Jimmy Fallon and the Chickeneers supply a clucking ‘Ho Hey’
Jimmy Fallon, Blake Shelton, and ‘Parks and Recreation’ stalwart Nick Offerman kill it on NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”
Who would have guessed in a far flung corner of our galaxy that an all-clucking parody of “Ho Hey”, the ubiquitous hit single by indie folk rock band the Lumineers, could be so inspired and insanely funny?
Delivered on NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and introduced by writer-sidekick Steve Higgins, the two-minute segment served as the official debut of the Chickeneers, a serendipitously matched quartet of Jimmy Fallon on mandolin, musical guest Blake Shelton standing head and shoulders above his compadres on acoustic guitar, Parks and Recreation’s Nick Offerman on bass, and show editor Chris Tartaro — a member of the popular “Barbershop Quartet” sketches — kicking the song off behind a bass drum. Further musical assistance arrived courtesy of the Roots.
Minutes before the sketch aired, Fallon teased fans on Twitter with a short message saying, “Oh, this is happening as well tonight”, adding a photo of the quartet in character. The sight of everyone wearing outlandish bright yellow chicken costumes definitely aided the loud guffaws emanating from the crowd.
Everyone was surprisingly on-key. Tartaro was the most valuable player, his earnest lead during the first verse keeping the performance from descending into utter silliness. There was some unintended irony as Shelton, an established singer in his own right, was visibly straining, singing in a lower key than he is accustomed to. He nearly broke into laughter as he concluded his passage.
Tyler Perry, the first guest of the evening, was noticeably absent from the sketch. The moment he sat down on Fallon’s couch, Perry admitted that he wanted to be included, telling the genial host with his tongue held firmly in cheek, “You could have a black chicken up there. What’s happening? Black people like chicken, too.”
When Offerman, who played the deadpan, tough as nails Ron Swanson on NBC’s award-winning comedy, arrived for his entertaining chat, he candidly remarked, “It was my first time in a chicken suit, and it fit perfectly. Every time I come here, I do something really stupid, and it’s the greatest [laughs]. If I am ever lucky enough to be invited back, I challenge you to find something I won’t do.”
Perhaps the sketch was unconsciously inspired by comedian Ray Stevens’s cover of Glenn Miller’s Grammy-enshrined big band number, “In the Mood”. Credited to the “Henhouse Five Plus Too”, the oddly brilliant instrumental consisted of Stevens clucking along in multiple chicken voices. It stunned pundits by going Top 40 on Billboard’s pop chart in January 1977 [Stevens’ definitive novelty hit recordings are excavated in an exclusive interview with the man himself here].
There is also precedence for famous actors appearing in absurd animal costumes during notable American holidays, including John Wayne as an Easter bunny in a 1972 Laugh-In episode and Paul Simon as a plump Thanksgiving turkey during a hosting stint on Saturday Night Live in 1976.
Fallon, Tartaro, Shelton, and Offerman proved themselves to be good sports, unafraid of taking on a unique challenge. Let’s hope they carried those chicken suits home. Their efforts were rewarded when the Chickeneers sketch briefly trended on Twitter. It has accumulated nearly five million YouTube views. Two and a half years later Fallon, who had since succeeded Jay Leno as the perpetually positive boy wonder host of The Tonight Show, revived the Chickeneers with a bass-wielding Meghan Trainor and Alanis Morissette, tackling the latter’s career-making “Ironic” single. Hands down, Fallon offers the most creative, quickly executed, consistent, and downright funniest sketches on the television landscape.
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