Jimmy Fallon drew a mix of laughs, groans and gasps from his studio audience Monday after aiming a joke at first lady Melania Trump while riffing on the alleged firing of White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia. The late night host opened his Monday monologue by tying the shake-up to the calendar. Zacharia’s exit came just days into the job, and the midterm elections are only weeks away.
Jimmy Fallon stuns Tonight show crowd with a recap of Katie Zacharia’s firing
“The midterm elections are just 15 days away. Yeah, that’s not a lot of time. That’s only three White House press secretaries from now,” Fallon said. He then turned to Zacharia’s exit. “Yeah, everyone’s talking about this, President Trump fired his new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, after just five days on the job. It’s not good when the edible arrangement you got on your first day is still edible on your last day. It’s finally ripe.”
Fallon next turned to Kimberly Guilfoyle, joking that she “was like, ‘Hey, thanks for changing the subject.’” He said Zacharia “spent just five days in the White House.” The host further added, “On the bright side, Melania was like, ‘That’s five more than me.’”
Fallon then moved on quickly and pivoted to FBI Director Kash Patel. “Five days. Kash Patel was like, ‘Damn, I’ve had hangovers last longer than that,” the TV anchor quipped. The host closed the segment by reading what he described as the official White House job application for Zacharia’s successor. The bit drew steady laughs. “Of course, now Trump needs a new press secretary, and we got to look at the questions on the official White House job application,” Fallon said.
“Check these out. First up, there’s, ‘Are you free for the next five days?’ Up next, there’s, ‘Do you look a little like Ivanka?’ Then there’s, ‘Is the word attorney on your LinkedIn profile in quotes?’” He kept going with more questions. Fallon then did a “quick interview” with Zacharia before moving on to other topics.
