In Arturo Valls' new program, swear words are said. Lots of swearing. They are said especially by the guests, he controls himself more, but he is also seen wanting to let go. Arturo Valls' new program is something like a spree between colleagues, with karaoke, thick words, costumes and moments of deep ridicule. More Spanish impossible, go. And yet, it has nothing to do with anything we've ever seen on our television.
"It's the one to seduce! This gentleman's!" Nathy Peluso listens to the first chords of a song and knows what it is... But he doesn't remember the name. Rigoberta Bandini throws herself to the ground to act out scenes for Amaia Romero to guess. Paco León suddenly becomes Pitingo singing Ain't no sunshine. Because in this program he sings to the presenter, and he does not do badly: "I look for formats where I can give free rein to my voice because at home they do not let me," he jokes.
Each delivery, every night -there are no windows, but with this guirigay it can not be more than at night-, four guests test their knowledge and musical talents, although that is the least of it. "The contest is just an excuse to have fun," Valls acknowledges. Not surprisingly, it is called That's My Jam, which appeals to the classic party ecstasy that is reached by singing: "I love this song!".
Summary of the first program of That's My Jam, with Arturo VallsMOVISTAR PLUS+
The television device came into the hands of Valls in a moment of strong panic to the blank sheet: "Some time ago some chains and producers had asked me to propose their own format, something more personal, and nothing came out, the truth," he recalls, about to premiere on Movistar Plus +, "they taught me the original NBC format and I said: This is. Live music, guests, friends, games... It's just fun."
And that's how Arturo Valls jumped into the pool and sent an email without waiting for a response. Against all odds, there was water: "They answered yes, they saw me with a certain affinity with respect to Jimmy Fallon," he says, and he does it as if nothing but it is noted that he received it as a compliment, then he notes: "They referred to the analogy that the presenter was also in the executive production."
Indeed, That's my jam, the original, is the work of Fallon himself, one of the most powerful men on television in the US, although lately in question after 16 workers accused him of creating a "toxic" work environment in a report in Rolling Stone magazine with a devastating headline: "Chaos, comedy and crying rooms". The news jumped 15 minutes before Arturo Valls went out to present his new program at the FesTVal in Vitoria. And of course, presenting himself as "the Spanish Jimmy Fallon" had less glamour ... "
"Cancellations are very dangerous, we will have to investigate what happened there. It would be a shame, but look at Ellen Degeneres, "suggests the presenter, in reference to the fall from grace of the great lady of television humor following a similar complaint, and sets aside the subject: "We have adapted the format, not the way of working". Let's go back to the format, then.
That's my jam was born at the end of 2021 as a natural extension of some of the most successful challenges to which he subjected his guests in his late-nightThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He noticed that the musical moments were the most successful and decided to develop them as his own format. The result is 50 minutes of maximum television intensity illuminated by neons of fluorine colors and captained by a funny radio cassette baptized The King of Jam and with a master of ceremonies who often blurs the line between the presenter and the contestant. Don't tell me that this delirium couldn't have come straight out of Arturo Valls' head.
"They take great care of their format and preferred that it be adapted by a small producer who did a job that was much more artisan," explains the Valencian, "they supervise the adaptation but they are quite flexible." Valls has been faithful to the original duration, 50 minutes, and has maintained "the essence and energy". The latter, he says, has been the most complicated: "It is recorded in false live and there is a lot of improvisation, so in the breaks I had to maintain the energy of the guests so that their energy did not drop," he says, "I did not suffer with technical failures, which there always are, but with that, things of not being only the presenter. "
From Spain he has added his characteristic humor, music and a scoring system that prioritizes the show to the competition, in addition to, of course, the guests. "Half are friends, of course," he confesses, "it was difficult for us to convince the artists because here we take them out of their comfort zone: there is no interview or promotion, the guest does not come to sell his new film, nor his new album. Only himself, a profile unknown to the public. And that's common in the U.S. but in Spain we're not used to it." Of course, friends or not, the names have level: David Bisbal, Amaia Salamanca, Carlos Areces, Chanel, Bustamante, Fran Perea, Pilar Rubio, Joaquín Reyes and a long etcetera.
The day before this interview, Arturo Valls was seen harvesting rice in his homeland. One of the farmers, an octogenarian, approached him and said: "I've seen you on TV and you're very funny, but you're also an edge, a bastard." At that exact point is the humor that he defends, at a time when defining humor is a risky activity, and he says: "I am in favor of certain limits, and common sense marks them. On television I have made jokes about bald heads, dwarves, and I have had no problems. The key is how things are said, when and where."