Thoughts on Episode #3
Last night’s show was solid. I thought Jimmy actually seemed more nervous during (and immediately prior to) his monologue; he showed some nervous laughter before he even got underway.
This was honestly my least favorite of the first three monologues Jimmy’s done. The opening Madonna joke did nothing for me. The Chris Brown / asteroid joke was funny (“The asteroid could have done as much damage as two atomic bombs. Or one night with Chris Brown!”), but I’m thinking Jimmy needs to give himself a roll of punchlines to run through on great setups like that. (“Heck, it could have done as much damage as Rosie O’Donnell at a buffet. Or OJ Simpson at a place where people are living.”)
As promised, Jimmy continues to make lots of references to modern living and technology, with his second Facebook reference in two shows (Iraqis can get on Facebook now — if your face is covered with a veil), and his second dig at Microsoft, too. But there weren’t enough solid laugh lines — more the “applause” lines. Jimmy showed on Weekend Update that he can generate actual laughs at his topical jokes, and doesn’t need to settle for the Jay Leno-esque “that was a joke” recognition applause.
The “Bromance Novels” bit was cute, and the audience seemed to really enjoy it.
I’ll post some joke suggestions for tonight’s show a bit later on.