“This will all be cut out,” a mock-indignant Higgins promises the audience. “Abraham made a pact with God!”Įveryone else in the studio is still confused, but Fallon’s laughing so hard he can barely keep it together: “It’s a classic circumcision joke.” Higgins says something about foreskins turning into suitcases another massive groan. “Yeah, because of the mohels,” says Higgins.

Higgins scolds the audience: “Oh, come on! Seriously?” Steve Higgins, his announcer and sidekick, jumps in: “I think the rabbis said, ‘You get the check, we’ll get the tips.’ ” Fallon attempts the punch line again: “A pope, a minister, and sixteen rabbis walk into a bar!” Silence. “Then they got a minister, walked into a bar, and blew everybody’s minds!” A smattering of halfhearted claps rolls through the audience, a response so pathetic that Questlove, leader of Fallon’s house band, the Roots, tries to help out with a drum kick.

“Pope Francis recently invited sixteen rabbis to have lunch with him at the Vatican,” Fallon begins. The Polar Vortex has coated the pavement outside 30 Rockefeller Center in black ice, but it’s toasty inside, where Jimmy Fallon, delivering one of his final monologues as host of NBC’s Late Night, is going down in flames.

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