After digesting his first show, I was quite taken with the earnest style of the presentation.  Fallon wants to entertain and it shows.  He seems as taken with the idea of doing the Tonight Show as you or i would be.  Just intimidated enough to not have an ego, just good enough to be able to imprint his unique spin on it.  He carries to the new time slot his incredible ability to call in favors he hasn't earned, performing musical comedy with artists, bringing guests right into the circus from the front row of the entertainment world.  He breaks down that barrier the way Letterman can, finding the humanity behind the marquee.

The Roots, his house band, need no introduction.  Their playing on U2's Ordinary Love showed the perfect balance between talent and reserve.

And U2?  Shoot, those guys are still playing like they have something to prove.  Even Will Smith could only watch in awe as these guys killed it from the couch!  And how perfect that Larry Mullen Jr., in his typical background style will end up being the answer to the trivia question, "Who was the first Fallon guest to sit on the BACK of the couch?"

So kudos to you, Jimmy Fallon, for not being bigger than the show, but being tall enough for the assignment.  And for reminding me in my own profession sometimes if you just keep asking, "Why not?" You'll find the answer that you want.

 

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