Jimmy Fallon perks up late-night TV

MANILA, Philippines - When Jimmy Fallon took over from Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show early this year, the former knew he had to rise up to the challenge. Although he is a veteran in hosting a late-night caper (he did Late Night With Jimmy Fallon from 2009 until early this year), Jimmy was aware he had to offer something different. That way, he will not suffer comparison with Jay or other late-night talk show hosts.

However, Jimmy is apparently not someone who would just sit on his chair and wait for the cue to start his one-hour show. Since the start of The Tonight Show last February, he has consistently exerted surprising efforts to make his program really different, current and talked about.

He doesn’t just talk or interview his guests in or out of the studio. He plays, dances, gets into a dare, sings, jokes, laughs or challenges them. He is willing to do hilarious, funny or even silly things so as not to bore his audience. Instead, he pleases them and subsequently gets a large chunk of the ratings.

Thankfully, The Tonight Show has been displaying good numbers in the TV ratings, dominating its timeslot and getting even the teenage viewers to watch despite its late-night schedule.

When Tom Cruise guested on The Tonight Show to promote Edge of Tomorrow, he had a ball smashing glass images of Jimmy with a football in the Face Breakers duel that they did. For his part, Jimmy smashed images of Tom.

Announcing that Psy’s dance hit, Gangnam Style, was the first YouTube video to register over two billion views, Jimmy was egged on by Today host Matt Lauer to do the Gangnam Style on the show. Gamely, Jimmy danced much to the delight of his viewers.

The nice part of his late-night show is that Jimmy does not think twice to do something that will entertain his viewers. Credit that to his background of doing Saturday Night Live for six years, where he learned how to get the laughs from an audience. He was also a stand-up comedian early on in his career, so that also helped his hosting job.

Recent interesting guests in The Tonight Show included Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler, who promoted their third film together, Blended, after The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates.

There was also Oscar Best Supporting Actor nominee for Wolf of Wall Street Jonah Hill, who stars in the sequel, 22 Jump Street, with Channing Tatum. Jonah offered an emotional apology for the homophobic statement that he made towards a photographer.

Channing, who appeared on a different day to promote 22 Jump Street, was challenged by Jimmy to an arm-wrestling contest. Jimmy also challenged new actor Ansel Elgort, lead star of the love story, Fault In Our Stars, to tap-dance in the show. Austin Powers star Mike Myers went nostalgic with Jimmy. Both are alumni of Saturday Night Live.

On the first week of The Tonight Show last February, Jimmy even interviewed US First Lady Michelle Obama. Other guests since the show premiered were Jennifer Lawrence, Will Smith, Bradley Cooper, Justin Timberlake, Reese Witherspoon, Hugh Jackman, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Jude Law, James McAvoy, Zac Efron, Dolly Parton, Andrew Garfield, Nicolas Cage, Russell Crowe, Denzel Washington and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon airs locally Tuesdays to Sundays at 1 p.m., with replays at 12 midnight on the Movie Channel, SkyCable Channel 25.