Jimmy Fallon may now be synonymous with late night TV, but before he was offered his first hosting job, neither Fallon nor NBC wanted him to take the role.
Fallon explained his rocky road to late night in the latest episode of the “Strike Force Five” podcast. After “Saturday Night Live,” Fallon wanted to transition to movies full time and was “hoping to be like Bill Murray or Eddie Murphy.” That’s when “SNL” and NBC super producer Lorne Michaels approached him about taking over “Late Night” from Conan O’Brien.
“He goes, ‘Would you ever want to do a talk show?’ I go, ‘I don’t think so,’” Fallon recalled on the podcast. At the time, Conan O’Brien was planning to take over Jay Leno’s tenure in six years, which means a hosting job would be open. “‘In six years ask me, and if I’m around I’ll think about it,’” Fallon remembered telling Michaels.
When Michaels did finally call Fallon with the offer, he conferred with his wife before changing his tune and accepting.
“So I call Lorne, and I go, ‘I’m in. I’d love to do it,’” Fallon said. “He goes, ‘Great. NBC doesn’t really want you. But we have to talk to them.’ I wasn’t even on their list, by the way.”
NBC was hesitant about Fallon because his movie career hadn’t taken off. That’s when Michaels vouched for his former “SNL” star. Fallon said that Michaels told NBC, “‘either you do this with Jimmy, or I’m not involved,’ or something like that. He actually went to bat for me and changed my life.”
Fallon hosted “Late Night” from 2009 to 2014, at which point he transitioned into “The Tonight Show.” All’s well that ends well, eh?
That’s not the only odd late night origin story Episode 8 had up its sleeve. Not one but two late night hosts were allegedly given their jobs without ever once agreeing to host.
Jimmy Kimmel said that he had a meeting with the president of ABC, during which the idea of him hosting a talk show was never mentioned. He later learned from his ex-wife who knew an ABC insider that the network was going to offer him a late night show.
“The next thing I knew I went to ABC, they had like a little lunch for me on the executive floor and they congratulated me on hosting this talk show I never agreed to host and had never technically been offered,” Kimmel said.
Seth Meyers had a similar experience with “Late Night.” Though hosting a late night show was “not on my radar at all,” he learned that he was one of the top contenders to take over the show thanks to a New York Post article. After that article published, Michaels called Meyers and told him it would be good for him to host the show but it would take time.
“Again, there was no moment when anybody ever said to me, ‘Would you like to do this?’” Meyers said.
“It’s insulting. It really is,” Kimmel said.
Featuring Fallon, Kimmel, Meyers, John Oliver and Stephen Colbert, “Strike Force Five” is a behind-the-scenes podcast from the biggest names in late night. All proceeds from the podcast go to support the five hosts’ out-of-work staffs during the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
