In a bit that didn’t live up to its full potential, “Wild” star Reese Witherspoon joined Jimmy Fallon in singing “Random Phrase Carols” on Tuesday night’s “The Tonight Show.”
While the tunes were familiar classics like “Jingle Bells” and “Silent Night,” the lyrics on the cue cards they had to read were completely nonsensical. “Jingle Bells” became a song about sniffing an old man named Tom, while “Silent Night” was the story of a toad hopping down a dirt road.
The best of the three carols, though, they saved for last. While sniffing old men and toads on roads might be slightly humorous, “Deck the Halls” with the lyrics “squeeze the cheese and poke the pony,” is a visual delight.
The bit could have been more fun if it had been longer, had more clever nonsense lyrics or if they’d been forced to come up with their own lyrics on the fly incorporating key words like “cheese” and “pony.”
Witherspoon and Fallon are both quick-witted and sharp, so they’d have probably had little trouble making up their own random carols.
Reese Witherspoon can be seen in “Wild,” in theaters Friday, Dec. 5. “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on NBC.