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It seems The Tonight Show might benefit from some fresh comedic material.
Jimmy Fallon has repeatedly delivered the same joke about New York City’s Mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, on NBC’s late-night program, leaving viewers puzzled and a bit skeptical.
Fallon initially shared the joke on his December 9 show. “It was so cold in New York City this morning, on my way to work, I spotted a Wall Street stockbroker cuddling with Zohran Mamdani,” he remarked, receiving a hearty laugh from the audience.
However, Fallon wasn’t satisfied with just one delivery. He revisited the gag a week later on December 16, this time adding a touch of theatrics to the routine.
Reprising the joke, Fallon said, “It was so cold in New York City this morning, on my way to work, I saw a Wall Street stockbroker spooning with Zohran Mamdani,” and then exclaimed, “And I thought, ‘Wait a second, that’s crazy! It’s cold!'”
Fallon later repeated the exact same joke yet again on Dec. 17, throwing in a confused shrug and a bit of support from the house band. Are The Tonight Show writers running out of material or is this just Fallon’s new favorite joke?
Entertainment site LateNighter was the first to catch the bizarre pattern.
The outlet shared a compilation of every time Fallon’s recently told the joke that’s already earned 2.4 million views on X, where many are debating whether this is just a bit or yet another case of recycling material. Repeating the same joke three times in a month is pretty egregious, but perhaps The Tonight Show writers weren’t expecting avid viewers to catch on so quickly.
What makes it even stranger is that Fallon hasn’t changed the joke at all. They could have been workshopping the joke by changing his delivery or the punchline, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. In fact, Fallon looks downright exasperated by the joke after saying it for the third time.
And now that it’s been flagged, the joke has already become a bit on X with several users posting the exact same punchline, which could squeeze whatever juice was left out of the joke and keep Fallon from using it again.
At this point, if Fallon repeats it yet again on The Tonight Show, we’ll have to assume he’s in on the joke.
The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon airs weekdays at 11:35 p.m on NBC.
