--- title: Watch Denzel Washington Turn Christmas Cards Into High Drama description: Denzel Washington does a very dramatic reading of greeting cards on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon canonical: https://time.com/4607836/denzel-washington-on-jimmy-fallon/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-20T16:57:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:39:39.372Z og:title: Watch Denzel Washington Turn Greeting Cards Into High Drama og:description: The Tonight Show stage turned into a Shakespearean theater og:url: https://time.com/4607836/denzel-washington-on-jimmy-fallon/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Denzel Washington Turn Greeting Cards Into High Drama twitter:description: The Tonight Show stage turned into a Shakespearean theater twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Denzel Washington Turns Boring Old Holiday Cards Into Some Great Theater With Jimmy Fallon by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Dec 20, 2016 4:57 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Dec 20, 2016 4:57 PM UTC [Denzel Washington](http://time.com/4086028/arron-sorkin-denzel-washington-steve-jobs/?iid=sr-link5) transformed _The Tonight Show_ stage into a Shakespearean theater on Monday night. When Washington stopped by the show during his press tour for [_Fences_ ](http://time.com/4509463/viola-davis-denzel-washington-fences-trailer/?iid=sr-link1)the movie he stars in alongside [Viola Davis](http://time.com/4495410/magnificent-seven-1960-review/?iid=sr-link2), Jimmy Fallon asked the actor to take part in his ongoing project called “Greeting Card Monologues,” where actors offer dramatic interpretations of the text inside Hallmark cards. The Academy Award-winning [actor](http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/06/14/denzel-washington-moves-one-step-closer-to-an-egot/?iid=sr-link9) was up for the challenge, donning his reading glasses, showcasing his British accent, even bursting into song on occasion. Using the impressive skill set that let a solitary tear run down his cheek in _Glory_, Washington was able to recite lines from a dog-themed birthday card with a straight face: “Another birthday, and you look happier, sexier and in better shape than ever…b-tch.” Washington’s [interpretation](http://time.com/4604956/fences-review-denzel-washington/?iid=sr-link4) of the cards was so moving that Fallon wasn’t the only one trying to hold back tears during the performance. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4607836/denzel-washington-on-jimmy-fallon/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4607836/denzel-washington-on-jimmy-fallon/"},"headline":"Denzel Washington Turns Boring Old Holiday Cards Into Some Great Theater With Jimmy Fallon","datePublished":"2016-12-20T16:57:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:39:39.372Z","description":"The Tonight Show stage turned into a Shakespearean theater","url":"https://time.com/4607836/denzel-washington-on-jimmy-fallon/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","jimmy fallon","The Tonight Show"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4607836/denzel-washington-on-jimmy-fallon/","name":"Denzel Washington Turns Boring Old Holiday Cards Into Some Great Theater With Jimmy Fallon"}}]}] ```