In under a year Jimmy Fallon has transformed the art of late-night television. Gone are the days when people chose their show based on the guest-star lineup on any particular evening. Fallon is the entertainment and the reason that people are tuning in to The Tonight Show on a regular basis. The guest stars are kind of like icing on the cake. Entertainment Weekly got it right in naming Fallon the 2014 Entertainer of the Year, and as it turns out, even Jay Leno agrees.
It was rumored at first that NBC was shoving Leno out to make room for Fallon, but there was never any animosity between these two. Instead, Leno took his exit with a shred of grace and now he gets the appeal of Fallon just like all the rest of us.
Leno told EW in an interview:
"I don't watch every night, but I watch and I enjoy — and I enjoy Seth [Meyers], too. Jimmy's a really great mimic. When I saw him do Neil Young, I just thought he was lip-syncing the song. But no — he really captures the nuances really well. It's different. Everybody has their strengths and weaknesses. I could never do a musical parody — it's just not what's in me. You know, I got out at the right time. When you're 40 and you're talking to the 25-year-old supermodel, it's sexy. When you're 64, you're the creepy old guy, you know? At some point, you can't pretend to know all of Jay-Z's music. You can only live in the time you live in."
No sour grapes there. Instead, Leno really has come to realize that leaving when he did was wise and that it was time for Fallon to step up and do something a bit different.
Are you a fan of Fallon's revitalized Tonight Show on NBC? If so, do you find yourself tuning in to watch him at least as much as any of the guests he has had on? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.
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