There's a part in nearly every teen movie where the heroine finally, in front of the entire prom, stands up to the evil popular girl. Last week, that heroine was late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
“Who?” you ask. “Do you mean late-night host Jimmy Fallon?” There’s a reason Kimmel gets lost in the crowd. He seems more like a SportsCenter host than a comedian. He’s a genial guy, has a witty line once in a while, pulls the occasional funny prank — but rarely does anyone ever say, “Hey, did you see what they did on Kimmel last week?” But then NBC’s late-night lineup went to hell. The “move Jay Leno to 10 pm” experiment dramatically failed. NBC wanted to create a new half-hour Jay Leno show at 11:35, bumping Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show to 12:05 am. Conan, not wanting to screw with the 60-year Tonight Show franchise, refused to move. Leno had no such reservations.
Blood was in the water, and the late-night sharks lunged. Letterman ran a “Law and Order: Leno Victims Unit” parody; Craig Ferguson called NBC “lying rat bastards.”
But Kimmel — Kimmel did an entire hour-long show as Jay Leno.
The phony prosthetic chin. The squeaky, lisping voice. The decade-old Clinton jokes. It was a perfect parody, a merciless mockery of mediocrity.
Not since Norm MacDonald’s Bob Saget roast segment has there been such a splendid example of hilarious anti-humor.
Leno then invited Kimmel for his “10 at 10” questions segment, perhaps thinking Kimmel would be less brutal in person. No such luck:
“You’re known for pranks,” Leno says. “What’s the best prank you’ve ever pulled?” “I told a guy that fi ve years from now, I’m going to give you my show,” Kimmel replies. “Then when the fi ve years came, I took it back almost instantly.”
Ever order anything off the TV? Jay asks. “Like NBC ordered your show off the TV?” Kimmel zings back. Leno: What show do you want to host? “This is a trick, right? Where you get me to host The Tonight Show and take it back from me?” Kimmel says. “Listen, Lucy, I’m not Charlie Brown. I don’t fall for that trick.”
Part of Leno’s success is audiences seeing him as a nice guy. Kimmel is rising from obscurity because he knows how to be sublimely cruel.
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