Jimmy Fallon thinks JD Vance was encouraged not to be himself by Donald Trump before Tuesday night’s debate.
Joking later that evening on “The Tonight Show,” Fallon riffed that the vice presidential debate was largely featuring “people you’ve barely heard of on a national stage” — adding, “usually we call that ‘Dancing with the Stars.’”
He then rounded on easy late night target Vance for a hypothesized pre-debate pep talk with Trump.
“Trump really tried to encourage his VP before the debate,” the host began. “He told JD Vance, ‘Remember just don’t be yourself.’” (Fallon, naturally, donned his Trump impression for the bit.)
Watch the full “Tonight Show” monologue in the video below:
It wasn’t just Vance who Fallon went after, either. He also made a crack at Kamala Harris’ running mate Tim Walz, who was said to be nervous going into Tuesday’s event.
“I read that ahead of the debate Tim Walz has been nervous that he was going to let Kamala Harris down,” the host said. “Yeah Harris was like, ‘Don’t worry, if Joe Biden can be replaced, so can you.’”
The “Tonight Show” host also touched on the lack of fact-checking during the debate. He cut to joke clips of how the checking went for the last debate: one person calmly working while Harris was talking, and a room full of people spiraling into chaos while Trump spoke.
That fact-checking was also a sticking point during the debate itself. At one point, Vance was called out by moderator Margaret Brennan for falsely describing the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, as “illegal aliens.”
“Margaret, the rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact-check.” He then explained at length the process by which certain immigrants can apply for asylum.
That rambling led to his mic being cut off as Brennan pointed out the irrelevance of his point.
“The audience can’t hear you because your mics are cut,” she said, adding, “We have so much to get to. Thank you for explaining the legal process.”
Watch Fallon’s full “Tonight Show” monologue on the VP debate in the video above.
