Jimmy Fallon

James Thomas Fallon was born in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York City, on September 19, 1974, the son of Gloria (née Feeley) and James W. Fallon. His paternal grandmother was a German immigrant from Osterholz-Scharmbeck, while his maternal great-grandfather was a Norwegian immigrant from Fredrikstad. One set of his great-great-grandparents were an Irish couple from County Galway, with this great-great-grandmother herself being born to an Irish couple in France. Fallon's father spent his adolescence singing in street-corner doo-wop groups then served in the Vietnam War. Shortly after his son's birth, he started working as a machine repairman for IBM in Kingston, New York. In preparation, the family moved nearby to Saugerties, New York. Fallon has described his childhood as idyllic, while his parents have been described as overprotective. He and his older sister, Gloria, were unable to leave their home but became more interested in comedy instead. He spent many nights listening to the radio program The Dr. Demento Show, which exposed him to both comedy and music; he often recorded it on a reel-to-reel recorder. and comedian Dana Carvey. He was musically inclined and started playing guitar at age 13, going on to perform comedy and music in contests and shows. At Saugerties High School, Fallon was a performer in most stage productions and was twice a class social director. He graduated in 1992 and then attended The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York, where he was a computer science major before switching to communications in his senior year. He was an average student who would perform stand-up comedy on weekends. ==Career==

Comedy beginnings Fallon dropped out of the College of Saint Rose in 1995 to move to Los Angeles and pursue comedy full-time. He secured a manager and got bookings by the age of 21. He often did stand-up at the Improv, earning $7.50 per set, He remained fixated on joining Saturday Night Live. After two years of working with the Groundlings, he auditioned for the program in 1997 but was unsuccessful. Michaels and others laughed. Head writer Tina Fey, who was in the room, later said, "He's one of two people I've ever seen who was completely ready to be on the show. Kristen Wiig is the other one... And Jimmy was ready—like, if there had been a show to do that night." He rushed through his original characters in order to arrive at his musical impressions, which he felt were stronger. Three weeks passed, and despite his feeling that he had not gotten the position, he was asked to meet with Michaels at the Paramount lot in Los Angeles. Michaels informed him that they wanted him for the show, and Fallon characterized the moment as being in "slow motion", remarking to Michaels before he left, "I'm going to make you proud." Saturday Night Live years Early seasons (1998–2000) Fallon debuted on Saturday Night Live as a featured player at the beginning of the show's twenty-fourth season in September 1998. He became a star by his fourth episode, when he performed Halloween-themed versions of songs by popular artists, as well as his Sandler impression. "We actually took what we thought being on SNL was, what people think is awesome about it, and we made it happen," said Sanz, His co-hosting of Weekend Update with writer Tina Fey further increased his profile. In his later years on SNL, Fallon co-starred in a skit, "The Barry Gibb Talk Show", in which he and musician Justin Timberlake portrayed Bee Gees brothers Barry and Robin Gibb. It marked the beginning of a long-running friendship and collaboration with Timberlake. Fallon became known for his tendency to break character in sketches, an attribute he, as well as Michaels, disliked. and 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, and recording his debut comedy album, The Bathroom Wall (2002), which was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. He also modeled for Calvin Klein. Fallon appeared in blackface in a 2000 episode of Saturday Night Live, impersonating Chris Rock. After the sketch resurfaced online 20 years later, Fallon issued a tweet apologizing for an "unquestionably offensive decision". Film career (2004–2008) Fallon began to pursue a film career in 2004. He had spurned most major roles due to lack of time and disinterest in the dozens of scripts he read. In the fall of 2003, he split his time between shooting the film in Los Angeles and returning to New York City for SNL. With big expectations from the studio, Taxi premiered in the fall of 2004. A flop with critics and audiences, it was Fallon's first failure. To prepare for the role of a late-night host, Fallon toured college campuses and comedy clubs for eight months, where he tested out a new 50-minute routine. He also began watching the comedy of Chevy Chase, Dick Cavett, and Johnny Carson, as well as The Larry Sanders Show. Fallon was considered an odd choice for the job, both by executives at NBC (who "hated" the idea and predicted it to be a failure) and among the general public. This was alluded to in an early promo for the series: "You loved him on SNL! You hated him in the movies! Now you're ambivalent." Back to television and Late Night (2009–2013) 's Fallon (left) interviews President Barack Obama on the campus of UNC at Chapel Hill in April 2012. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon premiered in March 2009 to mixed reviews. Producer Michael Shoemaker felt that the show's style solidified when it used Susan Boyle as a joke. While other late-night programs had centered on her appearance, Fallon's Late Night debuted a sketch in which Boyle's emotional performances could "salve any affliction". Between his own musical sensibilities and the recruitment of his house band, hip-hop collective The Roots, Fallon's 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. Fallon's show found its footing in 2010, during The Tonight Show debacle. In 2010, the show scored its first viral clip: Fallon and Timberlake performing a "History of Rap". In 2012, Fallon released his second comedy album, Blow Your Pants Off, which compiles many of his musical performances on Late Night. The album won a Grammy in 2013 for Best Comedy Album. Discussions for Fallon to take over The Tonight Show began in early 2013. , Fallon was earning a salary of $11 million a year for his work on Late Night. The Tonight Show (2014–present) On April 3, 2013, following a period of speculation, NBC announced that Fallon would succeed Jay Leno, following the 2014 Winter Olympics, to become the sixth permanent host of The Tonight Show. Fallon and Leno sang a parody of the song "Tonight" about The Tonight Show together. Fallon's Tonight Show debut on February 17, 2014, on NBC's network engaged 11.3 million viewers. Fallon's third book, ''Your Baby's First Word Will Be Dada'', a children's book, was released in June 2015. On September 15, 2016, Fallon hosted Donald Trump on The Tonight Show during the United States presidential election. Following the appearance, Fallon was criticized by some media critics and viewers on social media for the uncontroversial questions he asked of Trump. In response to the criticism, Fallon said to TMZ: "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." Fallon apologized in March 2017 for the interview, saying "I didn't do it to humanize him. I almost did it to minimize him. I didn't think that would be a compliment ... After this happened, I was devastated. I didn't mean anything by it. I was just trying to have fun." He again apologized for the interview in June 2018 on a podcast with The Hollywood Reporter, saying that he "made a mistake" and added "I did not do it to 'normalize' him or to say I believe in his political beliefs or any of that stuff." In 2020, Fallon and pacifier company WubbaNub created limited-edition pacifiers based on the penguin and cow characters from his children's books. In January 2022, Fallon was criticized for discussing NFTs (and promoting one of his own) on his show during an interview with Paris Hilton, which may have breached conflict-of-interest policies set by NBCUniversal's parent company Comcast; his own NFT was deduced to have most likely been purchased in November 2021 for about $216,000, and his promotion of it on the show could have boosted its asking price. NBC responded to the criticism by stating that it did not believe Fallon had broken its conflict-of-interest rules. On November 16, 2022, a Twitter hoax spread with the hashtag #RIPJimmyFallon, which started trending nationwide. Fallon asked Twitter owner Elon Musk for help, who joked "Say something that only the real Jimmy would say..." On his show the following day, Fallon made fun of the rumors in a skit described by Vulture as "tent revival-esque". In September 2023, Rolling Stone published an article about Fallon and The Tonight Show workplace culture titled "Chaos, Comedy, and 'Crying Rooms': Inside Jimmy Fallon's 'Tonight Show'", based on interviews with 16 former and then-active employees. It alleged that Fallon mistreated his staff, acted erratically, was prone to outbursts, and contributed to a toxic workplace culture. According to former employees, Fallon's behavior on a given day seemed to be related to whether he was allegedly hungover from the previous night. The abuse led to many employees referring to the special guests' dressing rooms as the crying rooms because that is where the employees would go to let out their emotions. NBC released a statement, defending the program, but they did not address the allegations against Fallon. The day of the article's publication, he apologized to his staff on a Zoom call, saying: "It's embarrassing and I feel so bad. Sorry if I embarrassed you and your family and friends." Other broadcasts On November 29, 2021, Fallon debuted a new NBC game show called ''That's My Jam, composed of musical games of the style featured on The Tonight Show''. It was renewed for a second season in 2022 and a third season in 2023. On August 30, 2023, Fallon began hosting the comedy podcast Strike Force Five with Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, and John Oliver to support their staff members out of work due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. On September 30, 2025, Fallon and cohost Bozoma Saint John debuted On Brand, an NBC reality show where contestants create advertising campaigns for brands like Pillsbury and Southwest Airlines. ==Influences==

Fallon told David Steinberg on the Showtime series Inside Comedy that as a child he and his sister would imitate Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd's "Wild and Crazy Guys" routines from Saturday Night Live, and that he listened to comedy records, learning to imitate Rodney Dangerfield from them. In 2009 he spoke on the influence of Monty Python when he appeared in the television documentary, Monty Python: Almost the Truth (Lawyers Cut). ==Personal life==

Fallon married film producer Nancy Juvonen on December 22, 2007. They initially met on the set of Saturday Night Live, Scheduled tapings of the following week's Tonight Show episodes were canceled. One week later, Fallon paid tribute to his mother following that night's monologue, becoming emotional and calling her "the best audience". Fallon was raised Roman Catholic. In a 2011 interview with NPR, he expressed his fondness for the Latin Mass, but he stated he was no longer a regular churchgoer. Health problems On June 26, 2015, Fallon suffered a ring avulsion injury when he tripped over a rug in his home and tried to break his fall by holding onto a countertop, causing his finger to nearly get torn off by his wedding ring. He was taken to the emergency room and then sent to a surgeon who performed microsurgery on his finger. He spent 10 days in the ICU before going home. He discussed this on the July 13 episode of The Tonight Show and thanked the doctors and nurses who helped him. A month later, he was still expecting to spend another eight weeks without any feeling in his finger. In an interview with Billboard magazine in September 2015, he explained that his finger still had limited mobility and that another surgery would be required. He reiterated this point at the 67th Emmy Awards on September 20, 2015, when he appeared in public without his finger bandaged for the first time since the accident. On January 4, 2022, Fallon announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19 over the holiday season. He thanked medical professionals and credited the COVID-19 vaccine with making him "lucky enough to only have mild symptoms". ==Filmography==

Film Television Video games Theatre ==Discography==

Studio albums Singles As lead artist As featured artist Other charted songs Guest appearances Notes ==Bibliography==