VOTD: Ron Burgundy Did Stand-Up On Six Late Night Shows Last Night
Last night, Will Ferrell appeared in character as Anchorman character Ron Burgundy on five different late night talk shows to do stand-up comedy and stick around for an interview with the host. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Late Late Show with James Corden and Conan all brought in Ron Burgundy to tell some jokes and have some of the funniest interviews these guys have ever done. All of this seems to be a promotional push for the second season of The Ron Burgundy Podcast on iHeartRadio, but we're not going to complain just because this is an extended advertisement. This is the funniest late night TV has been in awhile.
Ron Burgundy Does Stand-Up on Late Night TV
Over on The Tonight Show, Ron Burgundy quickly jumped into his stand-up comedy routine without really getting permission. He starts off with some brilliant observational comedy about why people say stuff like "New York City in the house!" when it's clear that the entire city couldn't fit inside of a house, especially when they building they're in is clearly not a house. These are the things that keep Ron Burgundy up at night, not to mention his beef with singer Shawn Mendes. Seriously, it's a touchy subject.
Then Ron Burgundy jumped over to CBS for an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and if you thought he was going to do the exact same bits from The Tonight Show, you're in for a surprise. This time he starts off by questioning what it means when people like to party. Do they like to plan parties? Because that seems pretty nice. He brings new meaning to what it means to "go off" when it comes to party time. It's amazing how hilariously and delightfully out of touch Ron Burgundy is in these bits, and it occurs to me that he needs his own comedy special.
Ron Burgundy quickly hopped over to Jimmy Kimmel Live in Los Angeles (actually these were all pre-taped), and we learn that Podcast Fancy magazine calls The Ron Burgundy Podcast the greatest of all time. Here, Burgundy asks how many people in the audience have seen pornography, just out of curiosity. Plus, he talks about trying out Ancestry.com, and imagines if Jack Nicholson and Jimmy Stewart saw each other at a weed dispensary.
Over at Late Night, Ron Burgundy changed up his act completely by coming on stage with a hipster ventriloquist dummy, aptly named J.J. Hipster. Unfortunately, J.J. doesn't like working with Ron Burgundy at all, and he'd rather be shot or thrown in a river in a duct-taped box than continue this nightmare of an act. The way Burgundy responds is exactly what you'd expect, and it's probably the funniest bit of the night.
On The Late Late Show, Ron Burgundy got back to more standard stand-up comedy fare, which starts off rather aggressively when he talks about threatening his dentist before getting a root canal. Burgundy also riffs on PayPal and why small refrigerators are called mini-bars but full-size bars aren't called giant refrigerators. These are classic bits, folks, and then he steers it into topical territory with some sharp jokes about immigration.
Finally, over on Conan, Ron Burgundy mixed it up one final time by partaking in some prop comedy from his trunk of tricks. You'll roll over in laughter when he brings out his own "mouse pad" and a special pair of iPhone glasses so all the teens out there never miss out on a LinkedIn request. He even has a special farting doll of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and you can probably guess what his name is.
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On top of all these stand-up videos, we recommend that you go to the YouTube channels of The Tonight Show, The Late Show, The Late Late Show and Conan (the only interviews on Late Night and Jimmy Kimmel Live are in the clips above) to see the interviews that Will Ferrell did entirely in character. Honestly, if Will Ferrell finished out his career by hosting his own late night show as Ron Burgundy, that would just be the best thing ever. Anyway, if you haven't been listening, check out The Ron Burgundy Podcast over on iHeartRadio, which debuted earlier this year.