I was always on the fence about Jimmy Fallon when he was on SNL. He just didn’t do it for me some of the time, and some of his characters were a little annoying, but he also produced some of my favorite characters (I guess Jimmy Fallon was kind of a microcosm of SNL as a whole). Plus, he was always giggling. So when it was announced he would replace the great Conan O’ Brien as host of Late Nite, I was more than a little skeptical.
Then it was announced that The Roots would be his house band and my whole world flipped, turned upside-down. I’d like to take a minute just sit right there … sorry. As I was saying, with one announcement, little white, Nomaaaa-shouting Jimmy Fallon gained street cred. One of the best concerts I’ve ever been to was an OK Player show where The Roots backed a bunch of MCs on the OK Player label in Baltimore. If Jimmy was smart enough to get The Roots to back him, I’d give him a chance.
Now, just as Jimmy did with his own image, I present to you 3 music videos in which he makes lame songs pretty damn cool.
Fallon was always at his best on SNL when he had a guitar in his hands.
There are so many things I like about this: ?uestlove on kazoo, Fisher Price Xylophone, Piano Flute, Quest playing the Guiro with an afro-pick, kazoo duet finale … The Roots just gave Carly Rae Jepsen street cred.
Okay, so I’d never call the Reading Rainbow theme lame, but the only thing that would make this any cooler would be a cameo by LeVar Burton … and maybe Troy crying in the corner.