Donald Trump has been a constant topic of late-night show monologues recently, but on Monday it was Gov. Chris Christie’s turn in the spotlight on NBC’s “Tonight Show.”
Host Jimmy Fallon quizzed him about the “big debate” set to be broadcast by CNN on Sept. 16, asking if his platform will be about terrorism.
“It depends on what they ask,” Christie said. “You’re a little bit at the mercy of the questioners. At the last debate they asked me about things in New Jersey.”
“I was waiting for you to talk,” Fallon told him, referring to Trump hogging the limelight. “Me too,” Christie laughed. “There was one point when I went 20 questions in a row without being asked a question.
“That’s hard … I was standing next to Marco Rubio asking: ‘Are we still here? Are our mics still on?’”
Fallon suggested that next time they make a fuss and remind everyone they are there. “Are you allowed to jump in?” he asked.
“Stay tuned on Sept. 16, I may be changing tactics,” the GOP presidential candidate promised. “If I go to 15 questions in a row [without being asked], they are going to go, ‘Uh-oh, he’s going to go nuclear now.’ I’ll turn green.”
Christie’s return to late-night TV comes as he’s been struggling to gain momentum in the crowded Republican field in the summer polls.
Also during Monday’s “Tonight Show,” Fallon suggested that Christie has been overshadowed by Republican frontrunner Trump.
“Now Trump is running, and boy is he just going out and he’s yelling and saying stuff. I thought that was going to be your thing,” Fallon told him.
“The Tonight Show” airs at 11:35 p.m. ET on NBC.