Jimmy Fallon Explains Why He Doesn’t Do Trump Jokes On ‘The Tonight Show’

Jimmy Fallon is still one of the most popular men in late night television, but his viewership has taken a bit of a hit this year, with Stephen Colbert snatching his number one spot in the ratings, and Jimmy Kimmel rapidly closing in on number two.

The ratings slump could be attributable to any number of things – it could be that his goofy guy schtick has gotten a little stale after all these years, or it could be that, in the Donald Trump era, late night viewers want their comedy with a little more bite.

Fallon rarely takes swipes at Trump on The Tonight Show – one of the few times he featured heavily was during an interview last year, when Fallon ruffled his hair and asked soft-ball questions, which many took as a tacit endorsement of the then-presidential candidate.

He has since admitted that the notorious Trump interview was a “setback, if not quite a mistake”, but tha said, he’s not going to be including any more political material on the show any time soon.

In an upcoming interview with the US Today show, host Willie Geist asked Fallon if he ever feel pressure to take on the president, and his answer was an emphatic not so much.

He said that he has never been a political comedian to begin with, telling Geist:

“It’s just not what I do. I think it’d be weird for me to start doing it now. I don’t really even care that much about politics. I gotta be honest. I love pop culture more than I love politics. I’m just not that brain.”

He said that other comedians like Colbert are doing a good enough job with their Trump jokes that he doesn’t need to join in, and added that he would find it hard to even find humour in the current climate.

“A lot of stuff is hard to even make a joke about,” he said. “It’s just too serious.” You can watch a clip of Today‘s interview with Jimmy Fallon below:

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