Jimmy Fallon’s ‘WandaVision’ spoof with Elizabeth Olsen alters our pandemic reality
Jimmy Fallon took viewers on a journey through the decades of talk-show history while spoofing “WandaVision” this week. Because after all, what is “The Tonight Show” if not the tradition of late-night TV persevering?
On Wednesday, the TV host and actress Elizabeth Olsen paid homage to the popular Disney+ series — and late-night programs past — for “FallonVision.” The spoof parodied the way in which Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff creates a time-hopping, magical sitcom realm to escape her grief.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to ‘The Tonight Show,’” Fallon began the sketch, dressed in an old-fashioned suit and glasses on a “Twilight Zone”-esque, black-and-white set. “Right now, I’m joined by a lovely lady — an actress by the name of Miss Elizabeth Olsen.”
“Evening, Jim,” said Olsen in an Old Hollywood drawl, wearing a classic black dress and pearls.
Each commercial in the Disney+ series has revealed key information about what’s really going on. Before the finale, read our guide to what they mean.
After engaging in some witty, 1950s-style banter to promote Olsen’s “new picture called, ‘The Boxcar Gals and the Fellas from Tulum,’” it was time to travel to the 1970s version of the show, where Fallon and “far-out young artist” Olsen gave viewers “the lowdown” on her latest project about “sticking it to the man.”
Just like in “WandaVision,” however, things started to take a turn for the eerie when Olsen began to question the nature of their old-timey reality.
“Hey, Jimmy, why aren’t we together?” Olsen said via video chat. “I mean, why aren’t we in the same room? Why are we in these boxes? Jimmy, we‘ve got to out of here.”
“No,” a suddenly serious Fallon said in his best Wanda voice before jumping again to the 1990s.
Wanda Maximoff herself gave fans a comic book reading list to help prepare for ‘WandaVision’ in 2016. We just didn’t know it yet.
But once Olsen puzzled out the ruse, Fallon was forced to confront the reality of 2021 without relying on laugh tracks and retro costumes to relive pre-pandemic times.
“I know the present is scary and we all want COVID to be over, but you can’t just run from your problems,” Olsen told Fallon. “Jimmy, snap out of it, OK? This isn’t reality. I know you’re trying to cope. I know that. But you can’t keep controlling all of this. Look at me. ... It’s OK. You can let go. Jimmy, let go.”
Like magic, the veteran emcee was transported back to his modern-day “Tonight Show” set — until one final “WandaVision”-style plot twist took both Fallon and Olsen by surprise.
Enter: Kathryn Hahn, whose nosy neighbor character on the flagship Marvel series was recently revealed to be (spoiler alert!) powerful witch Agatha Harkness — the real, evil mastermind behind the strange happenings in Wanda’s suburbia.
In Marvel’s “WandaVision,” nothing is as it seems. So we prepared an episode-by-episode guide to the Disney+ series for you to keep handy as you watch.
“Kathryn Hahn, what are you doing here?!” Fallon asked after Olsen’s costar crashed the call.
“What can I say,” said Hahn, channeling her inner Agatha. “TV just isn’t what it used to be.”
Cue the “Tonight Show” parody of everyone’s favorite “WandaVision” anthem, “Agatha All Along”:
“Who’s been messing up everything? / It’s been Kathryn Hahn all along!”
Please stand by for the season finale of “WandaVision,” which premieres Friday on Disney+.
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