This Jimmy Fallon burn on Congress is proof he can get political
By Josh Hill
Jimmy Fallon continues to get political on Tonight Show, something that exists outside of what the show normally does.
Late night is seeing what appears to be an endless stream of fodder thanks to Donald Trump. The President is making an easy target for hosts looking for material, and everyone is digging into the scrap pile.
Even Jimmy Fallon.
The Tonight Show host is still soothing the scar left from when he got chummy with Donald Trump while the latter was on the campaign trail. Rather than hold Trump’s feet to the fire, Fallon ruffled his hair — a moment that continues to haunt him.
Since then, Fallon has taken his sweet time in getting around to the other side of the political spectrum but has arrived there nonetheless. The late night host is going beyond mentioning Trump at the top of his show and is starting to get more political throughout.
Take this joke, for example:
"“Thank you, speculation about Peyton Manning running for Senate in 2020. Finally someone in Congress who can pass something.”"
That’s not the funniest political joke we’ve ever heard, but it’s striking since it was made on Tonight Show. This goes so far beyond Fallon, who was never afraid to get jokey-political on SNL when he was hosting Weekend Update with Tina Fey. What makes this interesting is Tonight Show‘s long standing moderate position in politics.
And by moderate, we mean almost non-existent.
While the show hasn’t ignored politics, the show has never really picked a side nor has it ever focused on politics as a main source of comedy. This dates back to Johnny Carson and the Vietnam War through Jay Leno and his sparse jabs at George W. Bush. If a political joke was to be made, it was almost always in the opening monologue where daily headlines were discussed.
Carson rarely if ever got political during his bits, but Fallon is starting to do that more and more. From his Trump skits to this most recent political bun as part of his ‘Thank You’ notes bit, Fallon is crossing over into uncharted waters for Tonight Show.
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All of this seems to be in response to Late Show with Stephen Colbert passing and sustaining a lead in the ratings game thanks to what many believe is his political humor.