The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

Photo courtesy of NBC / AdWeek.com

Having not watched all that much of The Tonight Show while Jay Leno was host, I will admit right off the bat that my point of reference is a bit limited. However, as a fan and advocate of Jimmy Fallon who watched his first ever episode as host of Late Night and cringed at the slightly uncomfortable first-time awkwardness, I was eager to jump right into this new incarnation of long-lived and beloved late night program.

There was, indeed, some unnecessary glitz and glamour. Late night has always been a place for famous celebrities to gather and make fools of themselves, to promote and to profit from the clever words of the host - who, when adept,  can make even the most thankless guests seem truly inspired and hilarious. And of course the first episode for the new host is going to have its big attention-grabbing, headline-stealing moments.

It would've been a good cop-out, in fact, to have Lady Gaga as one of the headlining surprises of the night - and to top off her little cameo with some overwrought performance that would send audience members sailing through the roof and people at home going "This is comedy?"

But alas, Jimmy is too good for that. Instead, the headliner of the first segment of the show was Stephen Colbert who caps off a laundry list of celebrity guests by coming onto the stage and dumping pennies onto the Tonight Show desk.

For those who don't understand the context, in the first segment of the show, Jimmy tells his friend who "knows who they are" that they owe him for a bet they placed that Jimmy would never be the host of the Tonight Show. Robert De Niro comes out first, and then the joke keeps going with Tina Fey, Mariah Carey, Tracy Morgan, the list goes on.

I had my doubts too, Jimmy. Not that you wouldn't end up catapulting to premiere late night status as the second-attempt-to-replace-Jay-Leno, but that your transition might mean something even more terrifying: the manipulation of your comedy into something conservative and uninteresting.

For years I retreated to David Letterman and Conan, Craig Ferguson and then Jimmy Fallon - not just because I didn't particularly engage with Jay Leno's comedy, but because there was something slightly un-modern about it. The faces of comedy on late night were always the most adventurous - certainly the weirdest. And I never felt that Leno surpassed the weird quotient. His comedy always reminded me of the jokes that a warm-up comedian might tell. They were meant to give you a chuckle, but there never seemed to be much below that surface level hilarity.

Jimmy Fallon has always, on the other hand, done a wonderful job with the sort of comedy that a warm-up comedian could never accomplish. His jokes were based on repetition and inside references. You'd watch a segment like "Let Us Play with Your Look" and think to yourself "that was insane, I don't know what to make of that." But at the same time you'd think "that was insane, let me see that again." His jokes didn't necessarily elicit automatic laughs, but they built up that type of cackle that you can't seem to silence. The kind that you get when someone makes a joke and you have to stop and think about it, but then when everyone stops laughing you find yourself sitting there ROFL-ing.

The best part of watching Jimmy Fallon has always been those odd ball skits that take a little taste of Saturday Night Live and transfer them to the late night format. Because Jimmy is so open to physical comedy, he becomes more an actor than a host - getting down and dirty with his guests to make something truly hysterical.

Well, it's clear that all hope is not lost on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. After last night's performance of "The Evolution of Hip-Hop Dance," a clever reference to the viral YouTube video with hundreds of millions of views, it seems Jimmy's still up for the odd physical antics. Maybe he'll even bring his Lip Syncing Battles to The Tonight Show.

The question this leaves us with is whether the audience for The Tonight Show will be able to keep up with their new host. The show is not only the most watched late night program on TV, but it is also the one that garners the most notoriously mature audience. Will Late Night with Jimmy Fallon fans transfer their love over to the new program? Will old fans of The Tonight Show leave? We can reasonably assume there won't be another Conan-esque debacle, but will Jimmy's content be subjected to change due to audience demand?

I hope that whatever happens, Jimmy gets to be Jimmy. Because for the first time in recent late night history, the entire line-up is something to be marveled at. There is no warm-up comedian in the bunch, there is an undeniably impressive collection of clever, hilarious and ridiculous hosts who are full of the kinds of off-the-wall jokes that late night can and should have.

So welcome to the new slot, Jimmy. You keep doing you.

The Fault in Our Stars Trailer

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox.

Getting in on a phenomenon when it is only in its infant stages is incredibly satisfying. And as a nerdfighter dating back to 2011, I feel somewhat entitled to lay claim on an early knowledge of The Fault in Our Stars, a brilliant soon-to-be-released (in June) feature length film based on the young adult book of the same name.
The Fault in Our Stars is a novel written by John Green, one half of the Vlogbrothers duo that has created a community on the internet conceived in love for awkwardness and pride of nerd-dom. Fans of the Vlogbrothers call themselves "nerdfighters" and find kindred spirits in the name of awesome.

The book debuted in the #1 spot of the New York Times Best Seller List for Children's Chapter Books and now, two years after its release, has made a return to the top slot of the Amazon.com Best Sellers list, maintaining a five star rating on the online shopping site.

Since its release in 2012, the hype has grown exponentially, not least the result of the movie adaptation which is set for release this summer. The new trailer for The Fault in Our Stars premiered on January 29th, bringing to life the story in a palpable, moving way that, despite minimal dialogue, pierces the heart in the same way that the book does so poignantly.

We meet Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters for the first time in flesh and blood, and there's something palpable about their existence. They radiate off even the tiniest screen, with eyes deep in emotion, blissfully unaware yet pessimistic about what life has in store for them.

In the day that has passed since The Fault in Our Stars film trailer was released on YouTube (following its premiere on The Today Show), it has attracted nearly 4 million views. The viewership for the trailer has even surpassed (twice over) the amount of subscribers (over 1.7 million) that the Vlogbrothers have garnered since they posted their first video in 2007.

My first encounter with what a phenomenon TFiOS (for short) would become was when I discovered that many of my closest (non-nerdfighter) friends had encountered the book, either by having read it or adding it to their to-read list. As a long YouTube advocate, I've attempted to turn many a person onto the work of John and Hank Green, with small amounts of success. Having people move in that direction on their own was an entirely new and unprecedented experience.

Seeing this novel, which meant so much to me upon my first dip into its emotional, intellectual and comedic depths, rise to such fame has been an amazing experience as a reader and a Vlogbrothers subscriber. In my heart, I wanted to keep The Fault in Our Stars for myself, but sharing it with the rest of the world reaps its own tantamount rewards.

For nerdfighters everywhere, this is an exciting occasion in which - for the first time - we can share our passion with the world without any upturned brows. The Fault in Our Stars is not just a book by one of the Vlogbrothers. It's a book by a bestselling author, it's a book that's going to be a movie and it's a book that has captured the hearts of millions. And we can say we've been there first.

See The Fault in Our Stars trailer here.