The Tiger King madness never ends!
Ever since it was announced that Nicholas Cage would play Joe Exotic in an upcoming scripted series about the zookeeper’s life, the internet hasn’t known what to feel.
Well, to solve that quandary, Jimmy Fallon has your back.
The late-night TV show host recently dressed up as Nicholas Cage as Joe Exotic to give us a very hilarious and meta feel of Nicholas Cage playing Joe.
Earlier this week, it was announced that Nicholas Cage will play Joe Exotic in an upcoming scripted series about the zookeeper’s life.
In case you missed the big hoopla about Netflix’s Tiger King , the widely-popular docuseries centered around Joe’s controversial life.
This included his aspiring country music career and his two husbands.
Of course, we can’t forget about the big kicker: Joe’s hatred for Big Cat Rescue owner, Carole Baskin.
Joe is even currently serving 22 years in prison for allegedly plotting to kill Carole.
So when news got out that Nicholas Cage would play Joe, the internet didn’t know how to feel.
After all, Cage is a strange character.
Just search his name on Google and so much weird stuff from the dark depths of the internet comes up…
Some were upset that David Spade wasn’t cast in the role.
Others, however, believe that Cage’s perfect for it.
The words “perfect casting” were even tossed around.
As for someone who’s really, really excited about this casting? Well, it’s Jimmy Fallon!
On Tuesday, the late-night talk show host even dressed up as Nicolas Cage as Joe Exotic.
Anyone else feeling super tripped out right now?
“We are so excited about it too, only because we got sneak footage, a sneak peek of The Tiger King starring Nicolas Cage,” Jimmy joked on the at-home version of his show.
The video starts with Jimmy walking out on his cane and saying “hello” to the camera.
Since he’s channeling Joe Exotic and Nicholas Cage all at the same time, there was a lot of gusto in his voice.
Anyone remember when Cage got stung by all those bees in *The Wicker Man*?? Yeah, it was kind of like that.
In the next clip, Jimmy is in front of a computer, partaking in one of Joe’s favorite pastimes: complaining about Carole Baskin.
“You think you’re better than me ’cause you own a tiger rescue? And I own a sketchy zoo that’s running out of meat?” he says to the camera.
Jimmy was known to break character a lot during his SNL days, so of course, he and his wife, Nancy (his camerawoman) broke out laughing a few times.
Jimmy really had the Joe look down: he had on a cheetah-print blue shirt, a fake mullet and horseshoe mustache, and even a ton of fake ear piercings.
The next clip then cuts to show him doing some kind of martial arts with his cane…
Very on-brand for Joe.
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It wouldn’t be a Joe Exotic parody without some country music.
Joe never recorded his own music, so neither did Jimmy.
“I looked at a tiger,” Jimmy lipsynced. “Tiger looked right back.”
Other amazing things we got to see in this totally meta video was Jimmy dancing and him shirtless and hobbling around on his cane.
He also shed a lot of tears while singing about his beloved tigers.
The reaction to Jimmy playing Nicholas playing Joe has been unreal.
“Jimmy pretending to be Nicolas Cage and Joe from Tiger King at the same time is freaking hilarious,” someone commented on YouTube.
Despite the hilarious spoof, Jimmy recently revealed to *People* that he wasn’t a huge fan of the series.
“I tried it. My wife got out quickly. She was like, ‘It’s not for me,’” he said .
“I watched because everyone else was watching. I thought I might have to spoof it. But it got a little depressing for me around like, the fourth episode.”
“I was like, ‘I’m already depressed now.’ I need something funny. I need something that’s going to make me laugh,” he said.
Well, looks like Jimmy found something to make himself — and the world — laugh!
