As a huge fan of Late Night with Conan O’Brien since its launch, I am excited to see what becomes of The Tonight Show when it enters the Cone Zone in June. Until then, I decided to give the new Late Night with Jimmy Fallon a shot. I tuned in to the premiere episode last night and found a show that I felt was too rehearsed and never really offered any big laughs.

The new intro is taken straight from the pages of Saturday Night Live history, filled with blurred nighttime shots of New York streets. The whole show was split up into Saturday Night Live-style skits that were just as unfunny as recent seasons of SNL have been. I think it would have been better for Fallon to separate himself from his SNL past.

It sounds like the show will be packed with A-list celebrities for its first week or two, which should help get it off the ground, as long as Fallon can figure out how to stop mumbling and interrupting his guests. The appearance of Robert DeNiro on last night’s show was painful, though it appeared to be rehearsed that way.

The show’s announcer, Steve Higgins, seems totally out of place. He looks like he belongs as a character on The Office rather than announcing a late night talk show. His voice certainly doesn’t help the show any.

The Roots are the new Late Night band and certainly a very different one than the Max Weinberg Seven. I think it may work as the only bit I found funny in the entire show was “Slow Jam the News,” which featured Fallon and The Roots making the Obama stimulus package sound more sensual than it really is. 

Overall, once Fallon’s initial nerves leave him, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon could be an okay show, but I don’t see it ever reaching the comedic level of Conan’s Late Night. I would rather have seen an unknown come in and fill the spot, rather than someone I never found to be particularly funny on Saturday Night Live.

Did you enjoy the premiere of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon? Comment!