Chris Christie and Jimmy Fallon Talk Ice Cream and Depress America

Ken Tucker
·Critic-at-Large, Yahoo Entertainment
Updated
image

Governor Chris Christie’s appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday night was a good argument for implementing a new federal campaign law that would ban politicians running for office from going on late-night talk shows — or at least from appearing on The Tonight Show. The two segments spent with the New Jersey Republican presidential candidate were so forced and phony, it was uncomfortable to watch.

Right from the start, Christie arrived with pre-agreed-upon jokes that I guess Fallon’s producers actually thought an audience might believe were spontaneous. Christie entered wanting to engage Fallon in a lip-sync battle, grabbed a microphone conveniently placed behind his seat, and started mouthing the words to Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” Fallon collapsed in giggles.

Christie then told a story about being in New Hampshire and being greeted by a woman who said, “I’m Jimmy’s wife,” who turned out to be Fallon’s wife. But before that was revealed, Christie said he was perplexed: “Do you know how many Jimmys I know?” Fallon collapsed in giggles.

Then Christie told an endless anecdote about going out for ice cream with Mitt Romney and the Romney clan. When Fallon suggested Christie must have been elated to be going for ice cream (humor translation: that was a fat joke), Christie feigned insult and walked offstage briefly. Fallon collapsed in giggles.

Finally, talk turned to politics and the upcoming Sept. 16 Republican debate. Christie said that if he was limited to few remarks as he was during the Fox News debate, he would “go nuclear.” Fallon yelled, “That’s what we wanna see!” Then he collapsed in giggles.

Christie said that when he travels the country, people want to talk about ISIS, college debt, and unemployment. So, said Fallon, for “the next debate, your platform will be about terrorism?” Christie paused and explained that during a debate, you have to answer questions and, you know, debate — not roll out a platform.

Meanwhile, Stephen Colbert’s second-week guests will include Bernie Sanders and Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer. Maybe he’ll follow in Fallon’s deep-dish tradition and ask the judge whether he likes Breyer’s Ice Cream.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. on NBC.