Though he was a bit gentler and sillier than his peers, Jimmy Fallon joined the list of network late-night hosts who dedicated his opening monologue to Tuesday’s election results.
“Last night, America decided to get back with a crazy ex and elect Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States,” Fallon said at the top of Wednesday night’s monologue, his first after the results of the 2024 election were announced. “No matter who you voted for I think we can all agree it’s going to be a rough Thanksgiving.”
Fallon described the Republican victory as “a huge historic comeback for someone who literally never went away.” He also said Trump will have to “move all his classified documents back into the White House,” a nod to the 40 criminal counts that were lodged against the former President’s connected to his handling of classified materials.
That was far from the only election joke Fallon had up his sleeve. After noting that Trump won both the popular and the electoral vote, the NBC host said that “for the first time ever, he’ll accept the results of an election.” He also made a crack about Kamala Harris’ 224 electoral wins versus Trump’s 292. “It’s basically Trump’s made-up weight versus his actual weight,” Fallon said.
The late night host did have one joke that had more bite than the rest. In May, Trump was found guilty of 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the results of the 2016 election. A year earlier in a separate trial, a court found Trump for defamation and sexual abuse in the case of E. Jean Carroll, a case that ended with Trump being ordered to pay Carroll a cumulative $88.3 million in damages.
“Trump could be the first person to be under White House arrest,” Fallon said, earning laughter from the studio audience.
Fallon didn’t only mock Trump. The NBC star devoted a portion of his monologue to a fast-talking and haggard pollster, who spoke nonstop during his segment. He also said that President Joe Biden “will pass the torch and his life alert necklace” to Trump. He even had a local dig for his New York-based viewers.
During “The Tonight Show” man-about-town bit, Fallon “interviewed” several New Yorkers about how they felt about the 2024 election. One of those people was indicted New York City mayor Eric Adams.
“I guess we should focus on this now instead of any other political stories,” fake Adams said. Watch the full monologue above.
