Comedian Jimmy Fallon’s opening monologue on Thursday’s edition of NBC’s “The Tonight Show” often takes shots at daily news headlines, and when discussing the recently-announced 2020 presidential campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden, the comedian noted visual similarities between Biden’s campaign announcement video and common television advertising from the reverse mortgage industry.
After pulling up a still image from the video featuring Biden speaking directly into the camera – showing a suited Biden sitting in what appears to be a comfortable home living room – Fallon jokingly asked, “Is he running for president, or trying to sell me a reverse mortgage?”
Fallon then showed the same still with the addition of some new, bolded text: “Reverse Mortgages: Get the Facts Without the Hype.”
Fallon clearly aimed to highlight similarities between the way in which Biden’s campaign video was photographed and the appearances of thoughtful, caring-looking reverse mortgage spokespeople the industry has used over the years, including Peter Graves, Tom Selleck, Henry Winkler and former senator and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson.
Fallon’s reverse mortgage joke was greeted with raucous laughter from his “Tonight Show” audience, before the comedian highlighted an appearance Biden made in front of a pizzeria that abruptly ended when the candidate decided to go inside and eat.
While Vice President Biden hasn’t been quoted on the record concerning his own feelings on the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program, President Obama – with Biden as his vice president – signed the Reverse Mortgage Stabilization Act of 2013 into law, a measure that was supported by the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA).
Watch the full segment at the Tonight Show YouTube channel.
