We’re Loath To Admit That Jimmy Fallon’s Crass Commercialization Might Be How ‘The Tonight Show’ Survives
Cracked is usually first in line to bonk Jimmy Fallon with a wiffle bat every time he uses The Tonight Show as his personal Home Shopping Network. It’s easy to lose track of just how many side hustles Fallon is running between goofy celebrity rap battles — there’s his Christmas album, haunted house tours inside 30 Rock, Royal Kingdom ads, and his endless run of kiddie books that he writes on the train home. His On Brand series was just one big commercial, broken up with more commercials. And he really leans in during the holidays, with his Tonight Show shop hawking ugly Fallon ornaments to hang on your tree.
Every segment has a sponsor, like last night’s Amazon Five Star Theater Challenge in Partnership with Amazon. (Notice how they get the Amazon name in there twice?) This new bit isn’t simple branding — the whole game is built around guessing what crap you can buy from the online retailer. The Tonight Show’s YouTube video pops up handy buy-now links as the bit plays.
We’ve kicked Fallon in the pants for his shameless pandering — there’s no irony or winking as the comedian happily shills for his corporate overlords — but could the Tonight Show host actually be the only guy who’s figured out how late night might survive?
Jimmy Kimmel admitted to Deadline earlier this year that late-night talk shows on the major networks currently cost about $120 million a year to produce. When ratings were high, it made sense to pay Kimmel, Fallon and Stephen Colbert $15 million a year. But the bottom has fallen out of linear TV viewership. Unless these shows are going to drastically cut their budgets — that’s coming, too — there has to be a new way to pay the bills. Cue Fallon chopping vegetables with the latest KitchenAid gadget.
It’s easy to point to Fallon as the One Who Sold Out, but the truth is, television hosts have been hawking junk from the medium’s earliest days. Garry Shandling’s satirical The Larry Sanders Show poked fun at the practice with Hank Kingsley selling beauties like the Garden Weasel …
And even Johnny Carson used to take a break during his earliest shows to sell Jell-O.
Podcasts appear to be the cheap, 2020s way to replace late-night talk, but don’t they all participate in the same grift we hate on Fallon for? Watch Amy Poehler shamelessly read “I’m a pretty good gift giver” off a script, shilling for Walmart before chatting it up with Ariana Grande.
Here’s one more reality: Late-night talk shows have always been commercials. The difference was that celebrities were the product, showing clips from their new movies or singing songs from their upcoming albums. A hilarious monologue was just the bonus gift we received for listening to Stallone plug The Expendables 3.
Maybe we should be giving Jimmy Fallon props instead of jeers. The guy didn’t invent selling out, but it just might save his show.
