'The Tonight Show' With Jimmy Fallon Premiere Reviews: The Verdicts Are in, Did the New Host Make A Good First Impression?
As Jimmy Fallon took center stage to debut his gig as host of The Tonight Show in the night of Feb. 17, he was lauded for bringing the show back to New York, but did he manage to woo the critics with his showmanship?
Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Premiere Returns to New York City, Guests Will Smith and U2
Fallon had some pretty large shoes to fill, taking on the reigns from Jay Leno, and honoring the storied legacy of The Tonight Show. The 39-year-old TV host went all out, with a bevvy of stars featuring Lady Gaga, Will Smith, U2, Robert De Niro, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Joan Rivers, Lindsay Lohan, Kim Kardashian, and Sarah Jessica Parker, making it a memorable first. But while New York City and Fallon's friends did everything to help him out, it seems like the critics were still left wanting. Many critics suggested that Fallon did a fair job but took issue with his very personable nature, lacking the kind of spunk hosts like Conan O'Brien and David Letterman are known to bring to their shows.
Enstars put together a bunch of verdicts to know if the comic nailed it and convinced the critics about NBC's decision:
Jimmy Fallon Late Night Farewell Featuring The Muppets Draws Record Views.
"Indeed, Fallon comes across as eager to please almost to a fault, and he treated his Tonight Show launch very much like a guy auditioning to be accepted into homes. He even went through a very basic introduction (he's 39; married with a young kid; his parents were in the audience) that didn't feel so much like latenight satire as Katie Couric's first episode of her syndicated daytime show." -- Variety
"People always bring up Fallon's niceness when they compare him to other late-night hosts. On one hand, it's a survival strategy. Celebrities have so many options for connecting to non-celebrity human beings now: More shows, more social media. Fallon wants people to come on his show and play. This means that his conversations can be shockingly dry - "I gotta congratulate you on raising the nicest girl ever!" - but they also reap big rewards when the celebrities start to play along. I glazed over for both segments of Smith's interview, but the moment he stared at the camera with an intense curling face was worth it all." -- Entertainment Weekly
"He's done mom dancing, dad dancing, end-zone dancing, and two histories of rap. And these segments themselves are knock-offs of one of the biggest viral videos of all time. This doesn't mean they're not good or funny or worth doing, but it does mean they are not particularly original. And that lack of originality pervaded the episode - even though, generally speaking, I found Late Night With Jimmy Fallon to be original and exuberant. Fallon often elicits silliness from his guests, but not so with Will Smith or U2. It was a respectable episode, fine and functional, but almost overwhelmingly not special." -- Vulture
"A very far cry from O'Brien's lanky swagger or Leno's self-confident poise and, to be frank, the whole "who, me? host The Tonight Show?" seemed laid on a bit thick in parts. Fallon may not have served as Leno's Rachel for seven years as O'Brien did, but he has been hosting "Late Night" for five and before that spent six years on "Saturday Night Live." So it's not like he's some slacker dude who just won the gig on America's Got Talent." -- LA Times