New York, NY - November 28, 2019: Jimmy Fallon and The Roots rides float Entenmann's Bake Shop at 93rd Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade alone Central Park West. (Photo credit: lev radin / Shutterstock)
Jimmy Fallon shredded President Donald Trump's Great American State Fair on Wednesday night, mocking the White House's claim that the 16-day National Mall event was a nonpartisan celebration by noting it bore an uncanny resemblance to a Trump rally.
The "Tonight Show" host opened his monologue by needling Trump for headlining the opening ceremony himself after several musical acts dropped out. NBC News reported that Young MC, Martina McBride, The Commodores, Morris Day and the Time, and Poison frontman Bret Michaels all backed out, citing concerns about the political nature of an event backed by the Trump White House.
"It's the first event where BYOB means bring your own band," Fallon quipped, to laughs.
He ran through the evening's lineup — a military flyover, Lee Greenwood performing "God Bless the USA," and a speech from Trump — before delivering the punchline.
"Even Trump's biggest fans are like, 'Is this a repeat? 'Cause I feel like I've seen this 400 times,'" Fallon said.
Trump used the stage to declare that "America is back," framing the event around the country's approaching 250th birthday. The fair, run by the Trump-created public-private partnership Freedom 250, is scheduled to run through July 10.
Fallon then turned to the fair's offerings, inventing a few Cabinet-themed attractions. "There's funnel cake, there's corn dogs, turkey legs, and lots of other foods found during Trump's colonoscopy," he told the audience, to more laughs and groans.
The comedian kept rolling. "There's even a dunk tank with JD Vance and a drunk tank with Kash Patel," he said. "There's something for everywhere."
Fallon also took aim at Secretary of State Marco Rubio's stature, joking that the fair's 110-foot Ferris wheel and antique carousel were off-limits because Rubio "isn't tall enough to ride them."
He closed with a swipe at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has turned bright green with algae after Trump's $14.7 million renovation to repaint its bottom "American flag blue." Flashing an image of a goldfish bag filled with murky green water, Fallon cracked: "Although if you win a goldfish, I'm pretty sure I know where they got the water from."