Jimmy Fallon has been obsessed with comedy and music since he was a Brooklyn kid staying up to record the Dr. Demento radio show on reel-to-reel tape.
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“Dr. Demento was how I got my start,” says the Tonight Show host, who combined comedy and music earlier in his career as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998 – 2004. “I would listen to [Dr. Demento] on Sunday nights… Those novelty records inspired me to write comedy songs and put that in my comedy act. I don’t know when the last time someone wrote a comedy holiday album, but either way it’s overdue.”
On November 1st he releases his third album, Holiday Seasoning, a collection of duets and comical holiday tunes featuring a variety of guests, from Will Ferrell to Megan Thee Stallion, the Jonas Brothers to Chelsea Handler. Fallon’s not-so-secret weapon remains the Roots, his NBC house band, who appear on two tracks, including the soul-rap song “Hey Rudy” and a New Year’s polka with “Weird Al” Yankovic. Justin Timberlake joins Fallon for the sweet reggae pop of “You’ll Be There,” while Cara Delevingne appears as a mystery woman on “Hallmark Movie.” There is also last year’s duet with Meghan Trainor, “Wrap Me Up,” already an iTunes No. 1 hit.
Several songs began as scratchy, mumbling demos recorded on Fallon’s phone, then transformed with the help of his collaborators. During a recent Zoom call, Fallon excitedly held his phone up to the computer to share a noisy moment from the demo he sent the Jonas Brothers. The final song was recorded in Los Angeles and became the bright and danceable “Holiday.”
“I go, let’s do like a Jackson’s ‘Blame It On the Boogie’ roller disco-type of song,” Fallon says cheerfully, and then hums a few notes. “That turned into ‘Holiday’ and we were like, ‘Holiday time to celebrate/We’ll stay out all night/Hang those Christmas lights.’ They’re like, we love it. Let’s play.”
SPIN: What is an early memory of holiday music that meant something to you?
Jimmy Fallon: My parents would always play the radio, from when I woke up in the morning till when I came home from school. We were always playing music. Especially around the holidays, I remember having a little collection of vinyl that me and my sister could DJ and play the Ronettes, Darlene Love, Johnny Mathis. We had A Partridge Family Christmas, Stevie Wonder “Someday at Christmas.” We would play them so much that the cardboard that held the vinyl would rip.
My parents weren’t really outdoorsy people—from Brooklyn. We had the same fake plastic tree that we’d pull up from the basement and smelled a little like mildew. That smell would remind me of Christmas. We put together the tree, listened to the Ronettes and I would sit on this radiator to get warm and look out the window while snow was coming down. It just meant everything.
How did “New Year’s Eve Polka (5-4-3-2-1)” become the first-ever collaboration between “Weird Al” Yankovic and the Roots?
That I got a chance to work with “Weird Al” Yankovic on this album means so much to me because I was in my bedroom recording Dr. Demento on a reel-to-reel just so I could get the whole show recorded and to listen to “Weird Al”—not just the parodies, but the deep cuts too. I was trying to hit all holidays … so I wanted to write a song for New Year’s Eve that wasn’t depressing. There’s so many sad New Year’s Eve songs.
What is a genre that you can only smile to? Polka. So I wrote this polka and I made a scratch [recording] on my phone and sent it to “Weird Al” and said, “What do you think of this? Would you ever want to do anything on it?” He was like, “I’m in. Love it. Would you mind if I rewrote some stuff?” And in two days he recorded his part, added sound effects, and also wrote sheet music for this song, which is insane. I was with Questlove [of the Roots] and I go, “Would you ever wanna play on a “Weird Al” …?” And he was like, “Yes!” He didn’t even let me finish the sentence. He’s like, “I’m in. Let’s go.” It turned out to be this great song.
You work with the Roots every weeknight. That’s a formidable group to have at your disposal for The Tonight Show and a couple of tracks on this album. What is it like to have them as part of your musical life?
It’s the greatest thing. I ended up getting the best band in the world to be the house band. It’s great to watch them work and to play with them and learn from them too. They’re really perfectionists, but they love music. It’s fun to see bands come on the show and see how intimidated they are to play in front of the Roots. They’re going like, “Dude, wait, the Roots are gonna stay here while we play?”
What did it mean to you that your holiday song with Meghan Trainor, “Wrap Me Up,” was a genuine hit last year?
I freaked out. It’s like That Thing You Do! moment where, “They’re playing my song on the radio!” It’s calling my wife going, “Oh my gosh, listen to this.” It’s a big deal for me. Meghan Trainor is brilliant. We were trying to think of songs to do and I go, maybe there’s something like, “Hey, Wrap It Up.” I sent her a demo from my phone and it’s terrible. And she was like, “Hey, got your thing. I took that and changed it.” [laughs]. I gave her some chicken scratch and some mumbling, and she gave me, “Wrap Me Up,” a real song.
What is a “Weird Cousin” about?
“Weird Cousin” is more of a college radio type of jam for me, very lo-fi. In any family, when you get together during the holidays, there’s always a weird cousin that shows up. And if you don’t think that’s true, you may be the weird cousin
That sounds like it could be a movie.
I think all of these could be at least Hallmark movies.
You do have a song here called “Hallmark Movie.”
I am a fan of Hallmark movies, and I wrote that one. The idea is I’m a guy who works in a hardware store and then a princess comes into my hardware store and saves the store. And then we get married and we’re in a Hallmark movie. Everyone’s good looking. There’s not really a plot. And then we get married and she grabs a knife. And then I realize we’re not in a Hallmark movie. We’re in a Lifetime movie. That’s really the only difference between a Lifetime movie and a Hallmark movie—there’s murder in Lifetime movies. [laughs]
You sing a duet on “Almost Too Early For Christmas” with Dolly Parton, which would seem like a monumental event for almost any recording artist.
Monumental to the point where she asked for my cell phone number and left me a message. And I remember playing the message for my dad and my sister, and we were all just sitting there staring at each other like, “This is Dolly!” Her voice is iconic. I couldn’t even believe that she wanted to do it.
She goes, “Would you do something for my holiday album?” I go, are you kidding me? So she asked me to do “All I Want for Christmas.” I thought she meant the novelty record, “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth.” I can do that one. Turns out, no, she wants to do the Mariah [Carey] song. And I was like, “Dolly, I don’t know if I can hit these notes.” And she’s like, “Oh, we’ll make it work, Jimmy.” She coached me through the whole thing and harmonized with me. It was fascinating.
How did this project come together?
Michele Anthony [the executive VP] from Universal said, “Jimmy, you should do an album of cover songs like you do on the show.” I recorded one song and it was corny and it was terrible. It was Big Band-y, and it just wasn’t funny. I can’t do what Michael Bublé does. I can’t do what Kelly Clarkson or Mariah Carey do. But I have an idea for a song called “Chipmunks & Chestnuts” that’s weird—it’s like Roy Orbison meets Slim Whitman meets Monty Python. [laughs]. It’s really loud and annoying, and that’s more of my wheelhouse.
Writing holiday originals and getting them heard is a tall order, isn’t it?
It’s insane. You’re like, “How are we gonna get people to listen to this song that they’d never heard before?” But that’s so exciting. [People can] play it while they’re decorating or cooking dinner and just have it in the background. If I could become part of anyone’s memory for their holiday and make anyone have a better year or a better time, then that’s all worth it for me.
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