So night number three of the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon experiment (let's hope?) is underway. So far it hasn't been downright terrible, but it has been far from good. Watching the past two days around lunchtime on Hulu was not inspiring, so maybe watching at the original late-night air time will make it better. Maybe late-night television is so enjoyable because of the deadened and tired senses of humor watching it right before bed. Maybe watching it in the middle of the day at work isn't fair. Ok, that's a load of crap. This show just isn't funny.

Jimmy Fallon was very nervous the first night, which might be understandable...if he weren't already supposedly an "established" performer that has done Saturday Night Live and feature films. His nervousness seems to have diminished, or at least it did on the second episode. Maybe that's because Tina Fey was his lead guest and they're obviously old friends/colleagues. So basically, he'll be fine if every single one of his guests are people he already knows and preferably has worked with. Thankfully that would only last about 2 week and NBC would try something else. Clearly, the true benefit of having Tina Fey as a guest was not that it made Jimmy able to not stutter quite so bad (which he still does about every 5 seconds); it just illustrated that Tina Fey would be so much better for the job than Jimmy. Maybe NBC will get the move right next time.

One of the potential highlights of the show was having The Roots as the house band. As confounding as this seemed when it was first announced, it's even more so now. They look bored. It might help if they went home each day thinking they were part of a hit show that everyone enjoyed, making it all worthwhile. However, as already well established, after 2.5 shows, it ain't happening.

Maybe this will change, but it's not promising. Early episodes of Letterman, O'Brien and even the comparatively not-funny Leno were much better than Fallon. He just sounds dumb so far.

A few quick observations:

-Jimmy tries to turn every interview into an opportunity to talk about himself. This tendency lends itself better a blog (duh) than following in Conan O'Brien's large footsteps.

-Jon Bon Jovi had no business being a guest on a talk show. He was promoting nothing. For that matter, Robert DeNiro and Justin Timberlake weren't really hyping anything either, but at least they are entertaining. Maybe Justin Timberlake would make a better host. He did a great job on the ESPYs last year. Plus, he found it in his capacity as a mentally-sound adult to not get on national television and say "Don't we have the coolest president?" That maybe the toolbag quote of the year and it has absolutely nothing to do with political preference.

-Would it be possible to have Conan O'Brien just host two hours of late night each night?

-This Jack In The Box commercial where the people in the office are trying to guess what new menu item they'll be serving in a bowl is about ten times funnier than Jimmy Fallon. There aren't even Jack In The Box locations anywhere near here, but it's still better viewing. On the the other hand, Bart Durham is local and his commercials are about 100 times more entertaining than Jimmy Fallon.

-Ridiculous dancing seems to be in every episode so far. It's already been done...by Ellen. Yes, Ellen. Ellen is better than Jimmy Fallon.