Jimmy Fallon Changes Deodorant, Sweats Considerably Less During Night Two of Late Night

So, despite breaking into a flop sweat during his debut that threatened to turn Studio 6B into the easternmost swamp of New Jersey, NBC decided to give Jimmy Fallon another shot at hosting its vaunted Late Night franchise last night. And, based on his performance, we’re pretty confident in saying that he’ll probably get to do another show tonight! Of course, it didn’t hurt matters much that the show featured America’s Sweetheart Tina Fey and Jon Bon Jovi singing “Wanted Dead or Alive� karaoke-style with a fan from the studio audience, but Fallon’s second show included more than a few genuine smile-inducing moments (but not any belly laughs). Let’s break it down.

The Monologue Still Needs Some Work: Actually, that’s a pretty generous statement. Despite spending some time on the road honing his stand-up chops during the show’s lengthy preproduction process, his monologue delivery still feels stilted. His biggest laugh came during a setup for a joke (“In Lincoln, Nebraska, a man has been arrested for stuffing his cat into a bong�) and not for its punch line, and he still seems like he’s better at making himself laugh versus his audience. Additionally, the visual balance of how Fallon appears on camera doesn’t quite seem right yet — there’s no sense of depth between Fallon and the ominous, almost Lynchian blue curtain that he’s standing in front of.

His Rapport With Guests: It’s still hard to gauge how Fallon will engage with a C-list guest with a project to push — say, someone like Michael Rapaport — a few months down the road. As you would expect in his first week on air, Fallon has been stacking the deck with big stars and close friends. Tina Fey is a great interview no matter whether she’s talking to David Letterman or Rachael Ray, but Fallon did do a good job of engaging her in conversation. We would’ve flipped if he had the cojones to press her on McFlurryGate a little bit, but we’ll settle for her revelation that her daughter has already penned the next great line for Tracy Morgan on 30 Rock: “I want to have a lot of sucks tonight.�*

His Rapport With Guests: It’s still hard to gauge how Fallon will engage with a C-list guest with a project to push — say, someone like Michael Rapaport — a few months down the road. As you would expect in his first week on air, Fallon has been stacking the deck with big stars and close friends. Tina Fey is a great interview no matter whether she’s talking to David Letterman or Rachael Ray, but Fallon did do a good job of engaging her in conversation. We would’ve flipped if he had the cojones to press her on McFlurryGate a little bit, but we’ll settle for her revelation that her daughter has already penned the next great line for Tracy Morgan on 30 Rock: “I want to have a lot of sucks tonight.�*

Video Segments: We also really like how Jimmy is connecting with his audience with regards to the newness of the show. Last night’s video segment revolved around the concept of all the minutiae that has to be decided when launching a brand-new show, and focused on the struggles of the chair that almost made it to air but got cut at the last minute. We appreciated the late-night edginess of the final shot in the video, which shows the chair with a heroin needle sticking out of its cushy frame: