the comic's comic

Jimmy Fallon gets the CBS Sunday Morning profile

Sunday morning, I know, is a time for you kids to sleep in, or if you're even awake in those hours, you're brunching as if your lives depended upon it. Well, you do need food to survive. So there is that. But still. If you watch CBS Sunday Morning, then you've noticed that the Eye Network cares enough about comedy these days to dedicate at least one segment per week to who's making news in the comedy business.

This past weekend, they profiled Jimmy Fallon, aka the happiest man in late-night TV. How does he do it? CBS says he is "having too much fun to cry."

Jimmy Fallon as Neil Young harmonizes with David Crosby and Graham Nash to cover "Party in the USA"

You saw the photo last night. Now see and hear the "tribute" to Miley Cyrus as Jimmy Fallon once again channels Neil Young, only this time, he's harmonizing with actual group members David Crosby and Graham Nash to make three-fourths of CSN&Y as they perform "Party in the USA."

Roll the clip.

Crosby, Nash and Fallon? Tune in tonight to get in on this party in the USA

Jimmy Fallon has channeled Neil Young before onstage and on his late-night show on NBC, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. But when have you ever seen him sing alongside the real Crosby and Nash? (Not pictured: Stills)

And yet.

And yet, Fallon posted this photo and wrote this caption: "Crosby, Nash and I salute Miley tonight on Late Night. #partyUSA" Yeah. I think you know what's going on here.

Tune in tonight for Fallon to hear the party for yourself.

SNL #36.22 RECAP: Season finale with host Justin Timberlake, musical guest Lady Gaga

Justin Timberlake has become an undeniably reliably strong host for Saturday Night Live, so much so that some would like to coax him into becoming a full-time member of the cast. Timberlake himself has even teased as much when answering questions from the entertainment tabloid media. But having him on once a year to host (and occasionally pop in for a surprise cameo here and there) plays much better, reminding us how well JT works with the cast, without overstaying his welcome.

So penciling him in as host for the 36th season finale was a no-brainer. As was booking Lady Gaga as the musical guest. Not only does she have a new album to promote this week, but the first time she performed on SNL, she fared admirably well in both her musical slots as well as multiple sketches.

Ready to go out big and go home? Let's recap!

We open with the big news of the week in the world. No. Not Arnold Schwarzenegger. We're talking about the IMF head, Dominique Strauss-Khan, accused of sexually assaulting his hotel maid before skipping out of NYC and America.

Trump-free clips! Watch all of the stand-up sets from The Celebrity Apprentice's comedy show at Gotham

Nobody wants to see more of Donald Trump on television, and yet, there he is, the Golden Combover himself, day after day, shouting about something or other but mostly about himself. So it was with great reluctance last weekend that I found myself watching the first hour of The Celebrity Apprentice, because I heard they were putting the has-been and wannabe famous again famous people through their paces for a stand-up comedy show at Gotham Comedy Club right here in New York City.

You didn't get to see too much of the actual comedy on NBC last Sunday. But the network was gracious enough to supply the full footage online, so all of the comedians can get their proper time to shine.

Plus, you'll get to see who really made Billie Jean King, Phoebe Cates and Kevin Kline laugh. Unless you have a true conspiracy theory about editing.

Let's roll the clips! The big one you did see was NBC's own Jimmy Fallon writing and singing a special song for the occasion with his country voice, called "You're Fired."

 

Now for all of the rest...

Funny because it's true: Jimmy Fallon portrays Donald Trump taking credit for killing of Osama bin Laden

File this under Funny Because It's True. Donald Trump hosted a press conference to boast that he had forced President Barack Obama to prove his American citizenship. Then the Golden Combover boasted that most of the White House Correspondents' Dinner jokes were about him, when really, it was just a few minutes out of many.

So when Obama broke into primetime TV last night -- coincidentally during the final minutes of the Golden Combover's NBC show, Celebrity Apprentice -- you'd figure he'd have a response for that. And he does. In the form of Jimmy Fallon, in this scene from tonight's upcoming episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Fallon hits all the right notes, even making fun of NBC in the process. Roll the clip! (Note: If you do not see the video below, just click this link to see Jimmy Fallon as Donald Trump.)

 

Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Taylor Hicks, the Knicks City Dancers and The Roots cover "Friday"

 

Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon explain to Arianna Huffington why they're TV BFFs (for six months)

Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon got together four weeks ago and sang about their shared elitist status as people with their own Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavors. Their duet ended with an arrangement to become Best Friends For Six Months.

Since then, Colbert raised money by auctioning off one of his paintings, and then jokingly roped Fallon into charitably giving, too -- except Fallon then countered by daring Colbert to sing a cover of Rebecca Black's "Friday" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight.

Before this happens on TV, though, Colbert and Fallon got on the phone with Arianna Huffington to explain what it's like to be TV BFFSMs.

 

Where does this leave Craig Ferguson, though?

Ferguson and Fallon seemingly had their own TV BFF relationship going on to contrast themselves with the "late-night wars."

Want to see @Questlove get balled in the face by @JimmyFallon? See video from MTV's Silent Library

On MTV, there's a game show called Silent Library where they have their guest contestants endure challenges and make them keep silent to earn the money. Simple enough, right?

For the April Fool's Day episode coming up, they've lured Jimmy Fallon and The Roots into their traps. Here's a clip in which Questlove pedals some torture cycle that shoots tennis balls right at his face. And Fallon even helped reload the cycle with more balls. Balls!

Roll the clip:

Stephen Colbert's Ben & Jerry's ice cream war and peace with Jimmy Fallon (plus Jon Stewart!)

Remember all the way back to yesterday, when I pointed out the fact that Ben & Jerry's had created similar special ice cream flavors for both Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert? Yeah. Colbert noticed that, too. And Colbert decided to start a food fight with Fallon over it. In his own special way.

First comes war. Includes jokes at the expense of Fallon, Colbert, Stewart, Chelsea Handler and Jay Leno.

 

Then comes peace. With a bonus hallucination of Ben and Jerry.

 

Jimmy Fallon's "Late Night Snack" joins Colbert's "Americone Dream" in elite Ben & Jerry's company

As part of Jimmy Fallon's second anniversary as host of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, the Ben and Jerry of Ben & Jerry's presented Fallon, his crew and the audience with a brand-new flavor inspired by Fallon and The Roots: "Late Night Snack."

It's vanilla bean ice cream with salty caramel swirl and fudge-covered potato chip clusters.

 

Sound familiar?

Almost four years ago to the day, Ben & Jerry released a limited-edition flavor for Stephen Colbert called "AmeriCone Dream," which was made with vanilla ice cream, a caramel swirl and fudge-covered waffle cone pieces.

 

So. Salt or no salt? Potato chips or waffle cones? Who ya got?

Either way, it says something special about the connection Fallon and Colbert have made with their audiences that they've gotten their own ice-cream flavors. How is there no Team Coco flavor? What would it be (other than an orange sherbet base, obvs)? What would Letterman ice cream be? Kimmel? Leno? Ferguson? Stewart? Handler? So many possibilities...

Jimmy Fallon tells The Daily what he'd do if he were in charge of NBCUniversal

If you're in New York City, following the media, and have an iPad, then you definitely have heard a lot about The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's new iPad-only daily publication that launched this month.

They've already gotten some comedians on video for it, too. For the Super Bowl, they asked Ron White and Eugene Mirman (separately, not together, although that would have been something, too) some questions about football. And now they've sat down with Jimmy Fallon, for what doesn't seem to be an interview so much as a collection of thoughts from Fallon about Justin Bieber, chords of him singing "Whip My Hair" as Neil Young, an acknowledgement that he'd create a bar game to play at home, and answering the question of what he'd do if he were in charge of NBCUniversal.

Roll the clip!

 

Golden Globes clips: Ricky Gervais monologue roast, RDJ, Tina Fey, Steve Carell, and that DeNiro routine

Well, well, well. We all can agree that Ricky Gervais acted like a guy who didn't want to be hosting the Golden Globes, at least not in the way that Hollywood (and particularly the Hollywood Foreign Press Association) expects its hosts to play nice. But was he funny?

Let's go to the videotape. Just joking. Nobody uses videotape in 2011. Let's go to the official online clips!

 

In his monologue, Gervais didn't stick the landing on the opening Charlie Sheen joke, but as soon as he started in on The Tourist, the audible gasp of hundreds of rich, famous, beautiful people sucking the air out of the room meant that Gervais had everyone's attention from then on. Cut to joke victim Johnny Depp. He's smiling. Phew. Where's Cher? Not there? OK. Everyone's laughing. Sex and the City 2? Even Mr. Big is smiling and nodding in approval. A Scientology joke -- the Scientology joke -- followed by the tag: "My lawyers helped me with the wording of that joke." And then the Hugh Hefner jokes, followed by the act-out on the line "just don't look at it when you touch it." This was all happening live on network television (NBC) at 8 p.m. on a Sunday -- 7 p.m. Central, 5 p.m. Pacific! Wow. Now that's some ballsy talk. About balls.

But Gervais was only getting started. When he introduced Eva Longoria to introduce the HFPA president, Philip Berk, Gervais said of the man in charge: "That's nothing. I just had to help him off the toilet and pop his teeth in." Berk's retort? "And Ricky, next time you want me to help you qualify one of your movies, go to another guy." Then he smiled and turned quickly toward Gervais. Still friends? Is this how the game is played? Or is there a backlash a brewing?

Gervais was gentler when introducing Alec Baldwin and Jennifer Lopez, saying: "He's Alec from the Rock. She's just Jenny from the block. If the block in question is that one on Rodeo Drive between Cartier and Prada." That's a gentle gibe, right?

 

Gervais hit hard in this introduction: "But many of you in this room probably know him best from such facilities as the Betty Ford Clinic and Los Angeles County Jail. Ladies and gentleman, Robert Downey Jr." Everyone seemed to think Robert Downey Jr. handled Gervais best by getting in a quick quip, saying: "Aside from the fact that it's been hugely mean-spirited with mildly sinister undertones, I'd say the vibe of the show is pretty good so far, wouldn't you?" RDJ then launched into his own bit, which was equally ribald, suggesting he have/had sex with each of the best actress nominees.

But wait. There was much more...

Bobby Moynihan tells Jimmy Fallon about creating Mark Payne for SNL, being Snooki on his birthday

Saturday Night Live cast member Bobby Moynihan made the big trek all the way down the stairs -- never trust the 30 Rock elevators -- to pay a visit to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night. During his brief stay, Moynihan described his ordeal waiting between his first and second auditions (including a run-in with SNL producer and Fallon announcer Steve Higgins in Rome!), explained where his Mark Payne character came from (sort of), and talked about being Snooki (not only with Snooki herself, which was confusing for Snooki, but also for his 33rd birthday just after midnight during Weekend Update on SNL).

It's go time. Roll the clip!

 

Dave Attell tells Jimmy Fallon: "Christmas is a long day for the Jews"

Dave Attell swung by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night to talk about the holidays, and in the process, showed off his dreidel to Fallon. Because Attell is Jewish, the holidays mean something different for him than for Fallon. Such as: "Christmas is a long day for the Jews."

Watch an excerpt! Watch them watch that dreidel!

 

Late-night Christmas gift exchange: Craig Ferguson and Jimmy Fallon surprise each other with presents

While books and blogs continue to perpetuate the "Late-Night Wars," the people who actually host late-night TV in the late-late night continue to provide evidence that all is well in the world still. At least well past midnight, where Jimmy Fallon and Craig Ferguson are concerned.

Fallon and Ferguson have exchanged friendly messages both on TV and over the Internet in recent weeks, and last night, they exchanged actual presents for Christmas.

As it played out on TV, Ferguson opened his present first, starting in even before the opening credits, and made a point of telling the media that there's no bad blood here. Within the first four minutes, Ferguson gets off a few double entendres, displays the gift Fallon got for him, and makes a plea to the press and to CBS.

 

On NBC, meanwhile, Fallon looked truly surprised by what Ferguson had gotten him. No, not talking about the fake horse Secretariat delivering the gift. Watch Fallon's reaction when he opens his present. He's truly shocked and awed.

 

That's a win for Ferguson. But 'tis also a win for all of us, for 'tis peace at Christmastime in late-late night. God bless us everyone!

The week in "Late Night," which really was the week in "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon"

We all heard and saw a lot of press about late-night TV in the past week, but would you believe that the person who got the most beneficial coverage in the past seven days was the guy you'd least suspect? Unless you were considering Carson Daly. And why would you have been? Stop it. Just, stop.

With all of the commotion surrounding Conan O'Brien, it was more than interesting that New York magazine chose to make Jimmy Fallon its cover profile last week. The article/profile itself is worth reading, though, as you see how Fallon's version of "Late Night" is unlike anything Conan or David Letterman ever would have imagined, mostly because Fallon could never be another Conan or Letterman. He could only be Fallon. So why not play to his strengths?

And that includes the Internet generation. Mashable talked to Fallon quite a bit about how he has embraced the Web and everything that comes with it.

Most stories about how Fallon has redefined late-night TV for himself focus on those moments that become viral videos, because he and his staff have figured out how to cut the show up into easily digestible bits, such that an individual segment can break out from the hour itself. This week featured moments like that. In many of these moments, it's Fallon reacting to or collaborating with someone else on something wild. Fallon as Neil Young covering "Pants on the Ground." Fallon with Justin Timberlake doing the all-time hip-hop medley. But this week, when Jeff Goldblum played piano to "duet" with Biz Markie on Markie's hip-hop classic, "Just A Friend," I wished that Fallon could have stepped away for just a moment to let it play out organically. If that's my biggest quibble, then at least his staffers can still be happy about what they're doing with Late Night.

Roll the clip.

 

Zach Galifianakis pulls another hairdo stunt on TV, this time on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Remember when Zach Galifianakis hosted SNL last season, and toward the end of the show, he ran backstage during a commercial and shaved off his beard? Fun times. Fun times.

Last night on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Galifianakis showed off his new hairdo. What do you think? You like? Very dashing. If you cannot see it on Hulu, try seeing it via NBC.com.

 

Flashback: Jimmy Fallon's TV debut on Barry Sobel's 3-minute talk show in 1996 on Comedy Central

All of the talk overnight of the shortest ever talk-show got people reminding me that someone already has been there and done that, and his name is Barry Sobel.

If you need proof, just ask Jimmy Fallon.

Don't let the long hair fool you. This fresh-faced kid was turning 22 in 1996 when he appeared on the very first episode of Barry Sobel's three-minute talk show on Comedy Central. 

Did we say three minutes? Yes. Three minutes. Take that, Conan's "Show Zero."

You can watch the entire debut episode here. Kevin Meaney plays the fictitious head of the network who informs Sobel in his monologue that he'll only be getting three minutes. Fred Willard plays Sobel's sidekick, and Rita Wilson gets honors as his first guest.

 

In a twist in which everything old is new again, Sobel is developing a new Internet iteration of his three-minute show, with help from Rita Wilson's husband, Tom Hanks! Of course, the relationship between Sobel and Hanks goes all the way back to the 1980s movie about comedians that comedians love to trash talk about, Punchline. Hanks had Sobel write for him and tutor him in the "comedy stylings" of stand-up, as it were.

Here's a photo Sobel shared on Facebook from one of the tapings this fall, with musical guest Ben Lee.