Will Ferrell's Ron Burgundy tries stand-up on Fallon, Kimmel, Colbert, and Meyers. The joke is it isn't funny.

Ron Burgundy debuts his standup skills
(Image credit: Screenshots/YouTube/The Late Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Tonight Show, Late Night)

Ron Burgundy, the fictional anchorman and podcast host played by Will Farrell, made his stand-up comedy debut on late-night TV Thursday night. On all the network late-night shows, somehow: The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert's Late Show, James Corden's Late Last Show, Late Night with Seth Meyers — all taped in New York — and Jimmy Kimmel Live in Los Angeles.

The obvious question — was he funny? — may be the wrong metric here. It's probably better to think of it as performance art, not stand-up. If you find the Ron Burgundy character funny, his comedy is certainly amusing. But it's not really supposed to be funny, per se. And that's the joke.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.