Wednesday, November 16th 2011

News:  Jimmy Fallon

Watch Jimmy Fallon’s Damn Fine Jim Morrison Impression

By Morad Moazami

Before he was a late-show host and a Saturday Night Live alumni, Jimmy Fallon’s humble beginnings relied mostly on his pitch-perfect impressions at classic New York comedy venues such as The Improv. Then came Lorne Michaels, who kick-started Fallon’s stint at Saturday Night Live, where he not only mastered his imitations but proved himself worthy of succeeding Conan O’Brien on Late Night when O’Brien was chosen as the unlucky victim to Jay Leno’s wrath of terror on The Tonight’s Show. Since his debut on Late Night, Fallon has not only proven himself worthy of stepping into O’Brien’s shoes, but has also approached the dry late-night format with an optimism and a passion that is practically non-existent in the waterless structure of modern-day late night shows.

Fallon is not only passionate about television and film, but he also loves music; performing with greats like Paul McCartney, excitedly geeking-out when interviewing Roger Waters, and most astoundingly impersonating his musical heroes with flawless accuracy. We have already seen Fallon’s Bob Dylan impression and his frighteningly precise personation of Neil Young, but on Friday night, on the 41^st anniversary of The Doors’ last concert ever, Fallon added a new impression to his repertoire; that of the swaying, dark-eyed Jim Morrison that we have come to love and mythicize over the years.

Standing on a stage indistinguishable from that of The Doors’ performance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1967, Morriso… er… Fallon elatedly covered the theme to the long-running PBS children’s educational TV show Reading Rainbow. The cover comprised of the very organ-heavy instrumentation for which The Doors were renowned for, as well as lyrics that do not stray too far from Morrison’s inexplicable lyrics regarding things in the sky and affirmations that he can do anything.

It is a striking impression and a tasteful tribute to one of the most admired musical icons of the 20^th century. Watch it below:

And for your likening pleasure, here is the original.

I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that Fallon and The Roots – who were actually providing the instrumentation to the song – function as much superior Doors surrogates than the remaining members of the actual band do.