Share this
Twitter
Myspace
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Facebook
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
TagsTalks about everything from the former governor of Alaska to New York's No. 7 subway line
BY BOB HOLT
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Governor Chris Christie's rising national profile entered the late night comedy world on Tuesday night/early Wednesday when Christie sparred with Jimmy Fallon during the taping of Fallon's talk show on NBC.
Fallon first invited Christie on the air after they began trading barbs on Twitter. It started when Fallon joked about Christie killing a plan to build a new rail tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey. Fallon said the only way people will get to the Garden State will remain "by accident."
In an appearance born out of a New Jersey joke Fallon made last month, NJ.com reports Christie played up the state's tough-guy image by mockingly warning the host that such behavior won't be tolerated.
"You think it's funny?" Christie asked Fallon. "You know what we do to people like that in New Jersey, Jimmy?"
Christie also gave Fallon a death stare when Fallon repeated the joke that started their mock fight, drawing huge laughs from the live studio audience.
"I love New Jersey," Fallon told the governor.
On Monday, Christie said he would consider an extension of New York's No. 7 subway line to Secaucus, proposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration. Christie said it was more fiscally responsible than the defunct Access to the Region's Core project, citing the potential funding from New York City and state and its connection to New York's Penn Station.
According to an Associated Press report in the Courier Post, Christie explained that too much of the cost of the bridge was going to fall to his state. "There's nothing New Jersey hates more than getting screwed by New York," he said.
Christie said he does some of the tweeting that appears under his name ---- and he likes doing it.
Fallon asked Christie one of the topics that's become a staple of news interviews, too: Is he considering a run for president in two years?
"No chance," Christie said, adding he's not interested in being vice president in two years, either. He asked: "Can you see me as anybody's vice president?"
According to USA Today, Christie took a swipe at former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, whose own White House aspirations have been stoked by a new book out this week. Christie doesn't think she'll run, but like any politician he left the door open.
"Who knows, Jimmy. It's an amazing world," Christie said.
Christie did give one downside to his job, and name-dropped a familiar hometown musician, saying: "Who am I kidding?" he asked. "Bruce Springsteen is the real boss of New Jersey."
For his part, since taking over the 12:30 a.m. slot at NBC in March 2009, Fallon has not made New Jersey a regular target of jokes. In fact, he regularly plays golf with friend and celebrity chef Mario Batali, a Rutgers graduate, at the Bayonne Golf Club.
TRANSCRIPT
JIMMY FALLON: Welcome back. In January, our next guest was sworn in as the 55th governor of New Jersey. All the way from across the Hudson River, please welcome the Garden State's own Governor Chris Christie, everybody.
[ Cheers and Applause ]
JIMMY FALLON: Thank you. Thank you for coming on the show. I appreciate it because I -- we just recently started talking to each other over twitter.
NEW JERSEY GOVENROR CHRIS CHRISTIE: Yes.
JIMMY FALLON: Because you're -- I made a joke about New Jersey.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: An evil joke.
JIMMY FALLON: It wasn't an evil joke.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Awful joke.
JIMMY FALLON: It wasn't awful.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Awful, evil joke.
JIMMY FALLON: It was about -- well, here it is.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Yeah.
JIMMY FALLON: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has canceled a train tunnel between New York and New Jersey. As a result, New Yorkers will have to get to New Jersey the same as always, by accident.
[ Laughter and Cheers ]
JIMMY FALLON: It's a funny joke. Everyone's laughing. [ Laughter ] Anyway, thank you for coming. [ Laughter ] Thank you. But look, I'm sorry. I apologize. [ Laughter ] I love New Jersey. I'm sorry.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: You think it's funny, Jimmy? [ Laughter ]
JIMMY FALLON: No. I'm sorry. I don't think it's funny.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Do you know what we do to people like that in Jersey, Jimmy? [ laughter ]
JIMMY FALLON: You know what, I will not make that joke again.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Thank you.
JIMMY FALLON: I apologize.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: I'll be watching.
JIMMY FALLON: Thank you. I did like your tweets though. They were very funny and very cool.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Thank you.
JIMMY FALLON: I have a question. Your parents name -- you have a baby boy...
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Right.
JIMMY FALLON: And they go, I'm going to name it -- last name is Christie.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Right.
JIMMY FALLON: For a first name, we've got to call him Chris.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Right.
JIMMY FALLON: That's cruel.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Well, yeah, parents have a sense of humor.
JIMMY FALLON: Chris Christie.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Well, there is a story about it.
JIMMY FALLON: What is it?
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Well. My grandfather's name was James Christopher. My uncle's name was James Christopher, and my aunt and mother were pregnant at the same time. I got born first, so my father wanted to name me after my grandfather. He went to the hospital with my uncle and said, "I'm gonna name him after dad." And my uncle said, "no you're not. I'm James Christopher Jr. My son is going to be James Christopher III." So for four days, my parents couldn't agree on a name. And so finally, we were getting ready to leave the hospital, they're like, "you got to name him." So they said, "what about the opposite, Christopher James?" And they never thought about --
JIMMY FALLON: That it's Chris Christie.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Right. So I got home, my grandmother picked me up and said, "look at little Chris Christie." And my mother said she was ready to pass out. [ laughter ]
JIMMY FALLON: That was it right there.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: And by the way, my uncle, two daughters.
JIMMY FALLON: Oh, my gosh. Are they named James? you never know.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Both of them, actually.
JIMMY FALLON: Completely. I think you're a very -- you're on the twitter, you're on the YouTube, the Facebook. I think it's cool that you're that connected. Do you like doing it?
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Yeah.
JIMMY FALLON: You do?
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: I do.
JIMMY FALLON: When did you start?
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Well, when I started campaigning.
JIMMY FALLON: yeah.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: You know, they -- because I was a prosecutor before. So probably being on Facebook wouldn't be the greatest thing in the world.
[ Laughter ]
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: But so, when I started campaigning, you know, my folks said to me you should really try this. And now they actually let me have, you know, twitter on my iphone.
JIMMY FALLON: yeah.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: And I do it myself. And I look at things. I tweet back and forth, and it's fun.
JIMMY FALLON: I mean yeah. You get into some heated debates sometimes.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Yes, I do.
JIMMY FALLON: Over twitter and everything.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Yeah, I'm not messing around.
JIMMY FALLON: I like that. I think it's good that you do that.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Yeah.
JIMMY FALLON: That's pretty cool. The big rumor that everyone's been talking about is that you might run for President. [ Cheers and Applause ] I mean --
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: no chance.
JIMMY FALLON: No chance.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: no chance.
JIMMY FALLON: At all?
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: No. why would --
JIMMY FALLON: You can always change your mind.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: I guess I could. [ Applause ] people happy about that. Hopefully they're from new jersey. [ laughter ] Here's the thing. Why would I want a less powerful job than the one I have now? Being the governor of New Jersey is you know --
JIMMY FALLON: A pretty powerful guy.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: It's it, it's great.
JIMMY FALLON: Well, you a came in at a good time. You've done a lot of good stuff, I think.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: We're trying. We inherited a mess, and we're trying to fix it. But I'm having fun while I'm doing it.
JIMMY FALLON: Like you didn't like the tunnel thing there because it was too expensive.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: It was too expensive, and New Jersey was going to pay for 70% of the cost of the thing. Costs were overrun $2 billion to $5 billion. New York was paying nothing for it.
JIMMY FALLON: Yeah. And you know it always goes over budget. You have a guy come fix your house. It's like, "oh, it'll cost about to $2,000." Cut to $10,000 later.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: That's right. So when you're talking billions, Jimmy, it's a lot. And you know New York was paying nothing. And there's nothing New Jersey hates more than getting screwed by New York. [ Laughter and Applause ] there's nothing.
JIMMY FALLON: I guess so.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: So I was on pretty safe grounds. And that's why, when you made the joke from New York about new jersey, it made me tweet.
JIMMY FALLON: yeah. Yeah. I was expecting a horse's head to be --
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Be careful.
JIMMY FALLON: Yeah exactly. But all right. So President out.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Out.
JIMMY FALLON: Vice President?
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Out.
JIMMY FALLON: Come on.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Can you see me as anybody's Vice President?
JIMMY FALLON: You and Sarah Palin.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Who would be that poor --
JIMMY FALLON: You and Sarah Palin. This is it. What do you think of Sarah Palin -- do you think Sarah Palin could do it?
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Be Vice President?
JIMMY FALLON: Yeah. Be President?
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Well, you know. Who knows, Jimmy.
JIMMY FALLON: Yeah.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: It's an amazing world.
JIMMY FALLON: Crazier things have happened, I guess.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: I don't know. But it's an amazing world.
JIMMY FALLON: Okay. [ Laughter and Applause ] okay. All right. I'll take that it's an amazing world. Well, I can't -- you can't be more popular right now. Everyone just loves you. And I appreciate you coming all the way over to our show and coming on with us. You saw we did "pros and cons" earlier?
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: yeah.
JIMMY FALLON: I was wondering if you would like to do maybe the "pros and cons" of being governor of New Jersey.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: I'd love to do that.
JIMMY FALLON: Will you help us out?
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: I will.
JIMMY FALLON: All right, here we go. You'll go first. Here we go. Pro -- you get to appear on cool TV shows like "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." Con --
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: "The Real Housewives" won't return my calls. [ Laughter ]
JIMMY FALLON: Yeah, that's true. They won't return mine either. [ laughter ] Pro -- you've helped clean up New Jersey's water supply. Con --
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Except that "Jersey Shore" hot tub. I ain't going near that thing. [ Laughter and Applause ]
JIMMY FALLON: Yeah, that's a smart move. That's a filthy cesspool. You have to hose that thing out.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: By the way, all those people, from New York.
JIMMY FALLON: Oh come on.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: They are. They're all from Staten Island, Poughkeepsie.
JIMMY FALLON: Come on. [ Laughter ] Not Sammi Sweetheart. Alright, how about Sammi Sweetheart?
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Please. Well, one. okay. [ Laughter ]
JIMMY FALLON: I know my "Jersey Shore."
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Not Snookie or "The Situation" though.
JIMMY FALLON: No. But they're getting a statue built --
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: And Jwoww.
JIMMY FALLON: -- for them in times square. [ laughter ] finally, pro -- you're the boss of New Jersey. Con --
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Oh, who am I kidding? Bruce is the real boss of New Jersey. [ Cheers and Applause ]
JIMMY FALLON: There you are. That's "the pros and cons." Governor Chris Christie, thank you so much for being here.
GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: Thank You.
