University of Alabama student Jack Blankenship, who received national recognition two years ago for the face he makes at UA basketball games, while also holding up a large photo of that face, is now working as an intern for “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” where he once appeared as a guest. The man behind “The Face” took a few minutes to speak with The Crimson White about his coveted internship with Jimmy Fallon and the contorted expression that made him famous.
CW: How did the face get started?
Jack Blankenship: The facial gesture was an inside joke that actually started in middle school between three of my friends, Austin Jackson, Hank DeBell and David Burkhalter. The joke carried on from middle school to high school, and it was just something that we would always do for fun. We took pictures photobombing people and also took pictures of the face in weird locations and stuff like that; that’s how the gesture came alive. However, my freshman year of college I saw an Alabama basketball game where people held the giant cutouts of big celebrities heads, and I thought it would be funny if I just made my own of me doing the face. Austin, Hank and David saw me doing the face on TV, and it turned into a huge contest between the four of us. We all try to do the face in the coolest locations. Some people will do it in New York City, and some people will do it on their way to Chicago, so I thought it would be a good way to get it on TV and let everyone in the world see it, and my friends could kind of just have a laugh at it. I had no idea it would get as big as it did. I had absolutely no idea. It’s not like I was trying to seek out to get recognized for it or anything, I just thought it was something to distract the opposing team during the free throws and just something that would be funny between my close friends. It was like a two birds, one stone situation. However, it ended up being three, four or five birds.
CW: What were your initial reactions when you first started to get recognized nationally?
JB: It’s kind of hard to trace these thoughts because it was almost two years ago, but I remember two specific moments when I held up the cutout. The first time was just a fun joke between my friends, and the second time it became huge. The first time was Feb. 4 against the Ole Miss Rebels, and the second time was Feb. 14 against the Florida Gators. The first time I held up the cutout at the game, two ESPN commentators talked about it on air, and later that night it was on the front page of Reddit. At that time, I had no idea what Reddit even was, so one of my friends was like, ‘Hey man, I just saw that you were on the front page of Reddit.’ I had no idea what that meant so I was just like, ‘Okay, neat.’ There would be pictures from that first game on websites that I wouldn’t even go to but people told me that I had been on. Websites aimed at making college students laugh were the primary focus of my face. When the face broke out to the actual media, I remember I was at the public library with my friend Drew, and one of my friends tweeted a picture of the face from The Birmingham News. It also got on AL.com, and other media sources called it the SEC Basketball Photo of the Year. I got contacted by someone at AL.com, and other journalists saw pictures and began to email me. The first national media I was found on was the ESPN blog called Page 2, and they did a story about it. The most interesting thing about my recognition was that it was all kind of managed through my Twitter account. I got all these writers who would tweet at me for interviews and such. The peak of my fame was when I got on Yahoo’s front page. That was an overwhelming feeling because Yahoo is the home page for most computers, so it was weird because there I would click Yahoo and be on the front page. I was very overwhelmed at first because it was just unknown territory. You would just never believe that you would be in a situation like that, it was definitely unplanned. It was kind of just something that happened. I was very nervous at first, and I didn’t know if people would recognize me at the grocery store or anything. But that’s the thing about internet popularity— you can never really gauge how many people have seen it. There was a lot of anxiety and confusion just because I could never really tell how popular I was. It was definitely a once in a lifetime type of thing. I had a lot of fun, but it was definitely very stressful.
CW: How has this recognition changed your time as a UA student?
JB: It has been pretty impactful, I guess you could say. As a student, I never got any special treatment from my professors or anything like that. Actually, my professors hardly recognized me, so academically, nothing has changed. My grades were never better or worse. I would have to miss a few classes because of events, but it never really changed my grades. From a classmates perspective, it was pretty neat. Sometimes people would kind of recognize me and and I would be able to have a good conversation with them. It really was a great way to meet people. Sometimes I consider myself very shy and introverted, so I would be able to break out of my shell by meeting new people and interacting with them. People responded really well to it, and that’s what really brings a smile to my face — people are just genuinely happy to see me. That’s definitely the most joyful thing that comes with it. It’s a strange, unique thing, but it feels common.
CW: What was it like being a guest on the Jimmy Fallon show?
JB: Being a guest was a lot of fun but very hectic. Earlier that day, I was on “The Today Show,” so I had to get up at like 4 a.m. and go over there. It was kind of like a whirlwind. As soon as I got done with “The Today Show” I went back to my hotel and planned to take a nap. As soon as that happened, I got a call from the “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” show. They wanted to have me on, so I went on the show that night. It’s hard for me to answer the question because that whole week was very time consuming and stressful, so I never really had the time to do the full Jimmy Fallon guest experience. I had to come in right before showtime and barely practiced what was going to happen. The show with Jimmy was very time improvised, so he threw me a couple curveballs that I didn’t really know how to answer, but it was a lot of fun. You would never think you’d be brushing shoulders with these big names, but I was put in this cool situation and was able to interact with this amazing cast.
CW: Did the national recognition you got for “The Face” help land you the internship with Jimmy Fallon?
JB: When I was a guest on the show, certain people contacted me, and that’s kind of how I got that connection. In the fall, I emailed one of those connections, and then I sent them my resume. After that, they approved me to interview for the internship. They interviewed 40 people, and they took 20. That’s how I landed the internship, but I can promise you that I worked hard for it, I didn’t just walk in and get the internship handed to me. I have a good GPA, and I’ve worked my tail off. I got the connection because I’m “The Face” guy, but everything after that was pure sweat and blood. Being “The Face” put my foot in the door, and the door swung open when I brought in my resume and hard work.
CW: What is it like interning with Jimmy Fallon?
JB: Today was actually my first day. It was a lot of fun. I showed up early to the job and was able to see where the studio is. I just kind of ran errands for people and helped out. It’s like a typical internship where you’re just serving other people, but your work is definitely important and you’re there for a reason. I wasn’t just there doing meaningless tasks. Everything we do is important for the production of the show and for the people who produce the show. It’s all with a purpose. It was a great first day though.
CW: What are your future career plans?
JB: I’d like to think that I keep a lot of doors open. I’m really interested in doing something for late night television, whether it be writing, producing or something in that field. I’m also really interested in science; I could also see myself pursuing a career in that. I used to be an engineering major, and I really loved being an engineering major, so I could still see myself doing something with that. I like to have all my doors open, I don’t really have a certain path, so I’m open for anything. My dream job would be working for a late night TV show or something like that, but ultimately, I can’t see what’s happening and I like it. I’m really intrigued by the mystery that lies ahead.
CW: What is your favorite memory associated with “The Face”?
JB: When I went to New York, the day before I went on “The Today Show,” I went to the Knicks game, and I held my sign up at the game. I got recognized by a lot of people, and that was the first indicator of how people reacted to the face nationally. I was on the Madison Square Garden jumbotron, and a bunch of Knicks players waved at me. Beyonce and Jay-Z were sitting courtside at the game, so I held my sign up and Beyonce laughed and nudged at Jay-Z and they both got a laugh out of it. During the fourth quarter, I was holding up my sign and I made eye contact with Beyonce and she did the face and got Jay to do it. That was definitely the most starstruck I have ever been just to be around such talented people and get recognized by them. One of the coolest moments is that rush feeling to your heart when people react to the sign. It was heaven for me.
