Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show was the third installment of the Late Night franchise. Hosted by Jimmy Fallon, it aired from March 2, 2009, to February 7, 2014, replacing Late Night with Conan O'Brien and was in turn replaced by Late Night with Seth Meyers. The show aired weeknights at 12:35 a.m. Eastern/11:35 p.m. Central, on NBC.
The third incarnation of the Late Night franchise originated by David Letterman, the program originated from NBC Studio 6B in the Comcast Building at 30 Rockefeller Center in New York City. The show typically opened with a brief monologue from Fallon, followed by a comedy "desk piece," as well as prerecorded segments and audience competitions. The next segment was devoted to a celebrity interview, with guests ranging from actors and musicians to media personalities and political figures. Hip hop/neo soul band The Roots served as the show's house band, and Saturday Night Live writer and producer Steve Higgins was the show's announcer. The show then closed with either a musical or comedy performance, or a cooking segment. The show frequently employed digital media into its comedy, which became crucial to its success.
In 2013, Fallon was selected by NBC to succeed a retiring Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show. The final episode of Late Night under Fallon aired one night after Leno's final episode of The Tonight Show on February 6, 2014. Most of the cast and crew immediately began working on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which premiered on February 17, 2014.
Seth Meyers was named as Fallon's replacement, and Late Night with Seth Meyers debuted after the Sochi Olympics.
The show's ratings remained above its rival shows throughout most of the series' run. In 2011, the show garnered two Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series.
Format
The show began with the opening sequence, showing Fallon sprinting through New York City, sharing a laugh with a police officer, and getting into a taxi. As The Roots played the show's theme, a sped-up version of their 2006 song "Here I Come", Steve Higgins introduced the show with "From Studio 6B/6A in Rockefeller Center, the National Broadcasting Company presents: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon!", and announced that night's guests and "the legendary Roots crew". Just before Higgins introduced Fallon, the camera cut to a shot of The Roots, with drummer and bandleader Questlove, rapper and lead vocalist Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter, percussionist Frank Knuckles, guitarist and vocalist Captain Kirk Douglas, bassist Owen Biddle, and sousaphonist Damon "Tuba Gooding Jr." Bryson standing on the ground level, and keyboardists Kamal Gray and James Poyser sitting above them on an iron balcony. Questlove then shouted three numbers symbolizing the episode number of Late Night. Occasionally, Black Thought joined Questlove in shouting the episode number. As the camera panned over to the main stage, some members of The Roots performed actions to get the camera's attention. The camera then settled on the curtains, and as Questlove transitioned into a drumroll, a spotlight shone on the center of the curtains, and an offscreen Higgins introduced Fallon with a drawn-out "And here he is, Jimmy Fallon!" The curtains then parted, revealing Fallon, who walked out to the cheering audience as The Roots continued playing "Here I Come". After the song ended, Fallon finished accepting the applause, welcomed the audience and viewers to the show, and began his brief monologue, frequently interacting with Higgins, Questlove, and/or Black Thought, who would serve as straight man to Fallon's comedic take on current events. Fallon often gave the cue cards for a joke to audience members if the joke fell particularly flat. Fallon would then segue directly from the final punchline of his monologue into saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, we've got a great show for you tonight. Give it up for The Roots!", who would play briefly as Fallon walked to his desk.After the monologue, Fallon typically performed a comedy "desk piece." Some were weekly: "Pros and Cons" on Tuesdays, and "Late Night Hashtags" on Thursdays. Fridays were also reserved for Fallon to write "Thank You Notes" to figures that have given him material for the past week. The popularity of these "Thank You Notes" led to the release of two books full of the favorites. He also sometimes had the entire crew of the show write letters home.
After the desk piece ended and a commercial break followed, typically there was a competition involving players selected from the studio audience. These included "Wheel of Carpet Samples," "Wax on Wax off," "Cell Phone Shootout," "Models and Buckets," "Lick it for Ten," "Let Us Play with Your Look," "Put It In Reverse," and "Hot Dog in a Hole." Occasionally the segment featured a group-performance competition, "Battle of the Instant Bands" or "Battle of the Instant Dance Crews."
In the show's third segment, the first guest arrived. That guest usually stayed after the next break, then either played a game with Jimmy and some audience members, or performed in a skit with Jimmy. Next, a second guest entered after the show's third break. Once these interviews were completed and the show had taken its final commercial break, the musical guest performed. Once the musical guest finished, Fallon thanked his guests and bid the viewers farewell. As credits rolled, Fallon ran up and down the stairs of the studio giving high fives to the audience before exiting backstage.
History
In 2004, NBC announced that in five years, Late Night host Conan O'Brien would replace Jay Leno as the host of The Tonight Show. Fallon, at the time, had just left Saturday Night Live, and was pursuing a movie career. SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels was the first to suggest to the comedian that he'd be perfect to fill O'Brien's empty seat. Michaels said he wanted Fallon to be the new host dating back to the day that Fallon left Saturday Night Live, which occurred only a few months before O'Brien's departure was announced. Michaels, a staunch advocate of Fallon, urged NBC to give Fallon a holding deal in February 2007 so that he couldn't be lured elsewhere.According to Michaels:
Fallon wasn't approached by NBC until early 2008. Fallon's movie career, self-admittedly "hadn't worked out that great," and NBC contacted him to become O'Brien's replacement. The network had a couple of other candidates in mind to replace Conan, but Michaels insisted he'd only produce the show with Fallon as host. In May 2008, NBC announced that Fallon would be O'Brien's replacement, "an announcement that was met with some bewilderment, even snickers," recalled New York. At the time of the announcement, he was scheduled to debut in June 2009. Michaels soon tasked Fallon with "training" for the gig by returning to his stand-up roots; for eight months, Fallon toured college campuses and comedy clubs, where he tested out a new, 50-minute routine. In addition, Michaels and Fallon assembled a "well-pedigreed" team for Late Night, including longtime SNL producers Steve Higgins and Michael Shoemaker as announcer and showrunner, respectively, and celebrated hip-hop group The Roots as the house band. Before the show debuted, Conan O'Brien sent a large plastic pickle to Fallon's office, accompanied by a handwritten note reflecting the ritual: "The Letterman people sent this pickle to my office in 1993. Now I'm passing it on to you. Whenever you leave, which won't be for a long time, make sure you pass it on to the next sap." In an early sketch about recording promos for the show's debut, Fallon's announcer, Steve Higgins, joked: "You loved him on SNL. You hated him in the movies. Now, you're ambivalent."
The show's time slot briefly came under question during the 2010 Tonight Show conflict. Fallon announced that the show would be bumped to a 1:05 am start time, with the move of The Jay Leno Show to 11:35 p.m. and subsequent bump of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien to 12:05 a.m. start. This proved to be false, as O'Brien refused the change, citing a reluctance to infringe upon Late Night, and saying it would be "unfair to Jimmy." Fallon was then next in line to succeed Leno, set to begin his stint on The Tonight Show on February 17, 2014. Saturday Night Live cast member and "Weekend Update" anchor Seth Meyers was announced as Fallon's replacement on Late Night. The final episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon aired on February 7, 2014, the day of the start of the NBC coverage of the Winter Olympics. Andy Samberg and The Muppets were Fallon's final guests.