The Chicagoist will be launching later but in the meantime please enjoy our archives.

Watch Jimmy Fallon Blow Up A Watermelon In 'Chicago P.D.' Spoof

By Sophie Lucido Johnson in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 15, 2016 5:49PM

Watermelon challenges are exploding all over the country—literally. The phenomenon of a watermelon bursting from the pressure of rubber bands wrapped around its middle has been a go-to for kids' television for the last few years, and adults, including Jimmy Fallon, have taken notice.

This all started when Buzzfeed filmed one of these "challenges" from beginning to end on Facebook Live, Facebook's new live-streaming function. More than 800,000 people tuned in to the stream.

"That's a bigger audience than a lot TV shows right now," Jimmy Fallon noted on Wednesday's episode of The Tonight Show.

Then Fallon introduced his latest spoof, a preview for a new show in Dick Wolf's Chicago-based NBC franchise. We already have Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med—and Fallon added Chicago Melon into the mix. Not to editorialize too much, but Fallon's Chicago Melon is almost better than the (very popular) Chicago Fire, if only for the pleasing, skull-crushing sound a melon emits when it finally succumbs with a clean, wet "thwop."

Wolf—who's known for his multiple Law and Order series—started producing Chicago-themed crime shows in 2012 with Chicago Fire. He's since added Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med, and the series plans to add Chicago Justice to its repertoire next year. Who knows—one of the Chicago Justice plaintiffs could just be a watermelon.