Jimmy Fallon tried to put his foot down over one particularly terrible, groan-inducing joke during Wednesday’s episode of “The Tonight Show,” but to no avail.
“Scientists released the first-ever recording of leopard sharks mating in the wild, and it shows them having a threesome. And they posted the video…” Fallon began, before abruptly cutting himself off. After a quick pause, the NBC late night host announced, “I’m not going to do this joke.”
Unfortunately for Fallon, he was met with pushback by his band, The Roots, and the night’s in-studio audience members, all of whom urged him to tell it. “Don’t make me do this joke! It’s so dumb. No! No, no, no, no! I don’t want to do it,” Fallon shouted, waving his arms and falling to his knees. “I don’t have to do these jokes! I don’t have to do it!” the comedian insisted.
Eventually, Fallon relented. Bringing the conversation back around to the release of the Internet’s first recording of leopard sharks mating, he joked with a cringe, “Then they posted the video on OnlyFins.”
Immediately after reluctantly telling the joke, Fallon marched past the “Tonight Show” cameras and grabbed the cue card on which the punchline was written. “Give me that joke. That’s terrible. I don’t want it. Give it. Who wants this?” He asked, before walking into the crowd and giving the cue card to one lucky (or unlucky, depending on how you see it) audience member.
“Just throw it away. I don’t want to see it again. I don’t want to look at it,” Fallon said. “Just keep it away from me. That is your joke to keep. That’s all you.” As the audience member excitedly held up the cue card, Fallon then sarcastically advised, “Don’t be proud of it!”
Moving on, the host noted that Instagram now has a reported total of 3 billion monthly active users. “Just something to think about when your post gets 12 likes,” he joked.
