off for the rest of the week. Check back next week when he’s new.