Everyone is obsessed with WandaVision, apparently including Jimmy Fallon. He is so obsessed that he even imagined himself on the TV show about a grieving Marvel superhero who imagines himself on other TV shows. Children, feel free to use this phrase in English class when your teacher asks you to explain what “goal” means.
In a new sketch called “FallonVision”, debuting right here on Vulture before its broadcast on the Fallon night show tonight, the presenter jumps in time and several iterations of The Tonight Show. Elizabeth Olsen, the star of WandaVision and a guest in The Tonight Show tonight, she is present throughout the journey in the role of the guest actress who always behaves appropriately for the decade. “Water?” she jokes in the 1950s, before taking a sip and adding, “Well, that’s a strange way of pronouncing ‘rum punch’.” In the 70s, she smoked a cigarette (not necessarily of the nicotine type) live on TV.
As with the Disney + series, it eventually becomes clear that Fallon is showing off on classic television as a way to escape his grief about what is happening in real life in 2021. There is also a twist in the ending that suggests another WandaVision character can be responsible for all this. [Wink.]
Director Chris Tartaro, who filmed and edited many pre-recorded sketches for Fallon during his tenure in both Late night and The Tonight Show, jumped on the phone less than an hour after capturing the last photo in the sketch to explain how it all worked. Look at the outline first, because the spoilers are below.
After the idea was conceived and refined by Fallon and his writers room, the first step was to confirm that Olsen, already scheduled as a guest on Wednesday, was willing to participate in the tribute. She was, although she had to improvise a little when the wigs and other props couldn’t be sent to her quickly enough. (Olsen is currently in London filming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.) “She took advantage of Sunday to do this with her team, and they had no fantasies and just used what they had,” says Tartaro. (Feel free to take a closer look at each item Olsen uses in the outline for possible clues about the Doctor Strange movie.)
The sets of all previous incarnations of The Tonight Show, including funds from the 50s, 70s, 90s and 2000s, were built in smaller incarnations that allowed Fallon to film all of its retro segments in one night of production. As for the hosts he was channeling, the 1950s was specifically Steve Allen, but Tartaro says the others were a mix.
“In the 70s, I think he was a kind of combo for Tom Snyder, Dick Cavett and Johnny Carson,” says Tartaro, while the 90’s Fallon talk show channeled pieces by David Letterman, Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien. (Followed, of course, by a tribute to former Fallon presenter on NBC’s Late night in early 2010.)
As for the fabulous button at the end of the sketch – Kathryn Hahn’s revelation – that part was filmed yesterday. And yes, she sang “It Was Kathryn Hahn All Along” herself, because of course she sang.
“She was really fun and accurate right away, which … I can’t say enough good things about her,” says Tartaro. He cannot, nor can the internet.