Jimmy Fallon

About

Jimmy Fallon is an American comedian, actor, television host, and musician who is best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and as the host of NBC’s late-night talk show The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.^[8] The comedian has been credited with producing a number of viral videos and recurring segments featuring various celebrities through social media channels. As of 2017, Fallon has released 2 comedy albums and 5 books.

Online History

Saturday Night Live

Fallon first started working as a cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1998 and stayed on for six years until 2004. Fallon became popular with his impressions and comedic musical performances and quickly gained a lot of female attention from fans. He also co-hosted the program’s Weekend Update with Tina Fey and became infamous for breaking character during his skits during his run at SNL.

Late Night & The Tonight Show

In March 2009, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon premiered. Fallon differed from other late night hosts by weaving in musical comedy and social media during his program. Fallon’s first viral clip came from the segment “History of Rap” which he did with Justin Timberlake. The internet and social media became a huge part of the show’s success and Fallon’s popularity as a comedic host.

On April 3rd, 2013, NBC announced Fallon would succeed Jay Leno and host The Tonight Show after the 2014 Winter Olympics.

On January, 2006 the Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Youtube^[1] Channel launched and began uploading segments from the talkshow. As of August 2017, the channel which is now named The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon^[1] has 14 million subscribers and over 7.5 billion views. ^[6]

Social Media Presence

On February, 2015, the official Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon Facebook^[2] Page launched gaining 12 million likes in five years. As of August 2017, Jimmy Fallon has reached 48.6 million followers on twitter^[3] and 9.8 million followers on Instagram.^[4] Fallon is known to utilize social media as segments on his talk show. #Hashtags is a weekly segment on Late Night where Fallon reads viewer comments on twitter from a topic of discussion he starts the night before.

Highlights

EW!

Ew! Is a comedy sketch segment in which Fallon (in drag) and a guest (male guests are in drag) star in a fictional show called Ew!. The sketch revolves around two teenage girls discussing things that make them say “Ew!” The sketch is based on a running gag from July 15, 2011 when an audience member named Sara audibly yelled “Ew!” in an episode of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

The first segment of Ew! premiered on August 11, 2011 and starred Emma Stone and Claire Danes. Celebrities such as Ariana Grande, Channing Tatum, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Seth Rogen, and Lindsay Lohan have gone on to star in comedy sketch.

Wheel of Musical Impressions

Wheel of Musical Impressions s a game segment where guests and Fallon take turns hitting a button of musical impressions which will land on a random singer and a random song. The first episode featuring the segment premiered on September 2, 2014 and Featured Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine.

On September 15, 2015, the channel uploaded their most viewed video “Wheel of Musical Impressions with Ariana Grande” which reached 96 million views in two years. The segment has become a staple for the late-night host.

Fallon also has a regular wheel of impressions which lands on a random celebrity and a topic instead. Seth MacFarlane, Kevin Spacey, and Dana Carvey have all been featured in this segment.

History of Rap

History of Rap is an ongoing sketch Fallon has with singer Justin Timberlake, where they perform a medley of popular rap songs in chronological order from a 30 year span. The segment premiered in 2010 on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and has a total of six installments.

Water War

Water War is a game Fallon plays with a celebrity guest in which they play the card game war. The winner of each hand is rewarded with throwing a glass of water on the looser. Once a player wins five hands they spray the opposing player with a large water gun. Fallon has played with Lindsay Lohan, Jason Statham, Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal, and others.

Reputation

During Fallon’s SNL run he had an infamous habit of breaking character with an inability to keep a straight face and control his laughter. The habit became a running joke for the show with cast members intentionally trying to get him to break.^[4]

Fallon is know to steer away from politics be more lighthearted compared to his other late night counterparts like Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers. Fallon heavily relies on impersonations, skits, games, musical comedy, and social media interactions to entertain viewers. The host was the first network late-night talk show host to leverage social media properly to boost his success.

Trump Criticisms

On September 15th, 2016, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump appeared on The Tonight Show during the presidential election. Fallon was quickly criticized after viewers called him out for avoiding controversy surrounding Trump. Fallon defended himself by saying “Have you seen my show? I’m never too hard on anyone. We’ll have Hillary [Clinton] on tomorrow, and we’ll do something fun with her too.” ^[5]

Apology

Since the episode and subsequent controversy, Fallon has apologized on a number of occasions for offending any viewers. June 19th, 2018, Fallon told the Hollywood Reporter^[9] that the weeks following the episode were "definitely a down time." He continued:

"And it's tough for morale. There's 300 people that work here, and so when people are talking that bad about you and ganging up on you, in a really gang-mentality[…]You go, 'Alright, we get it. I heard you. You made me feel bad. So now what? Are you happy? I'm depressed. Do you want to push me more? What do you want me to do? You want me to kill myself? What would make you happy? Get over it.' I'm sorry. I don't want to make anyone angry -- I never do and I never will. It's all in the fun of the show. I made a mistake. I'm sorry if I made anyone mad. And, looking back, I would do it differently."

Days later, on June 24th, President Trump tweeted,^[10] "@jimmyfallon is now whimpering to all that he did the famous “hair show” with me (where he seriously messed up my hair), & that he would have now done it differently because it is said to have “humanized” me-he is taking heat. He called & said 'monster ratings.' Be a man Jimmy!" The post (shown below, left) received more than 18,000 retweets and 84,000 likes in 24 hours.

That day, Fallon responded on Twitter, saying that he would be making a donation to Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services in the president's name. He wrote, "In honor of the President’s tweet I’ll be making a donation to RAICES in his name." The post (shown below, right) received more than 14,000 retweets and 115,000 likes in 24 hours.

Charlottesville Response

On August 14th, 2017, Fallon expressed his thoughts on Charlottesville and called Donald Trump’s response to the event as “shameful” during an episode of The Tonight Show. Fallon received support on social media for speaking up against racism and white supremacy, but he also received some backlash for not speaking up sooner about Donald Trump.

Accolades

Since his debut in 1998, Jimmy Fallon has been nominated eight times for Primetime Emmy Awards and won a total of six, five People's Choice Awards and two Critics' Choice TV Awards for his role as a late-night talk show host, as well as a Grammy Award for his 2013 comedy album Blow Your Pants Off. ^[7] In addition, Fallon was given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 Webby Awards.

Personal Life

Jimmy Fallon was born on September 19th, 1974 in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York. Fallon attended The College of Saint Rose before dropping out to start his comedy career in Los Angeles. Fallon married film producer Nancy Juvonen (shown below, left) on December 22nd, 2007, whom he shares two daughters with.

On June 26th, 2015, Fallon experienced a ring avulsion injury by catching his ring on a counter top after he tripped on a rug, which nearly tore off his finger. He was immediately taken to the ER where microsurgery was performed on his finger. The talk show host discussed the incident on the July 13 episode of the The Tonight Show (clip below, right).

Search Interest

External References References

^[1] Youtube – Tonight Show Youtube Channel

^[2] Facebook – The Tonight Show

^[3] Twitter – Jimmy Fallon

^[3] Instagram – Jimmy Fallon

^[4] Time – Fallon Breaking

^[5] ET Weekly – Jimmy Fallon and Donald Trump Criticism

^[6] Wiki – Television

^[7] Wiki – Awards

^[8] IMDB – Jimmy Fallon

^[9] The Hollywood Reporter – 'Awards Chatter' Podcast -- Jimmy Fallon

^[10] Twitter – @realDonaldTrump's Tweet