The New Face Of Late Night – @jimmyfallon

Tonight, another one of SNL’s past cast members officially etched himself into American TV history. Following in the footsteps of previous Late Night hosts, David Letterman and Conan O’Brien is no easy task. You have to bring something to the show that no one else has.

It was a given that Fallon would be nervous during his monologue and even in his first interview with Robert DeNiro. But Jimmy hit his stride when Justin Timberlake came on stage and the two reminisced about their SNL skit “The Barry Gibb Talk Show”. He was at ease and his usual funny self. It reminded me of why I loved him so much on SNL. Why is that important to the overall success of the show? Because he can relate to the younger generation of viewers in a way that the others can’t. Even the audience was noticeably younger and it’s sure to translate in home viewers as well. To be fair, the older demo might not find him as funny or connect with him as well.

The younguns live in a world world where we are all just a tad bit awkward and it’s one of the things that make Fallon so endearing, IMO. He giggles at himself. Cute.

Another thing the show has that will help pull in the young demo is The Roots. THE ROOTS! The others have great house bands with great musicians but your typical 18-30 year old viewer doesn’t really know who they are outside if their evening gig. But The Legendary Roots already have a following and were able to cross over from underground Hip-Hop to main stream pop. And this is the kind of music we like. Their segment “Slow Jamming the News” is one that is sure to stick around for long long time. He is showcasing the incredible talent he shares the stage with. (But you gotta into the individual members, Jimmy.) Video at the end of the post.

Jimmy Fallon has also been active in Social Networking sites like Twitter. Twitter…don’t knock it till you truly try it. He’s active. He engages the community. He interacts with his viewers, or at least the Twitters who follow him. In essence, Fallon is embracing technology in a way the others don’t. (Sidenote – Roots drummer ?uest Love is also very active on Twitter.)

I also hear that Fallon will be bringing in the Tech Hipsters/Celebs like Kevin Rose which can only help him expand his tech street cred. Good move I say.

So I think Jimmy Fallon’s first show was good. By his 100th show, he should have worked out some nerves, giggles and hopefully find that easy stride that only comes with experience. BTW, I’d really love to see Conan’s first show if anyone has a link.