When comedian Jimmy Fallon hit the stage for Colonials Weekend Friday night, his only political commentary came in the form of musical arrangement.
“Let’s have a car wash for peace, there’s trouble in the Middle East,” Fallon sang in front of a packed Smith Center crowd. “Put down your guns, pick up your sponge.”
Fallon was the headliner for the annual parent’s weekend comedy show, filling his performance with comedic songs about popular culture, impersonations of some of his famous friends and jokes about the parents who were on campus for the weekend’s festivities.
His performance was a stark contrast to Colonials Weekend performers in the past, who focused largely on poking fun at politicians and political happenings.
During the first show’s performance of “Balls in Your Mouth,” which is about tar balls in the ocean after the Gulf oil spill, the comedian spontaneously brought CNN host Wolf Blitzer onto the stage.
Blitzer, who hosts “The Situation Room,” was in the audience for the show. Blitzer sang the word “balls” into the microphone while Fallon played the guitar, eliciting raucous laughter from the crowd.
“I love GW and I’ve been coming to these performances for the past 20 years,” Blitzer said after the show. “It was a total surprise but it was fun and I was happy to do it.”
Fallon – an alumnus of the popular skit show “Saturday Night Live” – also drew laughter from the crowd when he spent a segment of his performance writing mock thank-you e-mails to various people, places and things.
“Thank you families on campus walking slowly and spread out on the sidewalk, getting in my way while I walk,” Fallon said. “Now I’m walking in the street, risking danger just to get around you. Send.”
After the 7 p.m. show, Fallon said he was ready to get back onstage for the late-night performance.
“It’s going to be so fun, and I got a free GW sweatshirt so I’m ready to rock out,” Fallon said.
Fallon said the sound for his first performance was exemplary and gave credit to the newly renovated Smith Center.
“It’s the biggest jumbotron I’ve ever seen,” Fallon said, referring one part of the $43 million reconstruction project. “I’ve never seen my head so big, except for on a movie screen.”
Freshman Lizzie Kubo Kirschenbaum was in the audience with her family and was impressed with Fallon’s performance.
“It was really cool to see how multi-talented he was and how he could imitate so many people,” Kubo Kirschenbaum said.
Others in the audience said Fallon’s versatile stand-up was the perfect headliner for the weekend.
“He really brought the community together, providing stuff that everyone in the audience could relate to,” freshman Nathan Muchnick said.
