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Jimmy Fallon told the iconic 'South Park' fishsticks joke on 'The Tonight Show'
The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon has long faced accusations of being a “hack,” a derogatory term for a creative professional — such as a writer, comedian, artist, journalist, etc. — who produces low-quality, unoriginal work solely for a quick paycheck. Ripping jokes off from South Park certainly won’t quiet those critics.
During his opening monologue on the Tuesday, July 28 episode of The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon told a joke that was straight from the pages of South Park. And not just any South Park joke, but one of the most iconic in its history: the Kanye West “fish sticks” joke.
Jimmy Fallon ripped off one of the most iconic South Park jokes of all-time during his opening monologue
The joke was prompted by a report that a British man had set a Guinness World Record by eating 15 fish sticks in one minute. As Fallon read the headline, his sidekick Steve Higgins reacted with disgust:
“Ugh, gross! How would you even find them? What a pervert! Jeez. That’s disgusting — this is a family show, I thought!” Higgins bemoaned.
Fallon’s punchline was then the same as the one from South Park, as he emphasized that he said “fish STICKS.”
Jimmy Fallon may have just earned a spot on LateNighter’s year-end best jokes list. pic.twitter.com/YlUcPI0pPM
— LateNighter (@latenightercom) July 29, 2026
The “fish sticks” wordplay joke, however, is now 17 years old, as it originated on the Season 13 episode of South Park, aptly titled “Fishsticks” and co-written by Bill Hader during his time as a writer on the show.
In “Fishsticks,” Cartman and Jimmy write a joke about fish sticks that becomes a viral sensation — this was in 2009, though, so the concept of virality was a bit different; the pair go on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in the episode, for example.
After a lengthy writing session, Jimmy comes up with a joke when Cartman asks if he has any snacks, and Jimmy remarks that there may be fish sticks in the freezer (Cartman, of course, eventually takes all the credit):
Jimmy: Do you like fishsticks?
Cartman: Yeah.
Jimmy: Do you like putting fishsticks in your mouth?
Cartman: Yeah.
Jimmy: What are you, a gay fish?
The episode escalates, however, as Kanye West becomes increasingly frustrated by his inability to understand the joke despite believing himself to be a “genius.” West then kidnaps and murders disgraced comedian Carlos Mencia, who initially takes credit for writing the joke.
“Fishsticks” isn’t just any old episode of South Park, either, as it’s also widely considered to be one of the top five or ten best in the history of the beloved comedy series. Perhaps Fallon and his writers thought it’d be long enough that people wouldn’t notice. But the internet never forgets.