SNL 50: Jimmy Fallon

Summary

Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist: Celebrating a Decade with Jimmy Fallon

In the February 13, 2025 episode of NBC's "Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist," host Willie Geist engages in an in-depth and lively conversation with the multi-talented Jimmy Fallon. Celebrating Jimmy Fallon's milestone of ten years as the host of "The Tonight Show," the episode offers listeners a backstage pass into Fallon's illustrious career, his experiences on the show, and his personal anecdotes that highlight his unique approach to comedy and entertainment.

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Jimmy Fallon's Career Journey

Willie Geist opens the conversation by tracing Fallon’s career trajectory, emphasizing his roots in "Saturday Night Live" (SNL) and his subsequent rise to hosting "The Tonight Show." Starting at SNL in 1998, Fallon spent six years honing his comedic skills before venturing into a brief movie career, which he candidly discusses as not having met his expectations.

Jimmy Fallon (02:38): "Willie, you're in the office this is the office."

Willie Geist (03:01): "Like, yeah, it rains crawling around the floor, of course."

This transition showcases Fallon's resilience and adaptability, ultimately leading to his coveted role as the host of "The Tonight Show" in 2014, a position he celebrates ten years into his tenure.

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Celebrating a Decade on The Tonight Show

The core of the episode revolves around Fallon reflecting on his ten-year journey with "The Tonight Show." He shares memories of his first show, the pressure of debuting to a live audience filled with friends and family, and the unique dynamics of working under the guidance of Lorne Michaels.

Jimmy Fallon (03:10): "It's so bizarre."

Fallon recounts the emotional significance of his first show, especially the memorable moment when his father heckled him, adding a personal and humorous touch to his professional debut.

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Memorable Show Moments

Fallon delves into some of the most unforgettable moments from his time on "The Tonight Show," highlighting various comedic bits and interactions with celebrities. He humorously narrates incidents like getting slapped by Jason Statham with a foam hand and organizing playful games such as "Egg Roulette" with Tom Cruise, which resulted in Cruise attending a premiere covered in egg—a testament to Fallon's knack for spontaneous and engaging comedy.

Jimmy Fallon (04:23): "I had a giant welt over my face. It was swollen on that side."

These anecdotes not only illustrate Fallon's creativity but also his ability to maintain a light-hearted atmosphere on set, fostering camaraderie and fun among guests and staff alike.

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Working with The Roots

A significant portion of the conversation focuses on Fallon’s collaboration with his house band, The Roots. He shares the story of how he persuaded them to join his show, recounting their initial interactions and how they became an integral part of the "Tonight Show" family over 15 years.

Jimmy Fallon (16:49): "We're family now for 15 years."

Fallon praises The Roots for their musical prowess and their seamless integration of comedy into their performances, enhancing the show's dynamic and ensuring that each episode remains fresh and entertaining.

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Embracing Online Platforms

Fallon discusses the evolution of media consumption and the pivotal role that online clips and social media play in the success of late-night shows today. Reflecting on the early days when "The Tonight Show" had a modest online following, he marvels at the exponential growth to over 30 million followers, emphasizing the global reach and impact of digital platforms.

Jimmy Fallon (25:23): "It's bigger than ever. People around the world watch the Tonight Show."

This embrace of digital media has allowed Fallon to extend his influence beyond traditional television, making "The Tonight Show" a staple in households worldwide.

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Evolution of The Tonight Show

Reflecting on the changes over the past decade, Fallon notes the shift in production dynamics, audience interactions, and the incorporation of viral moments. He underscores how the show's format has adapted to contemporary tastes while maintaining its foundational elements of comedy, music, and celebrity interviews.

Jimmy Fallon (27:08): "Here I am 15 years later, 10 years of the Tonight show."

Fallon highlights the balance between preserving the show's legacy and infusing it with modern twists, ensuring that it remains relevant and appealing to a diverse audience.

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Personal Insights and Anecdotes

Beyond his professional life, Fallon shares personal stories that reveal his life outside of the spotlight. From humorous interactions with his children, like the infamous whipped cream pie incident, to his reflections on balancing family and a demanding career, Fallon provides a candid glimpse into his personal world.

Jimmy Fallon (42:12): "I did the whipped cream, I did the snakes."

These insights humanize Fallon, showcasing his ability to blend personal experiences with his public persona, thereby endearing him further to his audience.

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Final Thoughts

As the episode concludes, Fallon expresses gratitude for his journey and the supportive community that has surrounded him. He discusses the future of "The Tonight Show," his aspirations, and the importance of maintaining authenticity and joy in his work. The conversation wraps up with a tour backstage at "The Tonight Show," offering listeners an exclusive look at the set and the vibrant environment that contributes to the show's enduring success.

Jimmy Fallon (44:44): "It's all done for a reason. This is all acoustically sound."

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Conclusion

This episode of "Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist" serves as a heartfelt tribute to Jimmy Fallon's decade-long tenure on "The Tonight Show." Through engaging storytelling, humorous anecdotes, and reflective insights, Fallon paints a comprehensive picture of his career, the show's evolution, and the personal experiences that have shaped him as a beloved figure in late-night television. Listeners are left with a deeper appreciation for Fallon's contributions to comedy and his unwavering dedication to entertaining audiences worldwide.

Transcript

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[Willie Geist]

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down Podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along. Got a great one for you this week with our friend upstairs at Rockefeller Center, Mr. Jimmy Fallon. I will not waste your time with a long biography. You know and love the man. You've known him since he hopped on to SNL in 1998, where he spent six years. Left in 2004 for a movie career that, as you'll hear him discuss, didn't quite pan out the way he hoped it would. But Lorne Michaels, the creator of Saturday Night Live, had Jimmy in mind as the host of Late Night to come in and follow Conan O'Brien as he moved up to the Tonight Show. Five years later, Mr. Fallon gets the job as the host of the tonight show in 2014. That was so now he is celebrating a decade in the most prized in all of late night as the host of the Tonight Show. Jimmy was nice to invite us backstage, to invite us in his office. When you hear us discussing his 10 years on the Tonight show, we are literally sitting in his office right in front of his desk with a big fish tank behind him that Lauren gave him the board up, the pin board that shows who's going to be on the show, pitch ideas, sketches, all the things they do to make that show run. So great to catch up with my old buddy Jimmy Fallon also gave us a little tour backstage of the studio, which we'll get to in just a little bit. But for now, sit back, relax and enjoy my conversation with Jimmy Fallon on the Sunday Sit Down Podcast. What's up, Jimmy?

[Jimmy Fallon]

Willie, you're in the office this is the office.

[Willie Geist]

Like, this is as inner as the inner sanctum gets.

[Jimmy Fallon]

This is the best my office has ever looked, ever. I go, wow, whose office? Oh, it's mine.

[Willie Geist]

And I'm like, can you keep the lighting?

[Jimmy Fallon]

I'm a professional. Yeah, it looks great. Thank you for doing this. Can we keep this here?

[Willie Geist]

We dressed it up for you.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I appreciate this. Thank you. I didn't even have a desk. Usually I work off the floor. Somebody put me pour some materials out, and I get to work.

[Willie Geist]

Like, yeah, it rains crawling around the floor, of course. Oh, man. Well, I got to start with congratulations on 10 years.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I know.

[Willie Geist]

The Tonight Show.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It's so bizarre.

[Willie Geist]

Can you believe it?

[Jimmy Fallon]

I can't really believe it. We're editing the Best of Special, which is airing this Tuesday. So we're editing it right up to the last minute, but we're still editing it now. There's so much stuff to pull from and to look at and things to look at. It's so fun. And I forget half the things I've done.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You know, because we do these shows every single day, and somebody goes, dude, yeah, that. That scene where Carol Burnett slaps you. And I go, carol Burnett slapping? What was that scene? And like, oh, dude, we have a whole montage of people slapping you. Like, and we actually do that hard. Robert De Niro, all these different people.

[Willie Geist]

Was that with the big hand that we have the.

[Jimmy Fallon]

No, that's a different game. Kevin Hart slaps me as well. Yeah, we have the big hand. Slap was a big thing. We played that. We had big, giant foam hand. It's called slapjack. And you play a game of cards, and then someone takes a foam hand and hits you across the face. Jason Statham. Yeah. I don't care if you have a foam hand or whatever he's holding. If he slaps you with something, you're going down. It's not fun. I had a red mark on my face for, like, two weeks. It really looked like I was allergic to something. I was like, what happened? Dude, Jason Statham slapped me. I had a giant welt over my face. It was swollen on that side.

[Willie Geist]

What a great workplace injury, though. What happened? Oh, Jason Statham hit me with a giant foam hand.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah. Fonda once cut me with an egg. And that was another good smash game.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah, that's a great game, too.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That game came about. It was called Egg Roulette, and you have a dozen eggs, and we thought it'd be funny to have two that are raw, the rest are hard boiled. And it we pitched it to Tom Cruise and his publicist said, tom is not playing this game. I go, come on, what's the big deal? It's fun. He's like, no, he's got a premiere this night. He's not playing. I go, let me talk to him. They go, you talk to him. I go, I'll talk to him. I go, tom, I have this game. It's called egg roulette. You crack an egg in your head. There's only two that are raw. First person to crack two raw eggs in their head loses. He goes, I love it. Let's play it. I go, you're the best. Let's do it. Play the game. I'm not kidding. First two eggs he cracks his head are raw. Game over. Oh, no way. He goes to the premiere covered in egg. Oops. All right, so now. So now we have like four raw eggs, just in case. So out of solidarity, I can crack an egg and be like a good part of this. I really don't want them to, but we're not rigged. He was like, why would I do this? He's covered in egg all over his beautiful suit.

[Willie Geist]

He felt like he walked into one of that one.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, plan it out. Just happened.

[Willie Geist]

Do you stop and think at this moment right now, 10 years, about like that first show, what it felt like to walk out on that stage for the first time? The show that you've watched your whole life growing up, it had to be like an out of body experience, right?

[Jimmy Fallon]

It was emotional because everyone I knew in my life was there. I mean, we had. Our studio was filled. My mom and dad were in the audience. We also had studio next door full of just people that. People that meant something to me from either growing up or people from Saturday Night Live. I mean, it was packed with all people I knew. And that's pressure for me, you know, and emotional.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

My dad actually heckled me during the first Tonight show, which is so classic. My parents.

[Willie Geist]

What did he say?

[Jimmy Fallon]

I said something about not graduating high school or something like that. I go, but look, now I'm the host of the Tonight show or something. I did graduate high school. But he was like, we paid a lot of money for that school yelled it out. And I go, why would you heckle your son? First of all, I went to a public school, so you didn't pay a lot of money for the school. So your joke doesn't even work. But also, just be proud and let this. Why would you yell at me? This is my debut of the Tonight Show. I'M like, thanks, dad.

[Willie Geist]

You're also like, that's not how this works. I'm not doing the phone response.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, it's this national. I was so nervous. Every executive was there. Everyone's like, do we make the right decision? What's the way? Do we bring Leno back? What do we do? You know, Leno's waiting on the set, like, trying to go back in. But it worked. You know, it's 10 years. I mean, I remember we did a bit in our first show where I said, hey to my buddy who said that I would never host a Tonight Show. You owe me a hundred bucks. And then one at a time, I had all these different celebrities come out and throw a hundred bucks on the desk. It was everybody. It was De Niro, Sarah Jessica Parker, Mike Tyson, Joe Namath, Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga. Colbert came out with a bucket of pennies and dumped a bucket of pennies over my head, which I remember because it went down my shirt. And I had to go up to the roof to watch U2. They were our first live band, and they were performing on the roof. And Lauren, last minute, goes. I think it'd be good if you shot it in Dusk. It's better than being dark. You should shoot it in Dusk. I go, okay, let's go. Are you ready? So I'm running up to try to get to the thing, and there's pennies flying out of my underwear. And everything's like, the odd night of.

[Willie Geist]

My life, which is maybe a little window into what the next decade was gonna be like. Just insanity. Every night, right?

[Jimmy Fallon]

Every single night. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, five nights a week. Just insanity and no breaks. And you go, yeah. And you. It's great, though, because it's that thing of rollercoaster. You have one great show and then an okay show, then another great show. You can't get too excited about the great ones, and you can't get too bummed about the ones that aren't that great.

[Willie Geist]

I feel that way even about our shows. When you have a Daily show and you're like. And you're down for a minute. I wish I had done this differently. You don't have time, right?

[Jimmy Fallon]

You have time because you gotta be on the next day. Yeah, yeah.

[Willie Geist]

Turn the page.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Turn the page. Yeah. And it's. Yeah, I love that part of it, too. Cause it's like, every day also is a new experience. It's all new guests, you know, new bits that you're working on. I mean, our show, we get to do Kind of everything. My wife always says that she's so grateful for the show, just for my brain, just for therapy wise. Because it's so good for me. Because if I have an idea, however weird it is, most likely we do it. We try it on the show. Which is an odd thing, but, like, I'll have a dream and I'll wake up in the middle of the night with my phone and be like, everybody's talking about my tight pants. I got my tight pants. And my wife's like, oh, my gosh, this guy's a lunatic. And then I go, I had a dream last night. It's me and Will Ferrell dancing in tight pants, and we want to see who has tighter pants. There's only one guy that can live in the town with the tightest pants, so the other guy has to leave the town. And it was going to be like a western, but it was. It turned out to be this cool, weird song. But all those ideas get made.

[Willie Geist]

So that came to you in a dream. Tight pants.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah. Yeah. Isn't that sad?

[Willie Geist]

You got a weird brain.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I know. I wish. Why can't I guess the lottery numbers or who's going to win? Who's going to win? You know, the World Series or something? No, I see. Yeah, I see tight pants and I see stuff like that. I go, why don't we crack eggs in people's heads?

[Willie Geist]

It's funny. I heard your wife in another interview saying, I need him to stay in this job. When people are like, how long do you think will be 20 years? She's like, I need him there. I need him doing that here, not here, exactly.

[Jimmy Fallon]

By the way, I already used all my charm up during COVID She's like, okay, I'm getting to know you now. I know you again. Get back to work, buddy. Let's go.

[Willie Geist]

Do you have. This is a terrible question, I realize, but do you have favorites of these bits you've done? There's so many you mentioned a couple of that are so famous and well known.

[Jimmy Fallon]

They're great. Watching these back, I go, oh, my gosh, I forgot. I played, you know, we played Entered Sandman with Metallica with classroom instruments.

[Willie Geist]

Yes.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You know, and like. And they came as a joke. They came all wearing Jimmy Fallon T shirts and we were wearing Metallica T shirts. Neither one of us knew that we were gonna do each other a bit. They were so fun. And the song sounded great, actually, even though it's such a heavy song. I remember doing Won't Get Fooled Again with the who And Pete Townsend took this tiny little toy ukulele and smashed it and then stuck it into this tiny little bongo drum thing. And I go, it's just fun. All these moments keep coming back. You're, oh, yeah. Or Keith Richards playing the guitar, which was a last minute thing. So I talked to Keith before the show, and Stones have a new album out, and I go, I have an idea. Would you ever want to come out and just show every kid who's watching this how you do it? Because you are the pro. You're the one and only Keith Richards. Give him a little. Do something. He's like, I don't know. You think people won't say that? I don't know. People don't care. They don't want. I go, they do want to see it, man. He's like, I don't know. He's like, maybe we'll bring out a guitar. We'll see what we end up. So we do the first half of the interview, and it turns out great. The first half of the interview. I wanted to surprise him because maybe 10 years ago I interviewed Keith. One of the first interviews he's done since the 60s was my interview. And I talked to him and I saw this bit that he has a lemon tree. I go, you have a lemon tree? Like, talk to me about this in his house upstate. And he goes, yeah, I have a lemon tree. It's great. Giant lemons the size of grapefruits. You know, these lemons, crazy lemons. You know, just hear him talking about lemons was interesting to me. So I went to some party and Keith Richards walks in and we know. I go, keith was that buddy. He goes, jimmy pulls out of his pocket, pulls a. Gives me a lemon. He brought the lemon. So he brought a lemon from his tree. So I took the lemon, I went online, I cut it open, I took a seed from the lemon, I germinated it in a Ziploc bag.

[Willie Geist]

Come on.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I grew a lemon tree from Keith Richards lemon.

[Willie Geist]

No.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And I surprised him with the tree, and he was a little emotional.

[Willie Geist]

You took the seed, planted it, and grew a Keith Richards lemon tree?

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah. I don't know who else to compare myself to.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah, Bill Nye.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Bill Nye, the science guy? Yeah, something like that. People always confuse me, Bill Nye. But does he do gardening? Anyway, I grew this lemon tree, and it's starting to not really get lemons yet, but it's on its way. It's big.

[Willie Geist]

That's incredible.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And he was like, great. And we went to commercial he goes, jimmy, good to see you, man. I go, no, we gotta do the guitar bit. He goes, do we need the guitar bit? I go, I think. I mean, let's try the guitar bit. Let's do it. He's like, I don't think we need it, but you should if you think so. Let's try it. He played the first riff of, like, four Legendary stone songs and Jumping Jack Flash. And I remember getting up and I was like, maybe I'll just do Mick just over Keith, just to make it, you know, see if. And the roots will come in. So I was like, I was born and across by Hurricane. I was out outside. I wasn't even saying words. Set up too. It's just whatever. And did the bit. It was super fun. Loved it. And Keith was, like, so happy. He never does this on shows. And I go backstage, and Mick Jagger's there because he was doing a bit. He was doing a bit pre taping after the show. I go, you're here. And he goes, you're a little flat on Jack Flash.

[Willie Geist]

Come on.

[Jimmy Fallon]

We're a little flat on Jack Flash. Why didn't you come out? Why didn't you come out? That's one of those moments that's incredible. He's like, no, I want Keith to have his thing.

[Willie Geist]

See, that gets at something I wanted to ask you about, which is you are living out a lot of your boyhood dreams. Grow up a Stones fan, just like I did. And now you're playing in the sandbox with them, but you're also living out a lot of our fantasies. And, like, you're performing with the Stones, and you're doing it in such a funny and joyful way. And we're like, that guy's one of us. And he gets to be there with them. Do you feel that? Like, God, how lucky am I to be sitting there with Keith Richards?

[Jimmy Fallon]

No, I did. I did one bit once with Neil Young, where I was dressed as Neil Young.

[Willie Geist]

Yep.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And we sang Old Man.

[Willie Geist]

Yes.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And we sang it harmonizing. And I go. I just remember because I. Unfortunately, if you've heard this, but I laugh sometimes when I do a sketch. Yeah, yeah, I laugh. Sometimes. I. I like to laugh. So I remember biting my lips and just going, do not laugh during this, because you probably have one take of this. I don't think Neil Young's gonna do two takes of Old Man. And so I was like, I might have even just bit until I hit blood, you know? And I just did it. And we nailed it on the first thing And I go. And that was it. And he's like, thanks a lot, man. Take care. You know, he's just quiet. And he left.

[Willie Geist]

Right?

[Jimmy Fallon]

But yeah, and you go, I can't believe we got to do that. Or doing a bit with Springsteen. You know, I'm a big music guy, as you are too, but doing a bit with Springsteen. And I remember I was doing push ups because I did a bit where, like, he had a sleeveless jean jacket on and I was doing Springsteen. My arms aren't as big as Springsteen's, clearly. And that was the part where you're supposed to interrupt and go, no, Jimmy, you're arms. No.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah. No, in the sweater. Yeah, I see. Sorry. Thank you.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I guess the sweater comes up. Thanks for bringing up Willie. And he's like, so anyways, I was doing push ups and he walks by my dresser and he goes, no fair, man. You're cheating, man, you're cheating. Come on. And he went and sat next to me and did push ups next to me. So not only did I do the bit with Bruce Springsteen, I did push ups next to Bruce Springsteen.

[Willie Geist]

Incredible.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yes. All in the name of comedy. Incredible. Come on.

[Willie Geist]

In some ways, does it feel like your entire life brought you to this place, which is like, comedy fan, growing up, loved snl, loved the Tonight show, loved music, played the guitar, got you to snl, and like, you were made for this job.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It feels like, you know, Conan O'Brien gave me advice that he got from Johnny Carson which said that with this job, you'll do everything you've ever tried or learned or did. You will do it in this job. And I was like, okay. And that is the exact smartest thing that anyone could ever say, because I've done things like tap dance. I don't even really know how to tap dance. I've tap danced. I've played the spoons, I've played the guitar, I played the sitar, I've harmonized, I've danced, I've rapped, I've done all this stuff. And you go, it's just all this stuff done. Characters, wigs, you know, accents. It's the most fun job in the world. And I'm so lucky to be given this sandbox. It's crazy.

[Willie Geist]

And a big part of that, as you've said many times, is the roots that you get to pull off all this music. So can you go back to the beginning, for me, of the germ, of the idea you needed a band, but that it should be the roots? Because I heard Quest in an interview Say basically you harass them for so long.

[Jimmy Fallon]

He makes it sound so sweet.

[Willie Geist]

Like you showed up at a state at the Rose bowl or something. Like, okay, okay, we get it, dude.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, we'll do it. All right. So I was with a friend of mine and I said. He goes, who are you gonna get to be the band? Because you gotta. Conan has a great band. Max Weinberg. That's the best band in late night. I go, I know. I gotta get better than that. He goes, you know, you should ask the Roots. I go, do you think the Roots will do it? He goes, no, no, you should ask the Roots because they can get you a band. I mean, they're good. They've helped out our show before the show. I go, oh, okay. Then I go, what's the worst that could happen? I'll ask the Roots and see what they say. And I asked them and didn't hear anything back for four months. And I'll just take that as a no. They're just not that into you. And so I go, well, we didn't actually hear a no yet. So I go and I try to find out where they were on tour, and they were in Europe, and then they came back to la, ucla, they did this jazz fest. And I went to the concert and I saw them and they just. Mind blowing. They are great in concert. If you've never seen the Roots in concert, that is a mistake. I mean, it's one of the best performers you ever see. And so I saw them then after the show, I was waiting around, hanging out, not stalking, but just being friendly, as I call it. And I was like, hi, guys. And just talk to them and we're laughing. And then Quest Love was like, being cool. Him and Tariq were like, you know, they're the cool guys and they're just being cool. And then Tariq, I was talking to him, and then Quest went into his trailer and then he came out. And when he came out, I was in a cheerleader pyramid with the Roots. And they were. They were on my back and we're doing a triangle. You know, this. And Questa was like, what in the. I mean, they're the coolest hip hop group on earth. They're doing a pyramid with Jimmy Fallon, like, and in this lawn of ucla. And he's like, oh, man, we're gonna be stuck with this. We're gonna be stuck with this guy. Like, he's charmed my band. And so, yeah, so now we've been family now for 15 years.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And they're the Best. You can't throw them. And it's like you. Any group that comes on, obviously respects. They love. They get nervous to play in front of the Roots.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You know, but any guest we have, they know that if they throw a song out, the Roots can play it.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Anyone from Jay Z to Tony Bennett, you know, they've done it all. They play with everyone.

[Willie Geist]

And it's not easy night to night. Right. Like learning a couple new songs, playing along with whatever the game is, knowing.

[Jimmy Fallon]

The rim shots and doing the things. And when they come in or, you know, they're just alive and awake and funny. They're actually comedy nerds as well as music nerds. You know, they love comedy. They love the business. They love doing all this weird stuff, you know, playing type pants or whatever. Like, they think it's weird and funny.

[Willie Geist]

I'm so glad you got into that pyramid and that we have the Roots here.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah.

[Willie Geist]

Good job.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Like, I was looking who we have on the show coming up. I know Will's coming back.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I have an idea for a bit with him about maybe two guys that love to wear jorts.

[Willie Geist]

Great.

[Jimmy Fallon]

For the summer.

[Willie Geist]

Sure.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Like.

[Willie Geist]

Like a high jord. Like Daisy Duke.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

But I think. No, I think my high, but low. I think a normal jort.

[Willie Geist]

Okay.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Like, I'm in my jorts. I remember George Shorts, you know, something like that. I don't know where it goes, but again, this came to me in a dream. So I don't know where George Shorts is gonna be.

[Willie Geist]

It feels like you have very, very strange dreams. If I could. I'm not your therapist. Wait.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah. Would you. Will you be my therapist? I'm afraid.

[Willie Geist]

I'm afraid I can't help you. I'm afraid I can't help you.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Oh, man, I need help. I need another 10 years, man. You gotta help me, dude. We've been friends for a while. Get me through with this, man.

[Willie Geist]

You are beyond my help, I'm afraid.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I know my wife is just like, keep it going, buddy. Keep it going.

[Willie Geist]

Hey, guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Jimmy Fallon. Right after the break, it's time to.

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[Jimmy Fallon]

Every morning we choose how to begin our day. This is today. I think about the people at home. They tune in because they are curious, they care about their world and they care about each other. There's always something new to learn, whether a news event or a new recipe. And when we step through the morning together, it makes the rest of the day better. We come here to make the most of today. We are family.

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We are today.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Watch the Today show with Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin, weekdays at 7am on NBC.

[Willie Geist]

Hey everybody, I'm Al Roker from the Today Show.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Let's kickstart your wellness journey with the.

[Willie Geist]

All new Start today, Apple.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Everything you need for a healthier you. All in one place. Fitness challenges for all levels.

[Willie Geist]

Meal plans that are easy and delicious.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And so much more. It's built to fit your lifestyle and our experts will guide you every step of the way. Come on, let's do this. To subscribe, download Start today from the App Store on your Apple device now. Terms apply.

[Willie Geist]

Cancel anytime through Apple under profile settings. Welcome back. Now more of my conversation with Jimmy Fallon. Going back a little earlier, even Jimmy, to the time when Lorne suggested to you that you could host a late night show. Going back to late night. So you've done snl, huge success at that. You do the movies. You have some good success there too. And then Lauren's like, I think you should be a late night host. What did you think of the idea?

[Jimmy Fallon]

I was leaving Sarant Live and Lauren was like, would you ever want to host late night show? I go, I don't. Why? He's like, well, Conan has some deal where it's like in six years Jay was going to give Conan the show or Tonight shows the chair. He's going to retire. You go, we'll see what happens in six years. I don't know. So seriously, that was the real truth. So I went and tried movies and it didn't really work. And I got a call from Lorne, obviously stayed friendly with him. I was in la and he's like, remember I brought up that thing about the late night show that would you ever want to do that still? And I go, yeah, I mean, I have to ask my wife now because I'm married now. So I'm like, I have to ask her. So I'm like, honey, do you think I should do this? And she was like, you have to. Even if it doesn't work. I'm not saying it won't, but you're on the list. It's David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, and you. You have to do this. And I was like, all right. I go, I think I want to do this. And then my wife moved to New York just to help me out and support my career. And I came here and I just head down and just hard work and just like, just keep doing whatever we can do. Around 12:30 at night, who's awake then? You know, we're just doing bits and just created a whole kind of world and a brand, and I fell in love with it. It's great. I mean, I think you could probably test this, too. You get. You get better. The more you practice, the more you do it is good advice to anyone who wants to do a talk show. Just do it. The more you do it, the better you get at it.

[Willie Geist]

Reps, reps.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Here I am 15 years later, 10 years of the Tonight show, and I've seen. I'm friends with all these people. I've seen their biggest movies, I've seen their biggest flops. I've seen their wives. I've met their bad boyfriends. I've lived through all this stuff. So now I'm comfortable. They're comfortable with me. They can trust me. It's like, oh, this is fun. I feel like it's even better than it's ever been. Like, for me, I love coming to work, and I love seeing people that I've seen before and going, let's talk about another chapter. This is exciting. We're getting to know each other.

[Willie Geist]

We're growing old, and that comes across on the air. You know these people. You're rooting for these people. I think it's fair to say, right, the guests on your show. You want success.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I want everyone to win. Absolutely. That's my job. Yeah, I love it, and I love the daily change of it all, too. And I love the show business part of it. I love seeing publicists and agents and NBC executives, and I love all that stuff. I think it's fun. I think it's fun to watch, and I think it's fun to see things pop up on the Internet if it works or goes viral. I mean, you never know what is going to work. You really don't. But if something does, it's kind of exciting.

[Willie Geist]

And you knew pretty early on with late night, even before the Tonight show, that you had something, that you were doing something unique, that it was taking off online. This was a time before we fully understood that.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I remember.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah, things were going to change.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I remember going on Twitter and going, guys, we have 100 followers. I mean, that's 100 more people that will watch our show. 100. This is massive. I mean, we're so happy. And now I'm probably at 30 million or something crazy.

[Willie Geist]

It's insane. And your clips on your show are the far and away the most viewed in late night, which is interesting because the old measurements sort of don't apply anymore, which we're of a time when it's like, what are your numbers? What are the ratings?

[Jimmy Fallon]

Ratings, yeah.

[Willie Geist]

Right. And now it's, how are you doing online socials?

[Jimmy Fallon]

And it's international. I mean, I think. I really think, like, if I could see. Talk to Steve Allen or Jack Parr or Johnny Carson. Guys, I hope that you're proud of me because the show is still on and now it's bigger than ever. Like, people in. People around the world watch the Tonight Show. Like, my audience, there's. Last night, I talked to three people there from Germany. They love the show. You know, we have someone from Dubai that was here. It's like, it's. It's India there. It's. The show's international now, thanks to the Internet. You know, it's just bigger than we could. We can't stop it. You put something out and they go, oh, I saw that thing with Doja Cat. And it just goes everywhere. It's fascinating. It's great. I just want to see how big we can make it, you know, it's kind of exciting to see that.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah, that's one way. The show's obviously different 10 years later than it was when you started the Focus Online. Are there other ways, as you think back to, like, night one of your Tonight show than today, beyond your obvious comfort level with doing the show, does it feel different at all?

[Jimmy Fallon]

The studio's colder. I know that because I was really sweaty the first couple of interviews. A lot of flop sweat.

[Willie Geist]

Sure.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Because so many lights on you. Then you don't think about how many people come in. We have a live audience. We have 250 people. So that makes the room hot. The first couple interviews were just dripping sweat, but so it's much cold. I remember we had Aretha Franklin on the show. She loved the show. She would just call me, by the way, really, during the week and be like, jimmy, whoever made that fried chicken the other night was terrible. I am so much better. I should come on and make fried chicken with you. I go, come on, let's do it. She's like, all right, I love you, and blah, blah, blah. She would call me all the time, and that's always the best. Someone randomly calls you in the office. And so we had Aretha on the show, and when Aretha Franklin comes on the show, you have to turn it off. Turn off all the air conditioning, because her vocal cords. So, okay, so there's no ac. You want to talk about rough comedy? I mean, my monologues, no laughs, no one's clapping. The audience is like, it's 100 degrees in the audience. Questlove is gonna die. And I go, oh, my gosh, this is rough. And I go, here she is, ladies and gentlemen, the queen of soul, Aretha Franklin. And she comes out in a fur coat. And I go, what is wrong with you? What is wrong with you? What is. Absolutely. She's like, what? I'm cold. I'm cold. I got to wear. This is like, you know, she was the best. And so luckily for us, she did two songs, because I'm like, we got to bank one to make this worth it. She was awesome. But a fur coat.

[Willie Geist]

I go, oh, my God, the stuff you've seen, it's incredible.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I walked her out that night. We went down to the basement into her car, and we walked past the vending machine. She's like, can I get the Snickers?

[Willie Geist]

Sure.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And so someone gave me $2, and I got Aretha Franklin a Snickers bar out of a vending machine. I mean, that's just kind of fun, right? Right?

[Willie Geist]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Weird stuff.

[Willie Geist]

Small moment you'll never forget.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I love all. But, like, watching this two hour special is like. It's two hours of clip, clip, clip, clip of Lin Manuel and I doing Broadway bit. Me and Timberlake singing the show from home during COVID My wife directing, my kids running in the shots, which they had no idea they were on tv. My kids would run in like, daddy loves a tooth and there's blood everywhere. I go, get out. Get out of here. It's frankly scaring people. It's not as cute as you think it is, but, like, yeah, we did those shows, and I haven't seen them since we did them, you know, those Covid shows. And it's. It's wild to see what we did and how creative we got not having, you know, props or cue cards or a script or wigs or costumes. We just had to make stuff up at the house. It was wild.

[Willie Geist]

I feel like that was a good test, though. Like, what's the raw talent and you can pull that off.

[Jimmy Fallon]

People still bring it up to me on the street. They go, that's our favorite shows. When you were at home and with your wife and the kids. And I go, yeah, it was just bizarre. I just. And I just remember we had to keep going. I was like, when is this going to end? When are we going to go back to work?

[Willie Geist]

Yeah, this was it.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It was the normal for like four or five months.

[Willie Geist]

And it just kept going.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Didn't end.

[Willie Geist]

Remember, at the beginning, they're like, we think it's going to be two weeks. The kids. Two weeks.

[Jimmy Fallon]

No, two weeks. Yeah, exactly. I think we were the only people in the building when they came back.

[Willie Geist]

Yes.

[Jimmy Fallon]

How weird was that?

[Willie Geist]

That was bizarre.

[Jimmy Fallon]

We couldn't even go past. We had to go through a front security thing first with a nurse to swab us downstairs.

[Willie Geist]

That's right.

[Jimmy Fallon]

To another nurse's office.

[Willie Geist]

That's right.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And then wait 40 minutes, get another test, wait for the results. Then we go to our studio. Then everything in this office. I don't even know if I was allowed in this office, but it had pieces of. Had cards on it. Do you remember? And said this had been sanitized every day. Every day.

[Willie Geist]

They went down. Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

They did a great job.

[Willie Geist]

And sitting alone in the studio, I was in there by myself. Not even a stage manager.

[Jimmy Fallon]

We had only half the roots. I was walking out to a no crowd and walking. It was almost like I had tap shoes on. You could hear my feet going. And I go, oh, the Kardashians are in the. No one's laughing.

[Willie Geist]

Hey.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Someone laughed. The camera. I had to say that to my wife when she was holding the phone as I was doing my monologue in my living room. I go, honey, please, fake laugh just for a couple. Just because it feels like everybody's. Just give me something, man.

[Willie Geist]

A monologue without laughs. That's brutal.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Really, like going. It was really learning some lessons there. It was like how to do a show with no audience. I love my audience. I miss them so much. I'm so grateful. Every time that curtain opens, I hear audience, I'm like, ah. It's a. You know, it's just a jolt of adrenaline, you know, I love it. I mean, we do the show. It's a lot of work. It's 260 people work on the show. The Tony Show. 260 people work to make me look good. Writers, we have bookers. We have hair, makeup, lighting, audio, camera operators. It's insane. And it's work and blocking and how Is this thing going to work and doing all this stuff. But once the show's on and the light turns on and the red light goes on, it's like we're putting on the show. It's like. It's like we're little kids again. It's like we're going to do whatever we're going to put out in the show and, like, entertain you guys and make you laugh and make you forget about what's going on with your life, with work, with whatever's happening in the world. Politics. It's like, yeah, I'll make you laugh. That's my job. And hopefully I do my job well.

[Willie Geist]

I think that's what you've been so good at over the years, is that escapism. Because, let's be honest, the last decade has been unpleasant in many ways. I mean, Covid is just one of them. Politics is another of them. So do you view your show as an escape for viewers? Because I have noticed lately you're taking on politics a little bit more and your monologue and things like that.

[Jimmy Fallon]

We do every. I mean, we try to be, you know, hit everything that we possibly can. I wouldn't say our show's a political show. You know, the other guys do that better than I do. They're great at it. But we do a couple good. If we get some good pops here on both sides, you know, they'll make me laugh. You know, it's like we did a Biden impression the other day. Cause he just kind of goes like, come on, man, come on, man. I gotta mumble. Come on, come on. And he mumbles stuff. So we did a bit with him where I was like doing. You know, we had subtitles under what he was saying. And he. He responded.

[Willie Geist]

Oh, he did.

[Jimmy Fallon]

The President responded. And he goes, jimmy, I'm Jimmy Fallon. I'm honored that you to to be spoofed by the number one person in late night. And the fact that Stephen Colbert couldn't do it. You were this next thing. He had a good job.

[Willie Geist]

Wow. POTUS has jokes. Yeah, exactly.

[Jimmy Fallon]

POTUS has jokes. But I mean, to do a bit where the President responds to you, you know, that's always fun. So we try to pick the best jokes that we can. Just don't harp on it too much. And we try to hit as many subjects. So it's almost like you're reading the news and seeing stuff from the Today show or whatever, like things, and you're like, oh, that's what happened today. So I can go to bed knowing what happened in the world, you know, whether it be sports or entertainment, pop culture, you know, and just try to hit everything, make everyone laugh.

[Willie Geist]

I feel like the last time I. You were on this show, we were talking. I think it was 2017, maybe. You were talking about what you just said, which is, the other guys are really good at that political stuff. It's just not natural. It's not who I am. Do you still feel that way?

[Jimmy Fallon]

They have that. They have that in. Yeah, they. In spades. They're. They're fantastic at that. I. I can do sketches, I can sing, I can do impressions. You know, that's my wheelhouse.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I don't even know if I want the other guys doing that. It might be weird if they do that, in fact. So I'm happy that they don't do that. So I do that. That's my landscape. That's what I can contribute to this late night landscape. That's my thing. And I'm happy for that being my thing because looking back on 10 years, I'm proud of the work that we put in, all the stuff we've done. It's crazy. And hopefully we get to do many more years.

[Willie Geist]

You don't want Colbert smashing eggs on Tom Cruise's head.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I don't know if. I don't know if I want that. I don't know if I need it. I don't think he wants it. I don't think he needs it. But, yeah, I want to just. Yeah, I just want to, like, come have a. Have a show where you don't know really what's going to happen. I could do anything. I could do anything. Tonight you go, oh, yeah, that makes sense. Why? Because it's Tonight show is just what he does. He does stuff that makes no sense, but you can do anything. You never know what's gonna happen, whether I'm gonna do a song and dance with Will Ferrell or, you know, who's gonna come out. Janet Jackson's gonna come out and teach me choreograph a dance out of nowhere, which happened two weeks ago.

[Willie Geist]

Yes.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It's just that you don't know what's gonna happen. And there are no rules at this show except that it's gonna be fun.

[Willie Geist]

Stick around for more of my conversation with Jimmy Fallon. Right after a quick break, it's time.

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[Jimmy Fallon]

This week on Meet the Press, as President Trump focuses on his global agenda and questions grow about Elon Musk's role in reshaping the federal government. Kristen Welker sits down with National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Senator Andy Kim, only on Meet the Press. Listen to the full episode now, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Willie Geist]

Welcome back now to the rest of my conversation with Jimmy Fallon. What have you learned over the last decade? Because I grapple with this and people who host shows about being, like, the leader and the face of the show and in your case, kind of the face of NBC. Did that feel like a burden at any time?

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's not why they hired me. You know, when you get hired, you're hired as the entertainer, you know, not the boss. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know how to hire people or fire people or any of that stuff. Like, I don't know anything about. That's why we have other people, you know, so it's interesting to watch, you know, that part of it and learn that part and go like, oh, yeah, I've gotten better at that stuff, you know, but I surround myself with really good people, you know, to, to, to worry about that stuff and take care of all that. But it's been, I mean, I've worked with the same people, basically, for 15 years.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's a rare thing to say for any job. First of all, that you worked at the same job for 15 years. I've been in this building for 25 years, maybe 98.

[Willie Geist]

You started SNL 26.

[Jimmy Fallon]

26 years. More than half my life I've been in this building.

[Willie Geist]

Wild.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It's just wild. Yeah. So I do everybody in this building. So it's, it's wild. And coming through the same doors, how lucky am I? How lucky is that? To. To. To. To be here. And NBC has been great to me. We have a great relationship, and I don't see myself anywhere else but this company. I love it. I know. I know everyone here, so it's like, I'm so happy to see you in the elevator, you know, I know.

[Willie Geist]

I feel that way, too.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It's just fun.

[Willie Geist]

If you're tired or whatever it is, you look down at that carpet in the elevator and you go, oh, right. I get to work with Dirty Rock.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Work at Dirty Rock. This is awesome.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I'll help Al Roker with his bike. His bike coming into the elevator.

[Willie Geist]

Foldable bike. Yeah. Come on.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Now. I'm helping him fold his bike.

[Willie Geist]

He's a machine.

[Jimmy Fallon]

He's up at 3am Doing too much.

[Willie Geist]

Too much, too much.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Get a driver.

[Willie Geist]

So this year you've got 10 years of the Tonight Show.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Oh, I got so much stuff.

[Willie Geist]

50 years of SNL coming up. You have a birthday coming up.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I'm turning 51.

[Willie Geist]

That's around the corner for me too. We're in the same boat on that.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Are you doing anything? Is. People keep asking, are you doing.

[Willie Geist]

It's next year. I don't know. Probably. I can't. I can't do nothing. That's not in our nature. I'm sure my wife is cooking up something.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I. I do something, I don't want it. We always thinking the, the Emmys are around my birthday.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

So if we get a nomination, it'd be fun. You have to get a nomination to go to the Emmys. Turns out I just found that out this year. But if we get a nomination, maybe go to LA and have a big.

[Willie Geist]

Bash, that'd be great.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Everyone will be out there.

[Willie Geist]

There's some Emmy talk this year. You guys are having a good season. That feel good?

[Jimmy Fallon]

It feels good to hear that. That buzz, it brings up morale. I mean, we don't do it really for the awards, but it makes you proud to feel like other people are seeing the hard work you're putting in. And that plus the 10 year special, it's like, it's all kind of. Yeah, it feels good. But if we do get a nomination, I'll. I'll throw a big bash out in LA for my 50th birthday and just do it as a combo party.

[Willie Geist]

There you go.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Why not get involved? But also, I have a book coming out. Yeah, this one. I know we've talked about my books and my novels. They're really just kind of text messages with artwork. If you think about it, I'd say if you put them all together, it's like three sentences. But they are meaningful sentences. You understand, Willie? But this one's five more sleeps till Halloween is what I'm doing this year because I'm getting it for spooky season. It's not as easy. I mean, tight pants again. Two words. Dada, mama. Easy books. They're great. They just come there, dad.

[Willie Geist]

Right there. I noticed that When I walked in, there it is.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That was my. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's probably where it was originated. This probably originated from my daughter. Yeah, she wrote dad that we're currently. She's suing me, so.

[Willie Geist]

Oh, my gosh.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I got good lawyers. I got good lawyers. And I'm going to take. You're down. You know what's funny? I have my. I have the best kids. They're awesome. But I. Franny's 9. How's your kid?

[Willie Geist]

Great. 14 and 16. Yeah, I know. Watch out. That's coming for you. It's coming for you.

[Jimmy Fallon]

So I have two girls at 9 and 10. So the 9 year old Franny was April 1st. I get home before the early enough to put the kids to sleep, which is a great night, you know. So I get home and they go, daddy's here, Daddy's here. And they're running up and hugging me. And you know, the love is the best, the world's the best. Everything's awesome. I love my life. And they go, dad, can you put on a shirt that you don't care if it gets messy? I go, okay. So I already know something's up. So I take my coat off, I put on a T shirt. I don't know what they're gonna do, but. So I'm ready.

[Willie Geist]

Dad. Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I'm in the hallway by the kitchen. She comes across with a paper plate full of whipped cream and slaps me hard across the face. I mean, no real wallop. And whipped cream all over my face, all over the walls. Nothing on the T shirt, of course. I go, what's going? She goes, it's April Fools. I go, that's not how April Fools works. Are you kidding? I go, that's terrible, what you just did. I go, I'm gonna get you back. I'm gonna take a year of my life. I'm gonna really get you back. She goes, do you think I care?

[Willie Geist]

Oh.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And I go, really? Whoa. What's going on? What shows are you watching? Yeah. I go, you will care because guess what? I'm gonna put, like snakes in your bed or something.

[Willie Geist]

Oh, God, Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And I'm gonna do something. And she goes. She goes, I like snakes. I go, oh, yeah. Well, that's it. So anyways, I wiped the whip, I put her down, I talked to her, I kissed her good night. I go, I love you. And I'm leaving. I'm turning the light on. She goes, hey, Dad. I go, yeah. She goes, I don't really like snakes. And I looked at her. I go, do you think I care? Oh, wow. I shut the door.

[Willie Geist]

Wow. How old is she?

[Jimmy Fallon]

She's nine. I'll see her in court.

[Willie Geist]

You brought it. You brought it.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I'm sure this will be brought up. I don't care. You don't mess with me, man. You think I care? You hit me in the face with a whipped cream pie. No. I'm gonna get you back.

[Willie Geist]

By the way, this interview is now evidence in the case. She's got you, man.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Oh, my gosh.

[Willie Geist]

See what he's like?

[Jimmy Fallon]

You're like Andrew Jarecki. Who are you?

[Willie Geist]

You go mumble in the mirror.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, I did it all. I did the whipped cream, I did the snakes. Mike, hot mic, hot mic. You didn't get me on to saying that I put snakes in my girls beds.

[Willie Geist]

You're a bad man. You're a bad man.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Bad, bad man. Of course I am.

[Willie Geist]

Thanks, brother.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You're the best to see you. So much fun. Thank you so much for taking time doing this.

[Willie Geist]

Thanks for having us.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I love you and you're always great. Thank you, bud.

[Willie Geist]

Good to see you. Jimmy and I also took a little look backstage at Studio 6B. Went into his dressing room, which was cool. Showed me around. Yes. There is a sauna in there, which he says he actually never uses, and a secret door. You're just going to hear it, but picture it from his dressing room. Push open a door, and you were suddenly on the stage at the Tonight Show. Now that's VIP access that you'll only get here. So here's Jimmy and me backstage at the Tonight Show.

[Jimmy Fallon]

So this is my dress right here.

[Willie Geist]

This is the room. Yeah, yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It's kind of like being a spaceship or something like that. Yeah, it's a little ceiling. Need to be taller. Sorry about that. But this is.

[Willie Geist]

What's this?

[Jimmy Fallon]

All right, so this is the door here. This. You open this, you open this door here, and you go into the backstage. And then this is a actual fake and you press this and the wall opens.

[Willie Geist]

Come on.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And then here we are. We're out. We're on stage.

[Willie Geist]

It's like one of those secret bookcases.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yes. Isn't this something that you always wanted? Yes. Every kid wants a secret bookcase. Yes. So I go, can we have a secret door, please? Just so. So at the end of the show, I will come out, I'll say hi to everybody, then I'll leave through the secret door. Do you want. Do you want to interview? Do you want to sit behind the.

[Willie Geist]

I can't sit.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You have to sit. No, no, no. People want to see this.

[Willie Geist]

No, no, no.

[Jimmy Fallon]

People have never seen this.

[Willie Geist]

Wrong.

[Jimmy Fallon]

People have not seen that. They want to see Willie, guys behind the desk, and I show. Yes. This would be.

[Willie Geist]

This is a.

[Jimmy Fallon]

This would be my.

[Willie Geist]

Wow.

[Jimmy Fallon]

My pleasure. My honor.

[Willie Geist]

Wow.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah.

[Willie Geist]

Oh, that's nice.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It feels. Yeah, it feels.

[Willie Geist]

It feels good, right?

[Jimmy Fallon]

Powerful.

[Willie Geist]

You're up a little higher now, I see. Aren't you?

[Jimmy Fallon]

The older I'm getting, I'm sure the older I'm getting, I'm actually getting shorter and shorter. Yeah, exactly. You want to be higher than the guests.

[Willie Geist]

Oh, man.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It's kind of fun, right? Yeah, yeah.

[Willie Geist]

It's always so fun to come out here. You are so welcoming, and your whole show, the culture, it's just warm back there.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It's also not as big as everyone thinks. You know, on tv, it looks so much bigger. But the roots are right in front of you.

[Willie Geist]

Yes.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You know, and they're. And they're loud and, like, it's. It's really electric. It's like being in. Well, this is where Johnny Carson did his show, right?

[Willie Geist]

That's right.

[Jimmy Fallon]

For 60 from 1962-72. And I remember when we were redoing this, someone from NBC said, maybe we should add a balcony and put a bar upstairs and make this a screening room or something. I go, I don't want this to be any of that. I want this to be the Tonight show also. I don't want a balcony. I remember talking to Lorne and Lauren was like, you don't want a balcony because that half of the audience is going to miss what's happening down here. They're not going to see it. So you want everyone to experience the same thing. And also, like, 220 tickets is still up. A hot ticket.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

So everyone that gets here, they're. It's. It's. I mean, it's not easy to get a ticket to the show.

[Willie Geist]

And the intimacy as a guest, I can say, is part of the charm of it. Like, you feel like you're in here with a little family of people and there's a cool band and a nice guy hosting the cocktail party.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You can hear each other and you laugh and you're talking. Yeah, exactly. It's fun. It's like. Yeah. And it's. It's. It's. It's good. It's enough space for us. It's well lit, and it's really. We got actually the. The people that did Lincoln Center.

[Willie Geist]

The.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You know, if you've ever been to Lincoln Center. Those walls are like, airtight. So the same people did this with our show. Like this. This right here is all done for a reason. This is all acoustically sound. So some of these are hollow, some of these are filled. This is all here for a reason. That's all done and that's like, soundproofed. All behind the Roots. Like, we can make this so quiet that we could record an album in here if we wanted to. Really? Definitely. Like, we had Yo Yo Ma here with no. No audio. We just picked him up from the crap. Patti LuPone came here once again. She had a microphone, but didn't need it. She just crashed it, melted the walls. It was just.

[Willie Geist]

And musicians love this room.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Springsteen loves this. Yeah, he's loved it. You don't get to play something like this because Jimmy, you know when we're doing the song, because I was like, let's. He goes, do you want to do a 10th Avenue freeze? I go, yeah, let's do 10th Avenue freeze. But the Roots would be great. He goes, you think we can have the audience come down and like, dance with the band? I go, yes. And I look at our security guard. He goes, can we. And my security guy goes, no, absolutely not. That's a fire hazard. I go, okay, can you pretend I didn't? He goes, God, well, he's a good dude. He doesn't work here anymore, but I loved him. And I go with springs, like, come on down. And I said, come. And the whole crowd came down and it was a full on party down here on the floor with the E Street Band and the Roots. And it was loud and people had tambourines and horns and saxophones. And it was just fun, man. It was great.

[Willie Geist]

That's what you want, though, right? That's what you create.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's what we want. That's all we want, is those moments and that electricity, you know, and that. And which is New York City, you know, we. That's. That's why we have the show here. You know, we. It was a big deal to bring it back to New York, you know, because it was such. It was in LA for so long that they didn't want to get rid of it. They're like, no, we can't. It was a Tonight show, right? I work in this building. I work in New York. I work in dirty rock. We got to bring it back here. And they were like, okay. We had. They had to talk to people. It was a big deal. I remember NBC. Like, we got to call you back on this one. But I think we did the right thing. We brought it back. We have that energy. And this is, like. It's a pretty exciting, very New York show.

[Willie Geist]

It is. And that adds to the magic that we were talking about of this building. You got snl, you got the Today show over there. And I think you got. Tonight show is here, too.

[Jimmy Fallon]

We have all these beautiful buildings that this artist made. And I remember going, like, we don't have the Empire State Building. We have every building but the Empire State Building. And I'm looking at it, and I go, wait, I think we have it. And I go, yep. No, that's not it. I go, no, no, here it is. I was. Over here, we have the Empire State Building, and, like, nuts, the Chrysler Building. I go, how embarrassing. We actually don't have it. This is the Empire State. My whole background, bigger than anything in the world on the screen, is the. I go, what an idiot.

[Willie Geist]

Hey, Jimmy. Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah.

[Willie Geist]

Notice I'm not getting up from the seat, but I guess I should before NBC security comes.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I mean, come on. Gracie Abrams is on the show tonight.

[Willie Geist]

Love it.

[Jimmy Fallon]

We started a book club. Yep. You didn't know I could read, right? Yeah.

[Willie Geist]

Not this long anyway. Yeah. That's a big one.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I know. No photos. No pictures either, but it's pretty good. These are all.

[Willie Geist]

This is the books.

[Jimmy Fallon]

This is the books. I mean, this is. This is what I'm talking about. You want.

[Willie Geist]

These are the ones that you say are text messages.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Turn baby over. And this is baby's bottom. There you go.

[Willie Geist]

That's it.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's. I mean, high quality, high class. Keep it, Jimmy.

[Willie Geist]

Huge advance.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Mark Twain. Don't be giving out the Jimmy Fountain prize. I'm trying to think what else is over here.

[Willie Geist]

I feel like you were the guest. We should throw a clip from your.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Oh, yeah.

[Willie Geist]

Your new film, Tax.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Oh, yeah. Let me. Yeah.

[Willie Geist]

This is Jimmy Fallon.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah. By the way. Oh, man. Trying to remember who gave it to me. Somebody from the Today show gave me the actual. From Air Force One. The actual movie list from Air Force One. Tax. It was one of the movies. Really? Yeah. And I meant. I was like. It was the best. I still have it. I was like, wow. They were showing my movie. They were the only people that watched that movie.

[Willie Geist]

Fever Pitch. Underrated, I feel.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Thank you.

[Willie Geist]

I like Fever Pitch.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You like sports.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah, exactly.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You can't make a movie like that anymore. Have a team that hasn't won in 86 years as you're filming. They win. It was the craziest experience of my life.

[Willie Geist]

And you ran on the field, Right.

[Jimmy Fallon]

We went over budget. We went over budget, so we couldn't even afford cameras. We had to ask Fox because it was a Fox movie. Can we use your cameras to shoot this movie? We're making like, perfect. They go, just one deal. Don't cut to them, really, in live tv because they're acting in the movie and they're like, no problem. Cut to the Real World series. Drew and I are like making out or something on second base and they air that and everyone's going, why are they there? What's going on? It's like very confusing for everyone. Very confusing for everyone involved, but.

[Willie Geist]

So you and me go take a steam real quick and then we'll get you off to work.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I'm telling you, it's a one man steam room. But we can make it work, man. We can see what's up. Should we go to a clip? So this is the four Leaf clover. Used to be a star. And I figured I just need all the luck I can get. So I made it a four leaf clove. So I stand over that every night. And the roots are right there. I mean, they think it's.

[Willie Geist]

I mean, further away there.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, yeah. Was it 1, 2, 3, 4? 4ft, 4 or 5? Yeah, I'd say. Yeah. I mean, how tall am I? I'm six. So let's go.

[Willie Geist]

Oh, oh, we're doing that.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah.

[Willie Geist]

Hold on.

[Jimmy Fallon]

So it's one of me here and then I'm six three. Yeah, so you're six three. So it's like probably 12.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah, let's call it 12.

[Jimmy Fallon]

12Ft. Yeah, 12ft away from the roots. Perfect.

[Willie Geist]

There we go.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Let's go measure other things with our bodies. Yeah. So this is good here. These are like. Yeah, these are the seats. These are the same seats. You'll see. I don't know if you. Have you been to the ride in Universal?

[Willie Geist]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I mean, if we have our own roller coaster, and I'm not just saying this, I think we have the best roller coaster based on a talk show. And I. You can quote me on that. I really think that ours is up there. But you. But when you're on these things, this. These are the red leather seats that you see in the. In on the ride. If you are in.

[Willie Geist]

That's right.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Orlando, Florida, and want to do a really fun ride for the whole family, even if it's raining. We're an indoor ride. We're a simulator.

[Willie Geist]

That's right.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Do it. It's worth it.

[Willie Geist]

You'll love it through the Streets of New York. Yes.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, we go to space.

[Willie Geist]

Sure.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You can cross over here. Yeah, we. We. We came up with that because when I first came on as this is before I was at NBC. Was. Wasn't NBC Universal?

[Willie Geist]

Right.

[Jimmy Fallon]

So then when I came out, I'm like, oh, it's NBC Universal. I go, I should have my own ride. So I go, can I have a meeting with the ride people? And they're like, this guy's gonna be trouble already. So I met with Mark Woodbury through, like, a Zoom theme way before Zoom was on. I was. And I pitched them all this idea of racing through New York and blah, blah, blah, almost like the Soarin ride in Disneyland or something like that. And they go, this is great. This is so exciting. But no, we're not gonna do it. We don't really know who you are, but good luck in your show, Jerry. I go with Jimmy and whatever. We're gonna miss Conan. I go, I know. And so I did the show, and then we did pretty well. And then we got the Tonight show, and I get the phone call from the roller coaster.

[Willie Geist]

That's a big moment.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And I go, oh, do you want to go? Yeah, I got my papers. I'm like, just do it. And we wrote it with these community. We have to spend this two years it took to do it. We shot all the screen. Screen stuff in Vancouver and.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Made this whole thing. And we had to test out the ride so people aren't getting too sick.

[Willie Geist]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And then we had it. We pumped in pizza smell. There's a pizza smell when you stop at the pizzeria and they're throwing slices in the camera. And then at the end, we also had a smell. We had. There's. There's fireworks. So we had a fireworks scent, but then that was conflicting with the pizza scent. They're fighting, and it was smelling like garbage. So people were getting sick on that, too. So, yeah, there's all the stuff that goes into a roller coaster.

[Willie Geist]

Incredible.

[Jimmy Fallon]

But then they made a fake 30 rock. Yeah, it's really. It's a good ride.

[Willie Geist]

It's a really good ride. It's a premium spot, kind of right as you walk.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yes. Yeah. It's a good. Again, as far as talk shows go.

[Willie Geist]

I love that you led when you got the job with. I'd like a ride at the amusement park. Like, hey, man, let's. Let's work on the monologue.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah. Try to be a success for first, and then we'll give you a roller coaster. Who is this guy's Troublemaker. This is where our producers sit right here. And they we, we text back and forth during the show, make sure we're on time and blah, blah. We got to make sure that we have mints here, you know.

[Willie Geist]

Oh, you do. A classic.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah. Well, throwing a high shoe. This is a gift for you.

[Willie Geist]

No, no, no. You have the last one.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I want you to have a good day. Have a high chew. Come on.

[Willie Geist]

The greatest My big thanks to Jimmy for a great conversation, for showing us around backstage. You can catch watch the 10th anniversary Tonight show special that airs Tuesday, May 14 at 9pm on NBC. And of course, five nights a week you can watch Jimmy hosting the Tonight show on NBC and also streaming on Peacock. My thanks to all of you for listening again this week. If you want to hear more of these conversations with our guests every week, be sure to click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday Today, everybody, every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit down podcast. High Five Casino lets you play your favorite slot and live table games like blackjack with the chance to redeem for real cash prizes. High Five Casino has a giant selection of over 1200 games, including hundreds of exclusive games only found on High Five Casino. It's always free to play and free coins are given out every four hours. Ready to have your own high five moment? Visit high five casino.com that's high the number five casino.com no purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law. Must be 21 years or older. Terms and conditions apply.