Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

He has played “beer pong” with celebrities such as John McEnroe, Helen Mirren and Betty White on national TV in a game college students flock to crowded and steamy frat houses during the weekends of their undergraduate career.

He has competed against First Lady Michelle Obama in a fitness competition including dodgeball, tug-of-war and a potato sack race all to promote her “Let’s Move” initiative to fight childhood obesity.

He’s known for his spot-on impressions ranging from Jerry Seinfeld to Charlie Sheen, but his best are when music is involved. I challenge you to watch his own impersonations of Justin Bieber or Neil Diamond and not laugh.

He’s a giant kid in a man’s body, has his own late night talk show five nights a week and his name is Jimmy Fallon.

If you weren’t able to catch Fallon’s live special (normally his shows are pre-recorded) after the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI, you severely missed out. His parody of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” opened the show with an enormous amount of enthusiasm in front of a packed Hilbert Circle Theatre in Indianapolis, Ind.

Fallon kept the excitement at a high with interviews from Giants players who had just won their own Super Bowl rings a few hours before the show at neighboring Lucas Oil Stadium. Actors and comedians Adam Sandler and Andy Sandberg rounded out Fallon’s interviews while singer-songwriter Flo Rida concluded the night with his hit “Good Feeling.”

He offered a national audience a chance to see what he is capable of, and he was rewarded with all-time high ratings.

It was no surprise after watching Fallon during his “Saturday Night Live” tenure from 1998 to 2004 that he had something special to offer to those who watched. His seemingly effortless ability to make someone laugh was impressive, and his musical talent on top of that made him invaluable.

After his departure from the sketch comedy, Fallon’s attempt at a film career failed, to put it nicely. Let’s just say a movie about a taxi starring Fallon and Queen Latifah didn’t really fulfill what fans were looking for in the next chapter of his life. A return to a live audience was exactly what his fans needed.

Fallon began “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” in March of 2009 with mixed reviews. Many critics said he was too nervous, but benefitted from Steve Higgins, a longtime writer and producer for “Saturday Night Live” as his announcer and “The Roots” as his house band, a hip-hop group well known for their home ties to Philadelphia. Fallon was much more relaxed as the show grew with time.

What makes Fallon different from Letterman and Leno is his ability to connect with the audience through the skits and games he plays with celebrity guests and audience members. You haven’t lived until you’ve watched him play “Lick it For Ten,” “Competitive Spit-Takes” or “Battle of the Instant Dance Crews.”

There’s only one problem. Fallon’s broadcast doesn’t come on regularly each weeknight until 12:35 a.m. I’m sure I’m not the only one getting ready for bed, if not already asleep.

After the circus that followed NBC’s dealing with Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien in early 2010, it seems like it will be a challenging path for Fallon to climb up the ranks, but out of any other option, Fallon is the lone star contender.

I just ask that someone please find him a slot on primetime. The proof is in the pudding, and Fallon’s pudding can be seen all over TV and the Internet.

There’s an opportunity to bring a man on the rise to an even greater audience. It would be foolish not to take advantage. Release Jimmy Fallon from the bars of twilight TV, and provide him the opportunity to do what he does best: to make people laugh.