The Banal Horror of Jimmy Fallon
www.currentaffairs.org
Under the sterile blue lights of his studio, Fallon laughs endlessly at the same pseudo-jokes, rubs elbows with Trump and Sam Altman, and ushers in the death of culture.

I don’t watch “Tonight Show,” but I watch Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas every year and damn if this existential nostalgia horror doesn’t define the Fallon/Parton musical number in the 50’s diner

  • tocopherol [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    20·
    8 days ago

    Fallon acts as the high priest of a terrified optimism, his rictus grin serving as a shield against the encroaching silence of the real.

    It’s hard to pinpoint what really bothers me about him but this is a good descriptor.

  • ZWQbpkzl [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    18·
    8 days ago

    Fallon reminds me of Buddy Friendly from Do Android’s Dream Electric Sheep?. There’s a whole subplot, cut from Blade Runner, where there’s two competing gnostic gods of the post apocalyptic world.

    Buddy Friendly hosts a variety TV show that produces 27 hours of original content daily with always the same cast. The other “god” is the two handled device. When you grip the two handles you relive the life of a Christ-like mutant who could heal all animals with his touch but was rejected and killed by society. You also feel everyone else currently using the device having the same religious experience as you. Replicants can’t use this device and Buddy Friendly has great contempt for this religious nonsense.

  • came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    17·
    8 days ago

    the last time i laughed at a jimmy fallon bit was when he imitated adam sandler on an SNL “Celebrity Jeopardy” bit.

    i haven’t been in the demographic for late night TV in decades, but fallon seemed like a weird choice to me originally. i hadn’t yet realized that the ideal host for a late night comedy show was not someone funny. rather, the ideal would be someone telegenic and mildly amusing/completely inoffensive. jay, ellen, etc.

    i stopped paying much attention after that, but im glad the article here brought up that NFT/Ape thing. that was the first thing Jimmy Fallon had done that had appeared on my radar in years. it was mind blowing to watch.

    it was when i had to recalibrate my understanding of that show, and others like it, as not just entertainment filler but cultural poison.

    guy makes $16 million a year to host that show. he’s estimated to be worth somewhere in the low 9 figures by now.

    the article makes it clear what it costs to become the crown prince of late night.