I have to tell you, I’m not a big fan of the late night shows. Leno puts me to sleep, and for years, I thought that was actually his job. Letterman was funny once, and Conan had some great stints, but for the most part I always felt like they were out of my humor league. Leno’s tendency to rely heavily on political humor is something my dad would laugh at if he could stay up past 9 o’clock during the week, but for the most part, the opinionated brand of late night television humor doesn’t seem to appeal to my own generation as much.

Jimmy Fallon, on the other hand, makes me laugh. In the last six weeks, he’s managed to take late-night comedy to the next level, first with his Neil Young “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” rendition, and since the holidays he’s been spending a lot of time with some of my favorite people: The Muppets. Fallon had The Muppets on the show during his Twelve Days of Christmas, but even during camera downtime, they goofed around and even rocked out to “One is the Loneliest Number,” by Three Dog Night.

Maybe one of the reasons I find him funny is because Fallon is actually my age. He is identifiable to my generation, and tends to draw on the things we find culturally relevant. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of people my age who think Leno and Letterman are funny, and that’s okay too, but I won’t deny how refreshing it is to see someone I can actually relate to on late-night TV.