It’s Cannes season, and you know what that means: many of the Hollywood trades are arguing over how long the standing ovations were for the festival’s buzziest movies. But this year, Jimmy Fallon is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.
“There’s been a rash of conflicting reports on — this is real — the length of standing ovations at the movies. For example, Variety thinks Wes Anderson’s new movie ‘The Phoenician Scheme’ got a great response. The Hollywood Reporter thinks that it was only polite,” Fallon said on Tuesday night. “Here to clear that up is ‘The Tonight Show’s official Wes Anderson correspondent, Danforth W. Westingame III.”
The “Tonight Show” then cut to a man dressed in the same headband and sunglasses combo as Luke Wilson’s Richie in “The Royal Tenenbaums.” Danforth W. Westingame III was introduced via the award-winning director’s signature blocky font in pale yellow and pink as three colorful houses that toed the line between aesthetically perfect and unnerving stood in the background.
“In your expert opinion, how was Wes Anderson’s new movie received?” Fallon asked.
But instead of giving a normal answer, an unseen narrator chimed in, perfectly mimicking one of Anderson’s favorite moves.
“Danforth Westingame became a ‘Tonight Show’ correspondent on his 16th birthday, and in the 20 years since taking the job, he’d never been asked such a question. He would spend the next month pondering what, in fact, it meant to be received. After his peregrinations, he would not like the answer that he found,” the narrator said.
The bit had other nods to the beloved director, from a bike ride to trying to use a Rolling Stones song but settling for a harpsichord. Fittingly, the segment ended with the emotionless audience of “The Tonight Show” giving Danforth W. Westingame III a standing ovation. Just how long that ovation lasted may forever be debated. Watch Fallon’s full opening monologue above.
