It took a while for the show to hit this tone. Shoemaker remembers an early struggle, in the first months, to figure out exactly how to joke about the then-ubiquitous Susan Boyle. “Everyone else was talking about how she looked or her fifteen minutes of fame,†he says. Letterman, for example, did a top-ten list of “Worst Summer Jobs,†which included “Susan Boyle’s groomer.†Jon Stewart joked that Boyle looked like Labour’s Gordon Brown in drag. “But I really liked her video,†says Fallon, and Shoemaker points out, “People were watching it in our office with tears in their eyes.†So instead, they wrote a sketch in which watching Boyle’s video could salve any affliction, including Fallon’s grumpy mood, a cancellation by Brangelina, news of an unwanted pregnancy, a zombie attack, roaches, snakes, and a bloody arm amputated by a broken copy machine. It was funny, inventive, and left Boyle unscathed. “We watched it and said, That’s it,†Shoemaker says. “That’s what our show is about.â€
This week’s issue of New York is all about optimism. So a natural choice for a cover boy was Jimmy Fallon, who’s provided a nice alternative to the jaded, negative comedy that can sometimes feel like it’s taken over TV. Here’s a bit from the profile inside: