Which one of the current late night talk shows is your favorite?
Because there’s so much competition lately among the hosts, each show has gradually taken on its own unique approach to entertainment. On Stephen Colbert’s show, there’s a lot of focus on politics, current events and intellectual guests. On James Corden’s show, it’s all about Carpool Karaoke and a well-rounded panel of celebrity guests. For Conan O’Brien, it’s all about goofy and inventive comedy set pieces.
Still, of all these different talk shows, Jimmy Fallon has a particularly unique approach.
Much of Fallon’s version of the The Tonight Show revolves around a return to old kinds of entertainment.
Rather than try to push edgy comedy or reinvent the wheel with his show, most of Fallon’s approach involves making sure all the guests are playing games and having fun together. To make that happen, he and his writing staff come up with all kinds of silly games to play together on the show. When he had pop singer and international superstar Ariana Grande on his couch, he knew exactly what to do.
Together, the two of them would do a game of musical impressions!
Although Grande is a talented singer and performer in her own right, few people know that she’s also a great impressionist.
As the clip begins, a wheel randomly spins to determine which artist and which song Grande will have to sing. After a moment, the wheels turn to “Britney Spears” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” She thinks about it for just a second before raising the microphone up to her lips and beginning the song. Needless to say, Grande perfectly catches the breathy quality of Spears’ voice and has the crowd laughing so hard!
Before long, it’s time for Fallon to do his impression.
When the wheels stop, Fallon has to sing “Cheerleader” in the same way that Aaron Neville would.
As anyone who has watched SNL knows well, one of Fallon’s main claims to fame is that he can perform in so many different musical styles. Even though the combination is a weird one, he pulls it off with ease and the audience is still on his side. Before long, it’s time for Grande to go again. When she’s up again, she’s asked to do “The Wheels on the Bus” in the style of Christina Aguilera.
Fortunately, she is more than up to the challenge!
To start things off, Grande shows off the incredible power and range of her voice by doing an impressive musical run.
Once again, the impression is right on point—without breaking a sweat, she perfectly nails Aguilera’s melismatic style. Still, her voice is so incredible and she makes it look so easy that Fallon gets up out of his chair and the audience needs to take an applause break before the game can continue! There’s one more impression for Grande to do of Celine Dion. Just like the others, she hits it without any issues at all and has the crowd in hysterics as she does it!
When it’s all over, Fallon and Grande get a huge round of applause!
No matter which of the late night shows you watch the most, it’s hard to deny how much fun these two have together in this segment.
While we mostly get to know artists and pop stars from their main bodies of work, it’s also fun to see how they respond to challenges and how they goof around. If Fallon’s show has one great strength, it’s definitely in showing us what our favorite stars are like behind the scenes. Needless to say, Grande’s vocal talents sailed through this game without any significant issues.
Congratulations to Ariana on a hilarious performance! Check out the full video below:
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