F*CK U JIMMY FALLON; or, AUSTERITY MEASURES, part 5

the guy who does jimmy fallon during the “f*ck u jimmy fallon” segment of “otra movida” doesn’t look especially like the american late night host. (from what i saw of both men during the one episode of “otra movida” that i’ve seen, the spanish comedian’s suits fit much better.) but, i haven’t seen enough of the american late night host’s late night show to know whether the “otra movida” segment is a good send up or not, but after i’d stayed a moment on the channel airing the show to appreciate one of the hosts, the name of the segment alone was enough to keep me there. that and the perfect maintenance of that one host’s and the other guy’s stubble.

i heard it recently proclaimed -- by a television personality -- that the social force of television (in spain) was fundamentally democratic, so it’s good to be watching lately as we wait to see how sunday’s historic electoral victory for the popular party of spain affects the democracy. already on sunday, when the socialists were outvoted by nearly four million votes and ceded its legislative majority to the wave of “popular” support, there were cries from the opposition camp that rajoy’s succession to the presidency signified a return to franco. granted, a conservative shift in spain might not be as drastic a transition to the right as it might mean elsewhere, but rajoy’s election night rhetoric of “a government for all” on the verge of certain cuts to federal social programs definitely sounded the charge for a return to politics as usual.

there were those sevillanos who celebrated the popular victory with champagne, even as the province of sevilla, joined only by the province of barcelona, awarded the majority of its seats in the legislature to the socialists…although the majority of historically socialist andalucía voted for the populars. elsewhere, only the nationalist parties in cataluña and país vasco were able to take more seats in their autonomous communities than the popular party.

who can say whether there will be more or fewer champagne toasts under rajoy than under aapatero. we’ll just have to stay tuned. It should be an interesting several months as the variety show regulars hone their rajoys. and sure, those will get old at some point, but democracy will always have something to beg our participation, and, sure i’ve only seen it once, it’s probably a while until people get tired of that beaming picture of jimmy fallon riding that middle finger.