Overrated? Epidemic? No. It’s not like it was The Simpsons back in 1990 where 33.6 million viewers watched “Bart Gets an F“; it would probably be absurd by today’s standards to see Walt Jr. on the cover of TIME magazine. In fact, the most house hold viewers that Breaking Bad garnered were 2.58 million for the episode “Box Cutter”. Then again, two decades ago, we watched shows on a 50lb plastic box with our families in the living room. If you still watch television, Jimmy Fallon, host of The Tonight Show, caught up with the Breaking Bad trend (to which he’s so late) and made a 13-minute sketch parody called “Joking Bad”:
In it, Fallon dresses as Walter White, the main character of Breaking Bad, and is given six months to come up with new material for The Tonight Show, or else he’s fired. He teams up with announcer Steve Higgens, who plays a bastardized version of Jesse Pinkman. The duo goes on a quest to cook up an underground joke manufacturing operation.
Speaking as a Breaking Bad fan, I was hesitant, because in case you haven’t kept track, there’s been a Breaking Bad parody in every single form, including (but not limited to):
- A middle school musical,
- A Lego video game,
- A kid’s version,
- A Taylor Swift song,
- An 8-bit role-playing game,
- A Simpson’s couch gag.
- Personal favorites: Breaking Bad comics and why you should keep your son away from Breaking Bad.
But yet, much like the addictive qualities of some kind of drug, the parodies do have their charm, including Fallon’s. He actually does a pretty good job with the gestures and serious facial expressions that Bryan Cranston manifests when he’s in character as Walt. There are plenty of cameos from certain stars that I won’t ruin for you here, but their appearances and actions in the sketch were rather comical.
If you’re not familiar with Breaking Bad, late night talk shows, or other pop cultural references and inside jokes from TV, the parody probably won’t make much sense. But if you’re a Breaking Bad fan that lives and breathes everything Breaking Bad and Breaking Bad related, you’re sure to love this Breaking Bad parody.
(Picture courtesy of NBC)