For a brief while, it seemed as if The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon was relying on repeating sketches. However, the late night show was back in fine form last night, introducing us to a brand new sketch clip relating a time that Jimmy Fallon and Oprah Winfrey “starred together” in the hit soap opera series Midnight Meadows.
If you haven’t caught on thus far, Midnight Meadows is actually a fake soap opera drawn in the manner of daytime TV’s finest soapy programming from the early eighties. From the awkward shot of the moon at the beginning of the take to Fallon’s ridiculous haircut and Oprah’s extravagant eighties jewelry, there’s a lot of fun to be had in the sketch. But things get weird when the production team starts autotuning Fallon’s Broderick and Oprah’s Valentina Kensington to make them sound high-pitched.
Later, Fallon says the “director” of Midnight Meadows decided their voices were too high and toyed with them in a different manner. There are plenty of clips from the soap opera within the sketch, but first, take a look at Oprah’s shocked face when she realizes Fallon is going to continue with this amusing ruse.
There are actually three sketches in the clip, and each one gets a little more over-the-top with the pitch changes in Fallon and Oprah’s voice. It’s the sort of thing you really need to see to get the humor, so if you haven’t watched, yet, get on that already. But what I like the most is how Jimmy Fallon is in stitches the entire time he is presenting the episodes of Midnight Meadows, and how the cool, calm and collected Oprah Winfrey is totally game to get a little silly on the show.
In a way, it’s a microcosm of why Fallon has been able to find a niche on late night television. He just jumps in, without any reservations. Sometimes the sketches work. Sometimes they don’t, but he’s always positive and fun. That vibe helps his guests to let their guard down and get involved. It’s a whole lot easier to jump into the deep end when you know someone else will be with you, and Jimmy Fallon practically lives in the deep end. He never holds back, even when normal people might take pause and wonder if they should stop.
The media mogul joined The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon for the first time last night, and it was a fitting time for the former talk show host to do so, considering last night was the evening that Fallon gave away gifts to the audience. His gifts may not have been Oprah in her heyday level prizes, but the audience was obviously pretty stoked about walking away with free stuff. Just no re-gifting. Fallon made it very clear that’s not allowed.
You can catch The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET.
