Iffy performance from McHale. He had a few great moments in there -- calling Obama out on Gitmo, the Chris Christie analogy -- some ballsy moves, to be sure. But, I thought Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers were much stronger in recent years. Of course, he outshined Jay Leno.
I thought McHale was really not very good. I love him on Talk Soup but there he can tell a joke, wait for a reaction, make a face whatever, talk to the crew etc. This gig requires a very different kind of cadence, a bit faster paced, not waiting after each line to see if people laugh, and he never quite got it. He also had a number of real groaners in there. The key to having a groaner is having a witty comment or follow up joke ready when you get the groans and he just didn't. Seth Meyers, Conan most of the others who've done it recently were far better. Just a really slow, "OK, here comes my next joke, folks" kind of performance.