Jimmy Fallon Returns to Late Night, Tries to Sum Up Five Months of Missed Headlines in One Song

Late-night shows are back after a near six-month hiatus due to the WGA strike. Jimmy Fallon didn’t miss the opportunity to update his audience on all the news he didn’t get to riff on.

For his first show back, the SNL alum took the stage to perform his typical monologue with a slight twist. Never one to avoid a musical number, Fallon greeted fans in his signature anodyne fashion with an a cappella rendition of the summer’s biggest headlines.

He touched upon just about every major headline to land this summer. Amongst the hits were Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s romance; the influx of new presidential candidates; the Barbenheimer double feature mania; the Delta diarrhea plane; the Twitter-to-X debacle; Lauren Boebert’s Beetlejuice grope sesh; King Charles’ coronation; Succession’s series finale, and the “girl dinner” phenomenon.

The comedian was clearly trying to get his performance legs back during the song, as his lyrics led sometimes shakily into pulled clips. Near the end of the bit, he summoned the energy and timing we expect from Fallon. Notably, he didn’t outrightly mention his own summertime controversy, in the form of a damning Rolling Stone exposé, outside of a passing remark that “this show is a brand new one.”

Fallon did make sure to give some love to his staff at the end of his monologue, clearly thrilled to be back with them in the studio. “My great writers and awesome crew, I couldn’t do this without you!” he told them.

You can watch the full segment below.