When Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake teamed up with the Roots to perform “The History of Rap” last September, it was a blast — a fun and funny walk through some of rap’s most influential songs. Then they did a second volume this summer, and it was noticeably watered down. Four months have gone by since then, and now we’ve got a third edition (video below).

The performance is fine — it’s good, really — but it feels predictable. “Oh, here’s the part where they finish the medley in the audience.” And while I enjoyed Timberlake razzing Fallon about not having to use his AK, I was equally embarrassed to see them include a slice of “Jump Around,” the whitest rap hit of all time. C’mon guys, leave that one to the DJs working high school dances and boring people’s weddings.

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Conan O’Brien made a surprise appearance on “Late Night,” the show he hosted for 16 years, to retrieve Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and engage in some witty banter with ?uestlove (see below). I happened on Wednesday night’s show, but I’m only getting to it now because the Uproxx homepage shamed me with its coverage yesterday.

Anyway, I don’t have the time to watch late-night shows these days — I’m forever catching up on DVR’d shows when they air — so it’s good to see Conan in New York where he belongs. You hear that, L.A.? He’s OURS! Give him back!

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In a themed week that precisely no one asked for, Jimmy Fallon is presiding over Chris Kattan Week at “Late Night,” allowing his former “Saturday Night Live” castmate to be a guest on the show every night this week. “So… remember when you played Mango?” is what Fallon will presumably ask on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Chris Kattan is on the show – and not only tonight…ALL WEEK! That’s right! He’s here all week, every night! [Late Night Blog]

I can only assume that the poor “Late Show” blogger is using exclamation points the same way that I do: to express sarcasm.

I don’t know. Maybe I’m being too mean. It’s possible that I’m cutting down Chris Kattan just because he’s unfunny and getting five times the TV exposure that could reasonably be justified for him. Watch his segment from last night and draw your own conclusions:

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Last fall, when Justin Timberlake was promoting The Social Network, he and Jimmy Fallon performed a rousing history of rap medley that touched upon a lot of hip-hop’s most important and influential songs (backed by the Roots, of course). So now that Timberlake is making the late-night rounds again to plug Friends With Benefits, he and Fallon performed a follow-up (video below).

This version is… not as good. Fallon and Timberlake goofily give it their all — the dance to Salt N’ Pepa’s “Push It” is a nice touch — but this medley feels like a collection of all the songs that weren’t good enough to include in the first performance. This isn’t so much “A History of Rap Part 2″ as it is “A History of Club Hits.” Seriously, the only time Nelly should be included in A History of Rap is the chapter on crappy rappers. You’ll see him pictured next to Ja Rule and Drake.

Anyway, enjoy this now — the online music rights will expire in the next couple days.

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The last time Jimmy Fallon brought out his impeccable Neil Young impression, he was joined on stage by Bruce Springsteen for a somber version of “Whip My Hair.” At the time, I didn’t think he could top a duet with the Boss, but last night’s performance proved me wrong: David Crosby and Graham Nash joined Fallon’s Young for a cover of Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the U.S.A.” (video embedded below)

On one hand, I don’t want to make too big of a deal out of this, because this is just a late-night entertainer pretending to be someone else singing a pop song performed by a 17-year-old moron. On the other hand, it’s flat-out of brilliant. When Miley sings “Party in the U.S.A.,” the verses are just filler until the big hook in the chorus, but when Fallon sings the first verse, he brings all the depressing gravity of a Neil Young song to it. It’s like, “Wow! It really is hard to arrive at LAX with just a dream and your cardigan.”

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