Jimmy Fallon and Brian Williams engaged in a sort of role reversal. For starters, Fallon set the light tone for the evening by pretending to interview Williams about his life and accomplishments. From there, the conversation went in perhaps an unexpected direction as it was Fallon who provided the news, information and bits of trivia throughout the night. Williams responded in turn with a slew of laugh-out-loud punchlines. What came across was not a journalist and comedian brought together for one night; rather, the discussion conveyed the feel of two friends enjoying each other’s company.

For the two of them, that had the added benefit of being true. It turns out that Williams is a “loyal” and devoted fan of Fallon’s show (he mentioned specifics from recent episodes that proved he is an avid watcher). Fallon, however, couldn’t return the same sentiment to his fellow NBC host. He relayed a story that recently his staff wished to bring Williams on as a late replacement guest, and Williams responded that if Fallon had been watching his show he’d know that the “Nightly News” host was stationed in Haiti that week. But there are obviously no hard feelings between the two who share more than their commitment to their nightly programs.

Both of them also crave more knowledge about the history of television, especially at NBC. They wish to honor those who came before them – and who continue to influence them. Fallon points to icons like Milton Berle, Jack Paar and Johnny Carson who all at one point used studio 6B at 30 Rock before Fallon rose to the throne. And Williams discussed how Frank Oz returned last week to tape a segment covering the dressing room closet where Oz and Jim Henson put together the prototypes for the Muppets…on the closet’s pipes. Soon it’ll become part of the NBC studio tour, for all to see.

While not educating the audience, the pair was yukking it up in ways only they can. Fallon danced through the aisles, re-positioned his chair for the sake of a joke, did celebrity voice impressions, among other overall wackiness. Williams aptly played the straight man, picking his spots carefully and making the crowd laugh with his body movements and positioning. At one point, the way Williams simply moved his chin in response to some of Fallon’s antics made us laugh.

With the way Williams spoke about and related to Fallon, you’d think he was a natural late-night host. In fact, it took him a while to find his stride (he admits he’s still trying to get the show where he wants it to be). At the beginning, he used to watch his competitors shows and take notes about the jokes they’d make. He wanted to see where he stood in comparison. But he says that over time he stopped watching the other hosts out of fear he’d accidentally borrow some of their material. He wants to assure that he keeps his style of comedy completely unique.

What They Said
“He will entertain you until you give up or give in.”
- Brian Williams acknowledges Fallon’s voracious pursuit of laughter and approval

“The internet now can be more harsh and tell you about what they’re talking about and what they’re not.”
- Jimmy Fallon think it’s easier today to get a read on whether the public wants an “SNL” sketch to recur

“My principal was Nostradamus.”
- Jimmy Fallon said his eighth grade yearbook predicted that he’d eventually unseat David Letterman as host of “Late Night”

“It’s painful. It just creeps by when you’re bombing. Time goes by so slowly.”
– Jimmy Fallon believes that when a joke misses its target, it’s a reflection of his inability to make funny material work

“I just want people who don’t get to see different kinds of people to see other people.”
– Jimmy Fallon recruits so many audience members to appear in sketches – to show them off to America. He also loves the word “people”

What We Thought

• Fallon mentioned that he was on “SNL” for six seasons before branching out and trying to make a career outside of the show. He said that Chevy Chase was a cast member for just one season and went on to have a huge career. We think that is more a testament to Chase than it is a black mark on Fallon’s record.
• He says that the crew likes to film – at night, after work – live-action parody sketches that cause him to sometimes wonder why they’re doing it – since they’re a talk show. We commend Fallon and his staff for working so hard to make a funny idea fly, even to the point where they spend three-day shoots getting everything just right.

PANEL RULES!
Some audience behavior seems to repeat itself panel after panel. We’ll be updating a running list of “PANEL RULES!” that will help ensure that you are not the dweeb of the Panel Nerds.

Panel Nerds don’t like…Right-wing Nuts
Whomever is responsible for the “liberal media” that so badly bothers American conservatives, I can assure you Jimmy Fallon is not involved in making sure that the GOP gets the short end of the stick on TV. So there’s really no reason to interrupt a calm and classy event by shouting at the host for not knocking the current administration enough on his show. Williams actually handled the question brilliantly, re-framing it to be more generally about whether Fallon gets political at all (he does). In the end, Fallon gave some pretty sound advice to his heckler: Watch my show before you criticize me.

The star studded cast includes current “Not Ready for Prime Time” players Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph as Barack and Michelle Obama; as well as past players Will Ferrell as George W. Bush, Darrell Hammond as Bill Clinton, Dan Aykroyd as Jimmy Carter, and Chevy Chase as Gerald Ford (in addition to Carrey and Carvey as Reagan and Bush respectively.)

Writing for Huffington Post, Ryan Grim reports:

Hollywood isn’t generally known for precisely timed or well-defined campaigns aimed at specific legislative language as bills move through Congress. But the clip, directed by Ron Howard and written by Adam McKay and Al Jean, was produced in coordination with Americans for Financial Reform, a major pro-reform coalition based in Washington, and it hits just as Senate negotiators work toward a compromise on the CFPA in the Banking Committee.

The most recent compromise proposal being discussed by Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and two Republicans — Sens. Richard Shelby of Alabama and Bob Corker of Tennessee — would house the consumer protection agency inside the Federal Reserve and limit its authority.

Senate liberals reacted coolly to the proposal. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) went so far as to say he’d introduce his own version as an amendment on the Senate floor if Dodd doesn’t come through with a strong, independent agency.

This is the second notable reunion video on Funny or Die directed by Ron Howard with political impact. You may recall pro-Obama video in which he reprised his roles as Opie Taylor and Ron Cunningham in an effort to help Obama become president.

This is fantastic – the folks at Daily Fill & Movie Fill have done a major data cull, ranking SNL alumni by their total movie grosses and Rotten Tomato rankings. The results? Eddie Murphy dominates (thank you, Norbit), Tina Fey is in last place (but give her time), and Rob Schneider’s doing better than Will Ferrell, Chevy Chase and Billy Crystal (When Harry Met Sally and City Slickers? Really).

Less impressive are the tomato rankings — most of the SNL alums don’t do so well by that count, with half or more of the films registering a splat (here Fey can claim bragging rights, and also Bill Murray, the clear artiste of the lot).

It’s not perfect — the absence of Steve Martin is a glaring omission, hardly made up for by the inclusion of Kristen Wiig — but it’s pretty damn good, with a lot of fun data to slice and dice. (UPDATE: I’m an idiot, Steve Martin was never actually a cast member, my childhood memories of King Tut and the Festrunk brothers notwithstanding. But they did leave out Jay Mohr – Jerry McGuire had to have made some crazy bank, right?) It’s also yet another way to look at the massive body of work that has been spawned by SNL and its players over the years.

For the full-page data pore, go here. Don’t forget to tip your hat to Muppets From Space, the only tomato film on Rob Schneider’s list.

SNL Alums: By The Numbers [Daily Fill/Movie Fill]

Oprah, Dateline, Geraldo Rivera… SNL‘s had distinctive takes on almost every major media presence over the years. And SNL‘s news spoofs aren’t just entertainment: it’s arguable that more Americans made up their minds about Sarah Palin based on SNL‘s Katie Couric/Sarah Palin interview than on the original interview itself. Stephen Colbert and John Stewart have done a lot in the news satire biz, but they still have some catching up to do.

In honor of the premiere of season 35 of SNL, we’ve pulled together 35 of SNL‘s choicest news anchor spoofs and Weekend Updates, spanning all seasons. Shoot us a comment or a tip if you think we’ve missed a good one.

We’re seriously counting on a good Glenn Beck skit…
Here it is.

Baba Wawa
Turning Barbara Walters into Elmer Fudd may have been one of the most dastardly stunts that SNL ever pulled off, but it was a game-changer for the show and for Walters. At one point, Walters personally confronted Gilda Radner and made her do the impression to her face. Presumably, the meeting involved wevewations, wapport, and wepartee.



The Today Show With Hoda and Kathy Lee
When it comes to the zaniness of Kathy Lee Gifford, the jokes write themselves. Still, Kristen Wiig’s command of Lee’s facial tics and body language, paired with Michaela Watkins’ portrayal of Hoda Kotb’s Today straight woman, result in pure absurdist joy.

Creepy, Creepy Dateline
Bill Hader really knows how to bring the creepy when he wants to, which is perfect for a Dateline sendup. No disrespect to actual Dateline correspondent Keith Morrison, but it takes a certain kind of nervous system to converse with murderers and victims of tragedy like you’re talking about the weather.

Gerald Ford was Eaten by Wolves
Carvey’s Tom Brokaw wants to vacation in Barbados for the winter, so he’s got to prerecord every possible way Gerald Ford could die, including gunshot, wolf attack, convenience store mountain lions, and Zimbabwean invasion. It’s funny cause it’s true?

Joe Wilson and Kanye: Really?
SNL spinoff Weekend Update Thursday started its second season with a bang last week, coming up with a “how the Joe Wilson thing happened” conspiracy theory involving restrooms and Michelle Bachman.

But the “Really?” segment was even better; there are few things more satisfying than hearing Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers repeatedly shouting “Really?” at notable shouters Kanye West and Joe Wilson.

Next: “Jane, you ignorant slut,” Wolf Blitzer, and more

Joe Coscarelli and Palika Makam contributed to the writing and compilation of this post.

Back then, hearing the news of a VP selection by text message made us all giddy; hours of cable news time was spent pondering the hubris of Greek pillars at Invesco Field; Hurricane Gustav was threatening to wipe the whole GOP event off the map; and the country was about to be introduced to a little-known politician who showed enormous promise named Sarah Palin. Wow.

PHOTOGALLERY: 2008 CONVENTIONS

Through it all, a cadre of journos, news execs, pundits in TV makeup, upstart bloggers and jockeying political operatives had gotten used to each other’s faces on the campaign trail, through stops in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina, Super Tuesday and more, with their speeches, rallies, debates, spin rooms, hoe-downs, barbecues, fundraisers, black-tie dinners, arugula, waffles, shots of JD, the thrill of final victory and the bitter, bitter pall of defeat. In August-September 2008, it all converged into one Mega-Week (give or take a few days of travel time) as the whole gang plus everyone else who could score some couch space converged on Denver and Minneapolis/St. Paul. It was lots of work but lots of fun — like sleepaway camp for politicos. So – if you’re bored and nostaligic on this sleepy summer long weekend, you’re in luck — I took the best of my 600+ photos from last year and winnowed it down to the very best of the bunch, for some golden Kodak moments featuring any and all of — in no particular order — Joe Scarborough, Joe Klein, Mika Brzezinski, Arianna Huffington, Jake Weisberg, Dana Milbank, Luke Russert, Kevin Madden, Mark Salter, Ana Marie Cox, Jon Klein, Anderson Cooper, Rick Stengel, Mary Katherine Ham, Chuck Todd, Betsy Fischer, Trent Lott, John Roberts, Laura Ingraham, Jonah Goldberg, Patrick Gavin, Rick Klein, Tucker Carlson, Amy Argetsinger, Norah O’Donnell, Pat Buchanan, Ryan Lizza, Joel Stein, Walter Isaacson, Courtney Hazlett, Keli Goff, Chris Cillizza, Mike Isikoff, Alan Cumming, Jason Jones, Samantha Power, Cass Sunstein, Carly Fiorina, Larry Page, Henry Kissinger, Chad Hurley, Jon Hamm, John Dickerson, Obama Girl, Ari Melber, Josh Green, Joan Walsh, Ron Brownstein, Matt Cooper, Fred Armisen, will.i.am, Markos Moulitsas, Chevy Chase, Tammy Haddad, Lynn Sweet, Karen Tumulty, Ben Smith, John Oliver, Karl Rove, David Carr, Kathleen Sebelius, Sammy Hagar, Rahm Emanuel, Katie Couric, Peggy Noonan and various people eating free food at the CNN Grill. Was that just a blatant attempt at showing up in all of your Google alerts? Perhaps. But still, the pics are pretty fun. Check them out here — and happy Labor Day Weekend!

PHOTOGALLERY: 2008 CONVENTIONS