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Belcher: Fallon To Hone Stand-Up Skills At Improv
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Published: November 13, 2008
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Call it a pre-late-night warm-up.
Comedian Jimmy Fallon is on the road prepping for his new job as host of NBC's "Late Night," with a stop in Tampa this weekend.
In March, the "Saturday Night Live" alumnus takes over the talk show graveyard shift (12:35 to 1:30 a.m.) when Conan O'Brien moves up to replace the departing Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show."
Much of the attention in the coming months will be on Conan, Leno and this historic changing of the guard. There's speculation Leno has been pushed out and will resurface on another network.
Fallon, who plays the Tampa Improv on Saturday and Sunday, will be put to the test. The 34-year-old New Yorker was a featured player on SNL from 1999 to 2004.
He was co-anchor of "Weekend Update" with Tina Fey. He also did song parodies and created more than a dozen characters, including the sarcastic tech-support guy Nick "Moooove!" Burns.
Fallon left "SNL" to pursue film roles. His biggest so far has been "Fever Pitch," a 2005 Farrelly Brothers comedy with Drew Barrymore.
Since the announcement of his late-night job in May, Fallon has been touring comedy clubs to hone the skills needed for a nightly monologue. He also has been studying DVDs of Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett, Mike Douglas, Steve Allen, Jack Paar and even Garry Shandling's fictitious Larry Sanders.
While the format - host, band, monologue, desk, two guests and no sidekick - will remain the same, Fallon brings a connection to the next generation of late-night viewers.
In his act, for example, he spoofs singer Katy Perry and her hit song "I Kissed a Girl" - a gag that's more for the twentysomethings. Last week, he was a headliner at Florida State University's homecoming celebration.
He was handpicked by NBC's late-night guru Lorne Michaels. "You can never really be sure of these things," Michaels says. "But he's funny and smart and has a really good work ethic. You have to want this more than anything, and I think he does."
In his current stand-up act, Fallon sings some parody songs, does celebrity impressions, and delivers topical and observational jokes. He plays the Improv at 7:30 and 10 p.m. Saturday and at 7 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $35.
CROSSING PUZZLES: Tampa-based crossword puzzle king Merl Reagle says "The Simpsons" may draw a lot of first-time viewers Sunday for his cameo on the animated Fox series.
"I'm guessing that a lot of my fans, especially those over 45, don't watch the show," says Reagle, considered one of the best crossword puzzle creators in the country. "I think of them as sponge-heads - and I mean that in the nicest way - because they have soaked up useless knowledge all their lives and don't know what to do with it."
Read about his "Simpsons" debut on Page 5 of today's Tribune.
DISAPPEARING CRITICS: In the wake of layoffs at the Tribune this week, I received a few calls and e-mails from friends across the country wanting to know whether I had survived.
I am still standing. But the ranks of TV and movie critics, once a thriving lot, have been thinned over the past two years. More than 30 movie critics at major dailies have been sent home, and at least 15 TV columnists are out of work.
Squeezed out in the financial tsunami ripping through the newspaper industry, the critic in print appears to be an endangered species unless he or she is able to adapt to the digital revolution.
Even so, everyone is a critic online, and you can get more eyeballs by being snarky than being astute. Snark? I can do snark.
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