Ron Burgundy, the fictional anchorman and podcast host played by Will Farrell, made his stand-up comedy debut on late-night TV Thursday night. On all the network late-night shows, somehow: The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert's Late Show, James Corden's Late Last Show, Late Night with Seth Meyers — all taped in New York — and Jimmy Kimmel Live in Los Angeles.
The obvious question — was he funny? — may be the wrong metric here. It's probably better to think of it as performance art, not stand-up. If you find the Ron Burgundy character funny, his comedy is certainly amusing. But it's not really supposed to be funny, per se. And that's the joke.
On Kimmel Live, Burgundy tried out some impersonations, snuck in a Jerry Seinfeld homage, and revealed to Kimmel his most-wanted podcast guests, including himself and the pope.
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Burgundy did his longest set on Colbert, and afterward he said that he wore the same winter outfit for all five summer late-night standup sets, though he didn't exactly reveal how he pulled it off. He did drop a cryptic hint, however.
On Late Night, Burgundy abused himself with a "hipster dummy," J.J., and J.J. got the joke. "Listen to yourself, no one thinks this is funny," the dummy said. "No, no, hold on here, some people are laughing," Burgundy said. "Yes, because they are nervous for you," J.J. replied. "They're feverous because you're not funny and you have no talent." And then things got refreshingly dark.
On The Late Late Show, Burgundy briefly touched on President Trump and immigration. This may be his funniest set of the night.
Burgundy used different material in each stand-up routine, remarkably, except for his joke when he was called over for his interview. Stand-up "has been a lifelong passion of mine, for about a week now," he told Fallon. "And I just love it — it's all about the Benjamins." Watch below. Peter Weber
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