Jimmy Fallon Is Here For A Good Time (And A Long Time)
The truth is, Fallon isn’t just another SNL alumnus. He’s SNL’s golden boy, handpicked by Lorne Michaels (whom he still speaks to every day) as heir to The Tonight Show legacy, King of the biggest throne in all of late night, if not all of television.
Think that’s an overstatement? Consider the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary special, which aired earlier this year. For a fanboy like Fallon, this was heaven — a reassembling of all the SNL greats for a One Night Only comedy extravaganza. Studio 8H was filled to the brim with some of New York’s best talent and biggest names, including guest hosts like Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, musical guests like Paul McCartney and Paul Simon, and former SNL cast members like Chris Rock, Jane Curtin, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Bill Murray, Norm Macdonald, Adam Sandler and Eddie Murphy, just for starters.
And Fallon? He wasn’t just there. He opened the whole damn show — lights come up, it’s just him with a top hat and cane until he’s interrupted by his pal Justin Timberlake, launching into a rap history of SNL’s greatest hits (which was itself a reimagined version of their wildly popular Tonight Show bit, “A History of Rap”).
Then, just like he’d practiced at the foot of the stairs as a kid, and like he’d done so many times on so many weekends in his 20s, he yelled into the camera: “Live, from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” And boy, he could barely keep it together.
