There's a lot to be depressed about right now. Chronic unemployment has men with Master's degrees scrubbing bathrooms at KFC. There's a bunch of orange-y Republicans who look like the cast of The Expendables railing against government—one of whom might very well, and very soon, be in charge of our government. Here's a real statistic: Forty percent of the country believes the end times are nigh. This might have something to do with the fact that, somehow, against all odds, Two and a Half Men continues its laugh track-supported war against American brain cells.

Yet even as the world turns to shit, Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake—Jimmy and Justin, actually, since that sounds more like the boyish playmates that they are—are determined to give audiences something unabashedly joyful. And both of them have had good years making us laugh, with Justin headlining three movies, and Jimmy transforming late night into a 21st century variety show. So GQ convened the two most thrilled-to-be-alive, irony-free, super-duper shamelessly happy men on the planet for a state of the union. And you know what? By the end of this conversation, we felt pretty warm inside.

GQ: How well do you know each other?
Justin Timberlake: We just met the other day.
Jimmy Fallon: We met at the photo shoot for this article. No, wait! We met during your N'Sync days. Like some MTV thing.
Justin Timberlake: You're right. It was when you hosted the MTV awards in 2002.
Jimmy Fallon: Weirdly enough that was Justin's debut as a solo artist, and the first time I hosted the VMAs. It was a huge deal for him. A lot of pressure. People were saying, is he going to do it? Can he do it? There's no way he can keep the groove! And then he came out of a GIANT BOOMBOX. Do you remember this?
Justin Timberlake: Yep, I remember.
Jimmy Fallon: By the way, thank you. I appreciated that gift. And if anyone reading this has like 150,000 D batteries, please call me. I'd love to borrow them. It's real hard to keep that thing juiced.
Justin Timberlake: That was your joke that night, right?
Jimmy Fallon: Yeah.
GQ: Wait, you're giving me jokes you used at the MTV VMAs in 2002?
Jimmy Fallon: [laughing] Yeah. That's what we do.
*(WARNING: this song contains language some viewers may find offensive)*


GQ: And then you became buddies?
Justin Timberlake:  Yes.
Jimmy Fallon: Ehhh...
Justin Timberlake: Absolutely.
Jimmy Fallon: Of course. We're super friends! I remember talking backstage during those VMAs. I was totally nervous and you were nervous and we both ended up having good nights. We're good luck to each other—like each other's rabbit foots.