Fallon under fire for recycling Mamdani joke on Tonight Show
Entertainment coverage flags repeated line about New York City's incoming mayor; critics say the gag went unacknowledged on air
Late-night host Jimmy Fallon is facing scrutiny after repeating the same joke about Zohran Mamdani three times on The Tonight Show. The lines were delivered on Dec. 9, Dec. 16 and Dec. 17, with Fallon presenting the same setup on each occasion. The entertainment site LateNighter first flagged the repetition, noting that the jokes rolled out across multiple episodes without an on-air acknowledgment of the running gag. A compilation video LateNighter posted to X has drawn more than 1.2 million views, underscoring how viewers quickly noticed the pattern and debated its purpose.
The joke centers on a striking image of Mamdani with a Wall Street stockbroker, a premise that quickly became a running motif in Fallon’s monologue. The first delivery, broadcast on Dec. 9, included the line, "It is so cold in New York City this morning, walking to work, I saw a Wall Street stockbroker spooning with Zohran Mamdani." Fallon repeated the same structure on Dec. 16, saying, "It is so cold in New York, I saw a Wall Street stockbroker spooning with Zohran Mamdani." The next day, he offered essentially the same line, adding, "That’s cold" after delivering the same setup. The repetition drew attention not just for its content but for the apparent lack of air candidness about the running gag.
Zohran Mamdani is the New York City mayor-elect who is set to be inaugurated in January 2026 after a high-profile primary race that included rivals such as former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa. Mamdani has described himself as a democratic socialist and has advocated policies that would raise the corporate tax rate and freeze rent for millions of New Yorkers. The notes describe him as leaning left economically and having faced criticism from business leaders for his economic platform, which contrasts with a more business-friendly approach to governance. Mamdani’s win drew national attention as part of a broader conversation about Queens-based progressive leadership, housing policy, and the city’s fiscal strategy.
The optics of Fallon’s repetition come as entertainment outlets and viewers alike consider how late-night hosts handle running gags. Comedians often reuse lines as callbacks or running bits, but such repetitions are typically acknowledged on air, or at least framed as a deliberate recurring motif. In this case, viewers and critics noted the lack of explicit on-air acknowledgement, which fueled questions about whether the gag was intended as a playful callback or a missed opportunity for transparency with the audience.
The controversy fits within a larger cultural moment in which audiences scrutinize the boundaries between entertainment and political discourse. Mamdani’s policy proposals, including a higher corporate tax and rent stabilization, place him at the center of debates about how strongly late-night hosts should engage with political figures and platform specifics of candidates who may soon govern major cities. While Fallon’s team has not publicly commented on the repeated joke, the episode pattern has sparked discussions about the responsibilities of late-night hosts when political topics intersect with humor.
The second image below captures a moment related to the ongoing discussion surrounding the joke and Mamdani’s rise in New York politics.
As Mamdani prepares for inauguration, observers are watching how late-night hosts balance entertainment value with sensitivity to political subjects. The debate over Fallon’s repetition underscores how audiences parse jokes for subtext and intent, particularly when the target is a public official poised to shape policy, housing, and the city’s economic future. The New York Post’s entertainment desk highlighted the evolving norms around running gags and the expectations for air acknowledgment when a joke becomes a recurring motif across multiple episodes. The discussion continues as other late-night programs reflect on how best to navigate humor, memory, and the evolving political landscape in major urban centers.
The episode pattern, the nature of the joke, and Mamdani’s political trajectory together create a case study in how a single punchline can ignite conversations about media responsibility, political context, and the evolving dynamics of urban governance. For Fallon and his production team, the episode has served as a reminder of the close attention paid to late-night monologues in an era when political missteps are amplified across social media and traditional outlets alike. As Mamdani’s inauguration approaches, commentators will likely revisit the interplay between humor and politics in late-night television and how broadcasters manage similar situations in the future.