Bring On The Happy: My Excitement for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

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As my last post illustrated, Jay Leno leaving Tonight was an emotional experience for me. Jay started crying and it took a lot for me not to join in his crying. Leno throwing it over to Garth Brooks to play ‘Friends In Low Places’ right after his emotional goodbye just made it even more reflective of my childhood. It’s time to move on, though.

On February 17, a new Tonight begins with Jimmy Fallon. Fallon is only 39-years-old putting him at an age that makes him seem like an older brother to the key demographic. That’s kind of how I see Jimmy. Not having an actual brother, I like to adopt celebrity brothers.

Fallon will instantly inject new life into The Tonight Show with his ever-ranging skillset. Fallon can do impressions, play guitar, sing, be adorable and just be an awesome guy. Jimmy Fallon would be a guy that you want to get stuck in an elevator with.

The Roots, his band, brings an added element to the show that no other late night band does. Jimmy can reference a song and within a matter of seconds The Roots, as a whole, can be playing along with Jimmy. That’s insane and seems usually impromptu.

Announcer Steve Higgins is also a total hoot and is guaranteed to retire about three times a week after nailing a joke, only to retire seconds later after typically getting ‘mugged’.

I’m excited as all get out for a new late night beginning. It’s only been two and an eighth guys in the two main shows for my whole life. Jay Leno hosted Tonight 22 years, David Letterman is on year 21 at The Late Show and, of course, Conan O’Brien held Tonight for about a half-year. It’s time for the new generation and Jimmy Fallon is the man for the job.

Fallon moving to Tonight also gives us five nights of Seth Meyers a week on Late Night which I’m also super excited about, but that’s a whole other rant.

I’m Going to Miss Jay Leno

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I like quirk, it makes everything a little more interesting. Putting a little quirk in comedy is something I really like. It takes real talent to make something quirky, yet it keeps its relevance and is still funny. Jay Leno has never been quirky, in a comedy sense, but I’m still watching him over the next week plus.

Leno’s last Tonight Show will be next Thursday, February 6, giving way to current Late Night host Jimmy Fallon.

When I was younger, I loved Jay and I don’t really know why. He was probably just the guy that my parents would watch, so I also watched him. As I got older, I realized that Leno didn’t exactly take too many comedic chances and my attention shifted to David Letterman instead in the coveted after-the-evening-news time slot.

I like other comedians better than Jay, it’s just the simple truth. I was excited when Conan O’Brien took over the Tonight Show and I watched every single episode of his tenure and it’ll be the same for Jimmy Fallon, but I like Jay, too. Jay is talented, funny and was portrayed as the villain in something that wasn’t totally in his control. I guess this is my way of saying that I’m going to miss Jay Leno.

Leno, other than the Conan stint, has been the only host of the Tonight Show in my lifetime, so it’s going to be weird to be flipping around after the news and not having Jay somewhere on the TV. He said in his interview with 60 Minutes that he won’t be looking to do another late night show.

It’s a big change in the landscape of TV, again. Something that has barely changed in my whole life is changing permanently now. I guess it’s just a sign of me getting old.

I’ll always remember a lot about my endless hours of Leno watching. Jay being the first late night host to interview a sitting US President is something I’ll always remember, it might help that it was my birthday and that Garth Brooks was the musical guest, but nonetheless.

The thing I’ll remember most is Mondays with Jay. Monday meant Headlines. Headlines meant trying to convince my parents to let me stay up a measly half-hour later so I could see my favorite bit on late night television.

I’m going to enjoy the hell out of Jimmy Fallon moving into the Tonight Show, allowing Seth Meyers to move into Late Night, but part of me will miss the hell out of Jay and another part of my childhood slipping away.

My childhood just giving way to more quirk.

Minnesota Timberwolves Hit Another Marketing Home Run

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The Minnesota Timberwolves might be heading for a disappointment of a season if they don’t string together some wins really soon, but the PR department is on fire.

The Wolves marketing and PR gurus basically strong-armed Kevin Love into the starting lineup for the Western Conference and now they are making the push for center Nikola Pekovic to be an All-Star reserve. How? With only the greatest promotional material of all-time.

The Bruise Brothers… on vinyl!

I typically love it when my favorite things are combined. Like say, Jimmy Fallon being a hockey goalie.

If you combine sports, comedy or music in any sort of combination, I’m a huge sucker for it. It’s neat, it’s different and simply awesome.

Well done, Minnesota Timberwolves. Now if only I could get one for myself!

Read more about the vinyl from the man, Jon Krawczynski.

Kim Kardashian Pays Her Tailor Five Thousand Dollars A Day

Kim Kardashian… Wait! Come back! I now you hate reading and seeing the Kardashians on every single media medium, but this is worth it. Trust me.

Kimmy K has a very large back end, it’s so large that she doesn’t exactly fit into regular pants well. She is very extremely shaped and the only reason we know about her is that damn sex tape with that one rapper I never heard of. Ugh, technology.

Kardashian’s butt is so big that she has a personal tailor. Which makes sense, right? She’s a big star with a lot of money; it makes sense that she would have a guy that can help her out with her clothing problems.

Here’s the deal, the guy is always on call. Oh and that’s not the most extreme part, the tailor, Cornelius Clay, gets paid $4,964 a day, A DAY, from Kim Kardashian to help fit her jeans. This dude gets virtually $5,000 a day to make sure that Kim Kardashian’s ass looks nice. What a world.

If you do the math for Mr. Clay, he makes just a little over $1.8 million dollars per year for this gig. That’s kind of a kick in the not-so-tailored shorts of the typical working man.

One day, when I have millions and millions of dollars, I too am going to pay someone $5,000 a day. I don’t know what that person is going to do, but I’m sure I can figure out something that is on-par to Kardashian.

Maybe I’ll take up golfing and I’ll pay my caddy $5,000 a day. I’ll make sure I have some really slick pants, too.

George Strait and Eric Church Team Up Onstage

There’s not a whole lot that I love more than country music. Yes, the quality of music and what is considered ‘country’ these days is pretty concerning, but when it’s done right, it’s awesome. Nobody does it better than George Strait and Eric Church.

Eric Church opened up for George Strait on a recent tour date in Kansas City, which I joked about going to and now I really wish I would have. Church did an acoustic set, which is very rare for a stadium/arena show, as the opening act and then sometime during the concert the following happened.

King George and The Chief teamed up!

This is a country music nerd’s dream. One of the best of all-time and one of the best of today (and the future) teaming up on one of my favorite tunes, ‘Easy Come, Easy Go’.

Church’s new album, The Outsiders, is scheduled for release on February 11, which thus far has two awesome singles with ‘The Outsiders’ and ‘Give Me Back My Hometown’, but my gushing over the preacher of the Church Choir can wait for another post.

Now rewatch King George and The Chief. You know you want to.