On Saturday Night Live, Jimmy Fallon was a breakout star, playing popular characters like "That Guy Who Ruins Every Sketch By Laughing." All right, that's a snarky joke. Sometimes when Jimmy 'broke,' it made a sketch better, like the infamous 'Lovahs' and 'More Cowbell!' The studio audience loved to see Jimmy crack up, and some say that quality makes him an endearing talk show host.
Every late night talk show follows the same dusty format, but Jimmy's team put a fresh spin on it by playing games: Beer Pong, Charades, Password, Catchphrase, What's In The Box? Some viewers get a kick out of watching celebrities play the same games we do. Others do not, but that's the nice thing about talk shows. If you like field pieces, watch Conan O'Brien. If you like political humor, watch Stephen Colbert. And if you like silly games, watch Jimmy Fallon.
Last night Jimmy played the game Drinko with guest Ryan Reynolds, who is still reeling from his loss at the Teen Choice Awards. The concept is simple - the host and the guest drop discs into cups with different cocktail ingredients. Some mixers look delicious. (Mmm, melted ice cream!) Others look absolutely disgusting. (Mmm, clam juice!) The winner is the audience, because we don't have to drink any of that crap. Oh, and every cocktail gets a generous splash of gin, because Ryan owns the Aviation Gin company. (Seamless plug, Deadpool!)
For the first drink, Ryan lucked out, getting a tasty concoction of gin, Twinkies and grape soda. The mixers could have been much, much worse and the actor knew it, riffing, "That's like 90% of my child's diet!" However, the gods of fate did not smile upon Jimmy Fallon. His wayward discs fell into the cups marked Twinkies and horseradish. No gin could mask that awfulness - even a gin sponsored by Mr. Blake Lively. Jimmy took the dreaded shot, then appeared to throw it back up into a bucket. "You barfed up your whole childhood!" joked Ryan.
At the end of the segment, Ryan makes an incredibly disgusting cocktail, blending kombucha, grape soda, blood, gin, bone broth, and bacon, egg, and cheese. However, the nauseating drink is no problem for The Green Lantern. (That's right, Green Lantern actor. You'll never live that box-office bomb down, Ryan.) He downs the stomach-churning combination with ease.
On The Late Late Show, James Corden plays a similar game called Fill Your Guts Or Spill Your Guts. The guest and the host choose between honestly answering a question or eating something gross (grasshoppers, sardine smoothie, pig head jelly). Why do people love these segments so much? Maybe it's because they tap into our curiosity, conjuring childhood memories of mixing every different soda together and daring friends to eat worms.
I wonder what Jimmy regrets more - downing that odious cocktail, or messing up Donald Trump's hair.
