Five Best Guests
1. Tie: Artie Lange and Olivia MunnI don't know if you can capture lightning in a bottle, but I will say this much — I've never seen a more ironic one-two punch in the history of the show. We all had crazy expectations for Lange 'cause of his reputation on [Howard] Stern and sure enough, he was comic gold. So gold, I thought there was no way Munn (who I know from the G4 channel) would stand a chance. But sure enough, she hung in there with the big boys and next thing I know everything she said was punch-line-worthy on some "take that, Artie" level (actually her portion was heavily censored and edited and not ready for post-prime time). Of course to top it off Susan Sarandon does a cameo walk-on. I never expected so much nor laughed so hard.
2. Alec Baldwin
I just knew it would take a 88 mph DeLorean, Eddie Murphy circa
1985, Richard Pryor circa '76, Carlin circa '75, Cosby '67 and Andy
Kaufman circa whenever at a summit meeting to top the bullets
Baldwin was throwing Matrix-style at Jimmy —
especially doing half the interview in the voice of Tracy Morgan.
(Actually, it was so funny, Lenny Kravitz insisted if he ever does
the show again he wants to do Baldwin's "let us play with your
look" gag.)
3. Drew Barrymore
Of course Fallon is going to have chemistry with the woman that
introduced him to his wife. During the first week (which was
awkward for all of us — not just Jimmy) it was
Barrymore that finally broke the ice and calmed him down to a level
of cool that made him seem more comfortable than new guy on the
block. Once she broke through the gates, we all felt assured that
in no time the Jimmy we all fell in love with would come out of his
shell and relax a little.
4. Jeff Musial
Who? What? Jeff is consistent and full of energy and of course you
are going to have a viral moment when you pull a 20-foot boa
constrictor from out of the trunk.
5. Elmo
Red felt. Full of punch lines (and other memorable quotes when the
camera was on commercial) and balls like no other (he loves telling
Jimmy to "relax man... you got the job already!"). Coolest guest
ever.