The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is an American late-night talk show hosted by actor and comedian Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It is the seventh incarnation of NBC's long-running Tonight Show franchise, with Fallon serving as the sixth host. The show also stars sidekick and announcer Steve Higgins and house band the Roots. The Tonight Show is produced by Katie Hockmeyer and executive-produced by Lorne Michaels. It streams the following day on Peacock. The show records from Studio 6B in Rockefeller Center, New York City, which is the same studio in which Tonight Starring Jack Paar and then The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson were produced from 1957 until 1992.
The program airs weeknights at 11:35/10:35c. The show opens with Fallon's topical monologue, then transitions into comedic sketches/games, concluding with guest interviews and a musical performance or stand-up comedy. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon attracted high ratings from its 2014 premiere. Many moments from the show have generated viral videos. The show has been nominated for nine Primetime Emmy Awards, winning two.
On May 17, 2021, NBC renewed the show for five more years through 2026. On June 13, 2024, NBC extended Jimmy Fallon's contract to host until 2028.
Background
History
The Tonight Show premiered on NBC in 1954 as Tonight, hosted by Steve Allen. Jack Paar hosted the show from 1957 to 1962, but the show's longest-running and most famous host was Johnny Carson, who hosted the show for three decades and received six Emmys. Following Carson's 1992 retirement, "vast quantities of brainpower, money, and column inches were devoted to the issue of who was truly best suited to carry the franchise forward." NBC chose Jay Leno, who took over the show that year.A pair of conflicts ensued over Leno's 22-year tenure, both revolving around the then-current hosts of Late Night, the program directly following Tonight since its premiere in 1982. Original Late Night host David Letterman was considered Carson's top choice as successor and left the network acrimoniously in 1993 after Leno was given the job. Years later, NBC attempted to transit Letterman's Late Night successor, Conan O'Brien to in turn succeed Leno as host of Tonight in 2009. However, as a result of various contractual obligations and fears of losing performers to other networks, Leno was given a nightly prime-time show shortly after Conan's run began. Leno posted less than stellar ratings, leading to a domino effect on the late local news. O'Brien's Tonight also suffered falling ratings leading to a public controversy that resulted in O'Brien leaving the network the following year, and Leno returning to host The Tonight Show.
Jimmy Fallon, a former cast member from 1998 to 2004 on Saturday Night Live, was appointed as the third host of Late Night by executive producer Lorne Michaels in 2009 when O'Brien moved to Tonight. Fallon incorporated the Internet much more than other talk shows. Between Fallon's own musical sensibilities and the recruitment of his house band, hip-hop collective The Roots, his incarnation of Late Night "evolved into the most deeply musical of TV's musical-comedy variety programs", with sketches in which he parodies Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen going viral online. Coincidentally, it was during the 2010 Tonight controversy that Fallon's show found its footing. The show, according to Fallon's former SNL castmate Tina Fey, established itself as "an uncommonly warm, welcoming show". In 2010, New York complimented Fallon's "good humor" and noted his improvement: "In the relative safety of his 12:35 a.m. time slot, Fallon has been cultivating a distinct, and refreshing, strain of humor: the comedy of unabashed celebration." "In our heads, we've been doing The Tonight Show We're just on at a later hour," Fallon said.
Transition
Discussions for Fallon to take over The Tonight Show began in early 2013, with the transition intended to happen by late 2014 at the latest. Many industry observers noted that the change appeared to come as a result of another late-night competitor, Jimmy Kimmel of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC, who moved to the 11:35 slot months prior; NBC feared that by waiting too long to promote Fallon, Kimmel could create a stranglehold on young demographics, which is key to the financial success of the franchise. Fallon had reportedly impressed top executives at Comcast, and his succession was widely expected throughout the company. The transition reportedly lacked the tension of previous Tonight transitions, and the program's relocation east "signals NBC's strong commitment to not messing with the program any further."On April 3, 2013, NBC announced that Jay Leno would retire in 2014, with Fallon taking over The Tonight Show beginning on February 24, 2014. At Leno's suggestion, the date was moved forward from the end of his contract in September 2014, to February so as to use NBC's coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics as a springboard for Fallon's tenure. The date was later moved up a week to February 17, midway through the Olympics.
As Leno's contract ran until September 2014, much of his staff were paid until that month.
Emphasis on sketch comedy
By bringing over many of his recurring bits and features from Late Night, Fallon has departed in a few ways from the format which Leno used for his show. Fallon's edition places less emphasis on his opening monologue, a feature which was a staple of the Leno edition. In his opening episode, in which he described what the format of the show would be, he only briefly mentioned the monologue.The show has many recurring segments and games that are played with the various celebrity guests. The most popular of these, "Lip Sync Battle", was spun off into its own show that premiered on Spike after being passed on by NBC, who did not realize its potential as showcased by Emma Stone's rendition of DJ Khaled's "All I Do Is Win". Similarly, "Wheel of Musical Impressions", another popular segment spawned That's My Jam, a music and variety game show that debuted in November 2021 on NBC with Fallon as host.
Other segments include playing charades, Catchphrase, Pictionary, or other family style games.
Additionally, Fallon and celebrity guests regularly appear in sketches parodying pop culture or political events. These segments normally take place after the monologue, but have occurred as a cold open for the show on a few occasions. Just as he portrayed Mitt Romney during the 2012 election season, Fallon portrayed Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. Alongside Fallon's impressions, other celebrities occasionally appear. Several have recurring roles, including Dion Flynn as Barack Obama, David Alan Grier as Ben Carson, Aziz Ansari as Bobby Jindal, the show's announcer Steve Higgins as Jeb Bush, and the show's head writer A. D. Miles as Lindsey Graham.Although the show has increasingly become political especially in Fallon’s opening monologues, it is still primarily pop culture focused.
After his critically acclaimed appearances as Trump on Tonight, Fallon was asked to play the role on the December 19, 2015, episode of Saturday Night Live, since Taran Killam would be busy playing Ted Cruz. Fallon accepted the offer, but the plan fell through at some point before the show. The role was filled by Darrell Hammond, who played Trump over his fourteen years on SNL.
Fallon has also appeared as figures such as Vladimir Putin and Bob Dylan.
Production
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon originates from NBC Studio 6B at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, the original home of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, where it is taped every weekday at 5pm. The studio housed both Carson and his predecessor, Jack Paar, before the franchise's move to Burbank in 1972. "It is where The Tonight Show started – actually in the studio where we are going to be, that's where Johnny Carson was, there's Broadway, there's Times Square, there's something glamorous about it. That is The Tonight Show," Fallon remarked. NBC spent approximately $5 million renovating Studio 6B, where Fallon had been taping Late Night, for The Tonight Show return to New York City. The upgraded 6B contains improved acoustics and a seating capacity of around 240, up from 189, but smaller than the seating capacity of The Late Late Show. The investment also included a new control room and a new lobby to welcome guests. The larger audience also meant NBC could take advantage of a newly enacted New York state tax credit for talk shows that are "filmed before a studio audience of at least 200, as long as they carry a production budget of at least $30 million and have been shot outside New York for at least five seasons."Fallon's Late Night successor, Seth Meyers, is housed directly above his studio in Studio 8G; the combination created logistical challenges for executives, who were concerned about "sound bleed". As a result, The Tonight Show tapes at 5:00 p.m., and Meyers' show tapes later in the evening, at 6:30 p.m.. Until 2024, The Tonight Show typically taped five episodes per-week from Monday through Friday, with both the Thursday and Friday episodes filmed on the same day. In September 2024, following the lead of Late Night and its competitors, NBC announced that it would discontinue original Friday episodes and only produce four episodes per-week from Monday through Thursday.
The show's set was designed by theatrical set designer Eugene Lee, known for his credits on Saturday Night Live, whom Fallon thanked on-air on his first episode. The set "emphasizes stained wood and a mid-century modern style," including "a slate blue couch, a handsome honey-colored wood desk and matching walls." Behind the desk near the city backdrop is a wood-carved miniature replica of New York City skyscrapers. "I think it's Eugene Lee's masterpiece," said producer Michaels. Fallon's monologue spot is noted by a painted four-leaf clover on the floor. "Fallon's new set is purposefully old-fashioned compared to the college-cafe-in-the-meatpacking-district where he lived on Late Night," said Entertainment Weekly. USA Today called the set more "intimate and theatrical" than the set employed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and The New York Times called it more elegant, "but also quite formal and a little impersonal." The show's logo, its title set against a full moon, is a callback to The Honeymooners, while the title is a throwback to Carson's tenure: Leno and O'Brien both favored a "with", rather than "starring", in their respective titles.
In November 2014, a new marquee was added to the Avenue of the Americas entrance of 30 Rock, which promotes the building as the home of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon; the new marquee was also designed so that it can be usable as a stage for performances. John Wallace, NBCUniversal's president of technical operations, described the marquee as being a "bold statement" that The Tonight Show had been brought back to New York. Fallon joked that he was "jealous of Letterman", and that the marquee "makes it exponentially harder for them to fire me."