A Jimmy Fallon Approach

I read an article once about The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. The article, from the New York Times, talked about how Jimmy reigned over the late night world. His ratings and his following was unlike any other late night host. 

And then, President Trump was elected... 

and Jimmy’s ratings dropped significantly. He had taken a different approach than his other late night counterparts before and since the presidential election. Whereas Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers had directly talked about, mocked, made speeches about, and took hard stances against the president and his policies, Fallon had not. He even had Trump on his show and he ruffled his bright orange hair in what was meant to be a playful gesture and mocking, but came across as acceptance and incredibly offensive to Fallon’s followers (do you remember that infamous moment?). 

Suddenly, Jimmy’s humor wasn’t as funny as it used to be. People weren’t having it. What once made Jimmy Fallon unique and special and above the rest - his games, his laughter, his childlike innocence, his creativity, his dancing, his ability to turn something ordinary into something extraordinary - wasn’t good enough. The public wanted opinions, views, a clear deviation from what was happening politically. 

It’s fascinating, isn’t it?

When push comes to shove, when the world is as chaotic as it is at right this second, we look to what is said. What will we say? It’s always about the words. What will we say, what speech will we craft, what verbal acknowledgement will we give to a situation. We all get busy on Twitter, hashtags blow up, pastors take to the pulpit, late night hosts make monologues, and then

… a few weeks later… 

it all falls silent. 

Words are so incredibly important, I am the first to say that. But words cannot be void of action. I read a lot of tweets after the tragedy in Charlottesville, Virginia a few years ago that went something like this - “if your pastor doesn’t talk about what happened tomorrow morning in his sermon, you should leave your church.” 

And then I read one that said - “if your pastor doesn’t talk about what happened tomorrow morning in his sermon, don’t leave your church - stay and be the church.” 

Yes. I like this. I think this is on to something. 

Maybe, instead, what will we do? Who will we invite over for dinner? Who will we ask how they’re doing? Who will we invest in? Who will we empathize with? Who will we sit next to? How will we give our lives away? How will we bring creativity, joy, and light into this world? How will we leave this place better than when we found it? These things influence more than we think they do. 

Beauty, beauty, beauty. We have a choice in that. 

Love, love, love. We have a choice in that. 

So Jimmy, keep on making the world laugh. It’s a nice break from the words.