Jimmy Fallon hosts the most watched late-night show
on television and in an industry where most games,
stunts and celebrities are interchangeable,
that says a lot about his likability.
But Jimmy is not universally adored.
A glance at the YouTube comments section shows
that some people find him fake and specifically,
they think that his laugh is fake.
...students, he filled his mouth with artificial blood
and he spun back around again he started spitting
blood all over the classroom floor
all over the students' textbooks.
His tongue was sticking out like a cobra.
(Jimmy laughs)
In this video, we're going to explore the thing
that might make Jimmy come across as fake
to some people but oddly enough,
that is also part of his biggest strength.
Before we get into any of that though,
let's start with an obvious contributor
to Jimmy's charisma.
He is a multi-talented jack-of-all-trades
with skills in music,
(Jimmy singing)
impressions,
(Jimmy doing an impression)
...change, change.
Bill Cosby?
(Jimmy doing an impression)
.and of course, comedy.
(Jimmy singing)
It might go without saying but
people find talent attractive.
What's less obvious is that there's something
special about having many seemingly unrelated talents
because when people find out that you have talents
that don't often go together, say, singing
and stand-up comedy
or football and ballroom dancing --
it creates mystery and creates interest about
what other amazing secrets you might be hiding but
this effect only makes people more interested in you
if you don't run around telling everybody
about what you're good at right away.
So, little tip number one -- don't be in a rush
to reveal everything about you that's interesting.
For instance, I used to live in Brazil
and Brazilians would often approach me speaking English
because of the way that I looked.
Sometimes I wouldn't mention that I knew
how to speak Portuguese and
I would allow the conversation to go on in English
for as long as they felt like talking.
But when I did eventually break
and speak Portuguese 20 minutes later,
they were always more surprised and interested in me
than if I had spoken Portuguese from the beginning.
So if you have several cool talents,
you might only want to reveal one
early in an interaction.
Just don't be in a rush to tell people
about all the ways in which are interesting --
allow those things to come out organically overtime.
After all, people who immediately tell you everything
that's great about them often just come across
as insecure or maybe even arrogant
but that's just a side tip.
The real question today is --
why is it that some people love Jimmy
while some think that he comes across as super fake?
Well, it comes down to his positivity.
Watch how easily he laughs at Anne Hathaway
when she's not even telling a joke.
...and Kate Hudson went first and Jennifer Garner --
two amazing ladies, funny, beautiful--
Yeah, you don't want to follow those guys.
...and let me get to it -- there's a third one there
that i did not know about.
They're telling stories about him
(Jimmy giggles)
it's not so much a speech and I'm like--
Anne is just setting the background of her story
and Jimmy is already giggling.
And then watch how quickly Jimmy can stop laughing
once he started.
...when I've seen the kids I was like, "Oh, man."
(Jimmy laughs)
"It's good. Look at this part," and finally, my wife--
The ease with which Jimmy laughs
and then stops laughing can make it
look like he's controlling it -- that he's putting it on
and that comes across as insincere.
People despise insincerity because it almost always
hides ulterior motives that are for their benefit.
So we are constantly on the lookout for
behaviors that look forced or controlled.
Spontaneous laughter and then that quick turn off can,
to some people, seem forced.
I just don't know how to thank you.
It may take me a couple months
(Jimmy laughs)
to pay you for all you've done.
You know Jimmy,
(Jimmy laughs some more)
here's the deal--
Now, I don't actually think that Jimmy is faking it.
I think that what some people are seeing
is a holdover from his time on saturday night live
when he was constantly having to hide laughter
in order to move on with the skit.
He was notorious for breaking character
often the first person to have to fight back laughter
before a joke was even told.
Dave, Dave, Dave,
David.
Yeah?
For your information guy--
I can't have children.
So yes, my opinion is that almost all, if not all the time,
Jimmy's laugh is sincere
even if it doesn't look that way.
He's just the guy who laughs easily and
he's had to learn how to turn it off.
And despite some of the negative comments,
that is a very attractive trait as long,
of course, as the laugh is genuine.
Just watch the reactions of his guests to see.
...being a person walking down the street
and 10 is, for me,
co-hosting the Oscars with James Franco.
(Jimmy laughs)
We walked by to go to the bathroom, we looked,
and he's watching Friday.
He's moving?
Yeah, he's watching--
(Jimmy laughs)
He was dying.
(Jimmy laughs)
I love that series so much, man.
Jimmy, that's why I'm here tonight.
(Jimmy laughs)
We shouldn't be talking about religion.
Here, I've got something for you.
(Jimmy laughs)
A pamphlet.
It will just take five minutes of your time.
(Jimmy laughs)
You can see how it brightens people up
when Jimmy bursts out laughing at their jokes and
you've probably been there before
where you're not being especially funny
but you happen to find someone who
thinks that you're hilarious.
It feels great and you probably wanted
that person to stick around just because
of how funny they made you feel.
Jimmy creates that same effect in all of his guests.
Now, to be clear, I am not saying that Jimmy is forcing
this and I'm not suggesting that you start fake laughing.
I'm saying that if laughter doesn't come easily to you,
if you pride yourself on being a tough crowd,
and only laughing at a select few brilliant jokes,
you'd benefit socially from changing that
but can you even do that of course is the question.
Can you learn to find things funnier?
Well, short answer -- yes.
Everything in life is a habit
that's kind of the philosophy of this channel
and of course laughing is no exception.
So here are some of the things that I have seen work
and some that i have actually done myself.
First off, you want to spend some time watching videos,
doing things, whatever it is --
I like videos, I'm a Youtube guy --
watchin videos that make you laugh.
And I'm not exaggerating when I say
that I have specific videos that I will watch on Youtube
repeatedly that make me laugh
and put me in a good mood.
Right now you're looking at some of them
and i will of course put links to those
in the description but feel free to make
your own humorous playlist.
Secondly, recognize that laughing at someones joke
is paying them a compliment.
And if you're uncomfortable with complimenting people,
you will usually find it harder to laugh at their jokes.
Part of you is holding back
not wanting to give them that validation.
If you want to counter, that you need to practice
giving praise more and more effusively.
Not surprisingly, this is something that Jimmy Fallon
is very good at.
Here he is talking about how Ryan Reynolds took a
huge fan to the Deadpool premier.
Just check out his enthusiasm.
Here's you with her and her brother.
I love that you did that!
I love that you did that.
That's awesome that you did that.
Here, he's freaking out about Lin-Manuel Miranda's
freestyling skills.
(Lin-Manuel rapping)
Oh my gosh!
Michael Jordan with his tongue out!
Oh my gosh, how do you do that?
That sort of enthusiasm for other people's
achievements makes it easy to pay them
this simple compliment of a laugh.
And third, you're gonna want to get in the habit
of celebrating stupid little things.
That could mean a short line at the grocery store
or like traffic day or, in the case of Jimmy Fallon,
a victory in some of the games that he plays
on the show.
Watch how eager he is to run over to his teammate
and give them a huge hug
just for winning a simple round of catchphrase.
Who, what, where?
(Teammate gets answer)
Or watch how quickly Jimmy is to back up
Terry Crews's positivity and zest for life
by joining in and dancing with him
when he talks about how happy he is.
By the way, Terry Crews is a great person
to watch for this particular personality trait.
...whole world, all the time, doing what I love
which is amazing -- you can feel the energy.
I feel happy, I feel joy and that for you too.
Anybody in the world is fine now.
Yeah!
Enthusiasm will make a huge difference.
It makes life more vibrant, it's going to make you
laugh more, not to mention funnier,
and more charismatic all around.
I really might have to do more on this later if
I'm not driving the point home enough here
but hopefully you're picking it up.
Enthusiasm and energy are infectious
and they translate to more laughter and happiness
for everyone in the room
but for now, let's just move on to the fourth thing
which is doing goofy things that you find
personally amusing and as silly as it is, a goofy handshake
reading that I have with an old friend
almost always puts me in the mood of laughing
whenever I'm with him.
So set up little greetings, funny nicknames,
anything that you find amusing or makes you chuckle
with people in your life.
And the more of these that you create,
the easier to find it to laugh throughout your day
and the better impressions that you're going to make
on everyone that you meet.
Now of course, that positivity is huge
but it's not the only piece you need.
If you want to consistently make a great first impression,
there are four emotions that you need to hit in order
and most people get the order completely backwards
which is why they don't always make a great
first impression.
If you want to know what those emotions are
and more importantly, what order you need to hit
them in go ahead and click the screen now.
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where you can enter your email
and access that video right now, so.
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please leave them in the comments.
These feeds so much of what I do
and yes, i'm going to watch the second
presidential debate based on all your comments.
I've not done so yet.
I'm not promising a video on it but
there's enough good content between the second
and the third debate which is later this week.
I will do another video on the
Trump versus Hillary feud which continues on.
So, i hope that you guys have enjoyed this video
and I'm looking forward to seeing you in the next one.