Shins, MGMT, Pearl Jam Booked For Fallon‘s Pink Floyd Week

by tom
from: http://stereogum.com/

In retrospect, it’s amazing that this wasn’t Nirvana Week on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. The show has previously hosted week-long tributes to the Rolling Stones and Bob Marley. And next week, Fallon will spend the week honoring Pink Floyd.

As Billboard reports, next week’s shows have some big musical guests in store. On Monday, the Shins will cover “Breathe.” On Tuesday, the Foo Fighters will team up with Floyd’s Roger Waters to play “In The Flesh.” On Wednesday, MGMT, like the Syd Barrett devotees you probably already suspected they were, will play their version of the early Floyd track “Lucifer Sam.” Many Stereogum readers will probably opt not to DVR Thursday’s show, when country star Dierks Bentley will play “Wish You Were Here.” And on Friday, Pearl Jam, who will probably merit their own week on the show sooner or later, will cover “Mother.” Throughout the week, various members of Pink Floyd will also show up.

The Shins Kick Off Jimmy Fallon’s Pink Floyd Week With “Breathe”

by amrit
from http://stereogum.com/

It’s five nights of Pink Floyd covers over at the ever musically-minded Fallon program this week, which began last night with the Shins honest-to-Dark-ness take on “Breathe.” If you think James Mercer handles this cover well, it is because he has practice. Although, it is also because his voice is generally custom built for this particular brand of pensive throwback melancholy. True Moon heads will miss the subsequent three-and-a-half minute instrumental acid freakout “On The Run,” but it’s a little early in the morning for such shenanigans anyway. This is also a nice chance to check out the Shins new lineup in action, so consider that and check it below, along with a listing of the rest of the week’s schedule (MGMT, Pearl Jam, etc.):


Tonight it’s Foo Fighters and the man himself Roger Waters on “In The Flesh,” Wednesday it’s MGMT going in on “Lucifer Sam,” Thursday it’s country dude Dierks Bentley’s turn with “Wish You Were Here,” and the coup de grâce on this whole thing is Pearl Jam’s week-closing take on “Mother.” We will post exactly three of those four.

Phish Joins Jimmy Fallon

Phish’s summer tour is set to open in Chicago on Friday. To help mark the occasion, a live performance by the band aired last night on Night with Jimmy Fallon. The group taped Joy track “Kill Devil Falls” after recording “Loving Cup” last month and that performance was broadcast on Wednesday.

For a look back at the group circa 1992, check out our archival article, “Phish: Getting It Clearly Through Alternative Paths,” now up on the site.

Straight Outta Compton. feat Ice Cube and The Roots

twitvid.com — Kirk Douglas actually did a great job with Eazy-E's part. From "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," The Roots prove once again why they're the best in the game.

Jimmy Fallon's 'Lost' parody -- 'Late' (video)

After spoofing "Glee" last week, Jimmy Fallon and company parody another show -- ABC's "Lost" -- in a nine-minute-long video titled "Late" ...

Jimmy Fallon's jittery 'Late Night' debut scores strong early rating for NBC

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Looking a little green

Jimmy Fallon was clearly nervous during his debut performance as host of NBC's "Late Night," but the comedian avoided major stumbles and garnered a strong opening-night rating.

Fallon's premiere drew a 2.3 in the metered-market household ratings -- NBC's highest Monday "Late Night" rating in the overnights in more than three years, and up 35% from Conan O'Brien's average in the time period (1.7) this season.

The comedian's debut (several clips below) was also higher rated than Craig Ferguson's debut in 2005 on CBS (1.8) and Jimmy Kimmel's bow in 2003 on ABC (2.0). In fact, Fallon had the highest-rated late-night debut of any talk show since 2002, when ABC put on "UpClose" (Ted Koppel's interview show that replaced "Politically Incorrect").

Fallon also beat Ferguson (who had Paris Hilton as his guest) head-to-head last night by 35%. Kimmel, whose second half overlaps with "Late Night," pulled an extremely high 2.5 rating thanks to a visit from "The Bachelor" star Jason Mesnick right after the show's heavily watched finale ("Bachelor" finale ratings here).

Ferguson has typically drawn a 1.6 on Mondays and Kimmel a 1.5. O'Brien's 1993 premiere (which is arguably from a different late-night ratings era) drew a 3.8.

Fallon performed a monologue that EW called "ultra-ordinary -- one liners about President Obama and the deficit that sounded like material Jay Leno's writers had faxed over from L.A," and did a segment called "Lick It for $10," where audience members came onstage to lick objects such as a goldfish bowl.

Robert De Niro was Fallon's first guest, who played along during a scripted exchange that joked about the actor's reputation as a difficult interview (why would producers book somebody with a reputation as a difficult interview as Fallon's first guest?). Then there was a Fallon's frequent "Saturday Night Live" sketch partner, Justin Timberlake, for a "Barry Gibb Talk Show" redux.

"Sweaty, tense, uptight, nervous, wound-up, keyed up -- pick an adjective," wrote the Chicago Tribune. While THR said it was "a typically stiff debut that nonetheless displays the host's charm and potential." But remember: Even Ferguson said not to judge Fallon based on his first night.

(UPDATE: Fallon's second night strong too)

Fallon also had a segment called "Slow Jammin' the News":

Here's Fallon trying to appeal to blond mothers from Connecticut:

Here's one sketch with De Niro:

JT:

Some sample Fallon monologue jokes:

-- "As you know New York City was hit with a huge snowstorm. And I woke up this morning and said 'please let it be a snow day.' Not even a delay. Nothing."

-- "I've been getting so much encouragement. Last night, Rush Limbaugh called me up and said he wants me to fail. That's so nice of him. He didn't even have to."

-- "The good news -- President Obama announced that he plans to bring the troops home from Iraq in 18 months. The troops actually responded and said, 'Thank you, but the economy's better over here.' "

-- "In California, a 16-year-old boy had sex with his 24-year-old teacher. Traumatizing. Doctors are saying it will take years of therapy just to wipe the smile off his face."

-- "Despite the recession, Microsoft is planning to open new stores to compete with Apple. Microsoft says they'll be just like Apple stores except the staff will freeze when you ask them a question."

Jimmy Fallon Promises More Gaming Exposure on 'Late Night'

New 'Late Night' host says they'll treat game releases "like movie premieres."

By Kris Pigna, 02/28/2009
Ever wondered why big new game releases don't get the same promotional attention on late night talk shows as new movie or music releases? Well, sure, part of that has to do with the relative lack of recognizable star power in gaming, but it appears it's something that new Late Night host Jimmy Fallon intends to correct.

Speaking to Canada.com (via Joystiq), Fallon -- who follows in the footsteps of David Letterman and Conan O'Brien when he takes the reigns of Late Night starting Monday -- talked about how his show will treat gaming differently. "We're going to treat a videogame premiere as if it was a movie premiere," Fallon promised. "My generation grew up with the computer. We grew up with the Internet. We live in a videogame type of world -- videogames are second nature to us. Games make more money, as an industry, than the film industry."

Fallon went on to explain that he's a tech-savvy guy in general; "I want tech people to come on my show, whether it's Bill Gates or the guy who designed the new Palm Pre, to talk about new inventions. I want to know what makes it so great," he said.

Sure, replacing Conan O'Brien will be a monumental task, but we have a feeling this will at least earn the sympathies of gamers. It seems like a good fit, anyway -- after all, how many people who are up and watching television at 12:35AM on a regular basis aren't at least a little bit interested in gaming, anyway?