31: Vault: Jimmy Fallon Interview

Summary

The Bert Show – Vault: Jimmy Fallon Interview

Episode Date: May 18, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this nostalgic throwback episode, The Bert Show team welcomes Jimmy Fallon for a candid and humorous interview. The conversation is equal parts irreverent and insightful, with Fallon discussing his upstate New York roots, life in small-town America, the evolution and daily grind of hosting his own late-night show, and the unique balance of a showbiz marriage. The hosts and Fallon riff on everything from Thanksgiving hookups to upstate snowstorms, peppered with personal stories and trademark wit.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. "Hometown Hookup" and Thanksgiving Traditions

• [02:02] The hosts explain the concept of a "hometown hookup," i.e., meeting a "sure thing"—an old flame—when returning home for Thanksgiving.
• Fallon's Take:
  • "Well, it's like a yearly gift." (Jimmy Fallon, [02:28])
  • Fallon shares his own experiences visiting his hometown, noting he often avoided the ritual "high school reunion at the one bar" because he wasn't close to classmates during his school years.

2. Growing Up in Upstate New York

• [03:04] Jimmy reflects on his hometown of Saugerties, NY—describing it as “very, like, Little House in the Prairie-ish.”
• Changing Fortunes of Small Towns:
  • Talks about the local economy: “It got really depressed for a while because there was an IBM plant that closed...and now, rich people are living there again.” (Jimmy Fallon, [03:19])
  • Shares a local anecdote: “My friend who, like, owns a pizzeria is like, dude, I sold Meryl Streep a pizza.” ([03:44])
• Economic Dependency: Host draws a parallel to Bradford, PA and the Zippo lighter factory, highlighting how one anchor business can make or break a town. Fallon agrees, painting a vivid (and comic) image of tumbleweeds: “Do you think they opened up a tumbleweed manufacturer?” ([04:10])

3. Surviving Upstate Winters

• [04:26–05:34] Co-host and Fallon bond over brutal upstate winters:
  • “I was stuck in someone’s house for, like, three days. Humans should live here. Most people. This is crazy.” (Fallon, [04:50])
  • “[My parents] put snowdrifts...and once or twice per winter...they physically can’t leave the house.” (Co-host from Syracuse, [05:01])
  • “You’re not even joking. It’s like 19 ft of snow.” (Jimmy Fallon, [05:23])
  • On the South’s snow response: “People freak out like it’s the apocalypse. Right. It’s 2012. Where’s John Cusack?” (Fallon, [05:40])

4. The Art & Evolution of Hosting Late Night

• Starting Out:
  • “It’s A lot of work. If you want to do good stuff, you just gotta really put your time in… I didn’t know what I was doing when I first started.” (Fallon, [06:07])
  • First guest nerves: “I remember when I was talking to Robert De Niro… at the two minute mark, I have two minutes left… I’ve asked him every single question that I have written down, and I just start freaking out… Do I bring up the Godfather? I mean, what do I do?” ([06:20])
• Getting Better:
  • “But now I’m so much better at it… I think our writers are hitting their stride... And the band has always been great… It’s just me that just needs to get better.” ([06:48])
• Rumor Busting:
  • Rumor the writing staff was replaced: “No. Same exact people...I would never change anyone over.” ([07:16])

5. Behind the Scenes: Producing a Show

• Daily Routine:
  • “From 10 in the morning till 3 o’clock in the afternoon is all writing and prep. From 3 to 5 is rehearsal. And then from 5:30 to 6:30 is when we tape.” ([08:30])
  • "At nighttime after the show, we have a quick post mortem... and then we do pre-tapes" ([08:47])
• Comedy Bits:
  • The Neil Young “Fresh Prince” gag: “My friend Mike Descenzo...was like, I think you should do Neil Young singing the theme song from Fresh Prince of Bel Air. And so that’s what we ended up doing...We faked out, like, Hollywood Reporter...They were like, ‘I don’t know how Jimmy Fallon convinced Neil Young to do this!’” ([07:32–08:19])

6. Balancing Work and Marriage

• Wife’s Career:
  • “She’s a producer. She works with Drew Barrymore and Flower Films. A lot of her business is out in LA...” ([09:13])
• Managing Time Zones:
  • “Meetings start at like 6 o'clock LA time. So it's 9 o'clock New York time. So she's on the phone from like 9 to 10:30 almost every night...” ([09:13])
• On Relationship Balance in Showbiz:
  • Host jokes about barely talking and just BlackBerrying each other; Fallon laughs and says: “I have seen her, though. I have seen her before and she looks great. I’m very happy... But it’s very time consuming if you really want the show to work.” ([09:43])

7. Upcoming Thanksgiving Shows and Guests

• Dedication:
  • “We’re working Thanksgiving Day, we’re working, we’re doing the float and then we’re doing a show Thanksgiving night... We have Robin Williams as a guest...We have two brand new shows.” ([10:07])
  • “I’m just going to let him [Robin Williams] go and just walk off the stage.” ([10:26])
• Closing Thoughts:
  • Fallon expresses gratitude for the radio support: “Which is why, you know, I like doing radio and I appreciate you guys having me on because it gets me out to an audience that would normally never hear me.” ([09:56])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On hometown hookups:
  • “Well, it’s like a yearly gift.” —Jimmy Fallon ([02:28])
• On realizing he didn’t know his high school classmates:
  • “I never hung out with these people when I was in high school, right? I’m like, I’m not gonna go out.” —Jimmy Fallon ([02:41])
• On economic collapse:
  • “It got really depressed for a while because there was an IBM plant that closed...now rich people are living there again.” —Jimmy Fallon ([03:19])
• On selling pizza to celebrities:
  • “My friend who, like, owns a pizzeria is like, dude, I sold Meryl Streep a pizza.” —Jimmy Fallon ([03:44])
• On snowbound small towns:
  • “I was stuck in someone’s house for, like, three days. Humans should live here. Most people. This is crazy.” —Jimmy Fallon ([04:50])
  • “People freak out like it’s the apocalypse. Right. It’s 2012. Where’s John Cusack?” —Jimmy Fallon ([05:40])
• On his talk show beginnings:
  • “I didn’t know what I was doing when I first started.” —Jimmy Fallon ([06:07])
  • “I remember when I was talking to Robert De Niro… I’ve asked him every single question that I have written down, and I just start freaking out…” —Jimmy Fallon ([06:20])
• On behind the scenes:
  • “From 10 in the morning till 3 o’clock in the afternoon is all writing and prep ... I’m at home by like 11:30 midnight most nights.” —Jimmy Fallon ([08:30])
• On prank journalism:
  • “We faked out, like, Hollywood Reporter...” —Jimmy Fallon ([08:02])
• On work-life balance:
  • “I have seen her, though. I have seen her before and she looks great. I’m very happy.” —Jimmy Fallon ([09:43])
• On Robin Williams:
  • “I’m just going to let him go and just walk off the stage.” —Jimmy Fallon ([10:26])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:56 – Jimmy Fallon joins the show
• 02:02–03:16 – Hometown traditions and upstate memories
• 03:19–04:44 – Small town economics and local flavor
• 04:26–05:34 – Snow stories: Surviving and escaping upstate winters
• 06:01–07:09 – Taking over late-night: Growing pains & learning curves
• 07:32–08:19 – Comedy bits and writer’s room shenanigans
• 08:30–09:08 – A day in the life of a late-night show host
• 09:10–09:43 – Marriage and maintaining long-distance relationships
• 10:07–10:45 – Holiday work ethic & excitement about Robin Williams
• 10:51–11:00 – Closing thanks and well-wishes

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Final Thoughts

This interview captures the signature chemistry and spontaneity of The Bert Show, combined with Jimmy Fallon's self-deprecating humor and transparency. Listeners come away with a behind-the-scenes peek at late-night TV production, relatable tales of hometown life, and the perseverance needed to succeed in entertainment. Fallon's gratitude for fans and his easy rapport with the cast make this episode an engaging snapshot of a beloved TV personality finding his groove—while never forgetting where he came from.

Transcript

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[Radio Show Host]

Is that Jimmy Fallon on the warm line? Because we can go right to him.

[Co-host from Syracuse]

Sure, let's go.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Let's go talk to him.

[Co-host from Syracuse]

Let me make sure it's him.

[Radio Show Host]

Oh, that's funny.

[Podcast Host]

That was funny.

[Co-host from Syracuse]

Good for her.

[Radio Show Host]

Jen hobby has an exciting weekend coming up. Also we can tell you about in about 15 minutes.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I don't know.

[Commercial Announcer]

I'm sick. I don't think it's gonna be all that exciting.

[Radio Show Host]

But you don't feel like you're 100 right now.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Beyond with Jimmy Fallon.

[Radio Show Host]

Give it a couple days. Okay, here's Jimmy Fallon. Hey, Jimmy Fallon.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Hey, guys. How are You. Thanks for having me on.

[Radio Show Host]

Good man. We were just talking about the hometown hookup. You know what that's all about?

[Jimmy Fallon]

I don't know. No.

[Radio Show Host]

Here's the hometown hookup. You know, you got like a whole bunch of people that live here in Atlanta or whatever, but they may be from, like, Syracuse, New York, Seattle, somewhere else. Right?

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah.

[Radio Show Host]

And every Thanksgiving, you go home to spend time with family, but you. You also have the sure thing when you get there. It's somebody that you don't even talk to for the entire year. But it's. It's physical. You know, it's going to happen. They know it's going to happen. And it's guaranteed every time you go back home.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Well, it's like a yearly gift.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah, exactly.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's pretty good. And that you just grow old together, kind of.

[Radio Show Host]

Yes. Sort of. Like, we just talked to a woman that her sure thing is her ex husband, and it's been happening every Thanksgiving for 13 years.

[Jimmy Fallon]

How romantic. It's like the Notebook. It's a Thanksgiving tradition. Get together. Yeah. Yeah. They used to do that in my hometown, too. Just everyone, just like the high school get together at one bar and just meets up at this bar. But I realized, like, I never hung out with these people when I was in high school, right. I'm like, I'm not gonna go out. So I never go out. I never went out. When I went home, my sister would go out, though.

[Radio Show Host]

Where was home for you, Socrates?

[Jimmy Fallon]

New York. It's upstate New York, right by Woodstock and Poughkeepsie and all that stuff. It was a small town, great place to grow up. Very, like, Little House in the Prairie. Ish.

[Commercial Announcer]

Do you still go home there?

[Jimmy Fallon]

Say it again.

[Commercial Announcer]

Do you still go home there for the holidays?

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, absolutely. My parents still live there, and I visit now and then. It's a great, really cool place. It got really depressed for a while because there was an IBM plant that closed and everyone got laid off. Everyone's parents got laid off. And like all my friends parents were laid off. And it just became depressing and poor. And then now they did some equestrian horse thing or something, and now rich people are living there again.

[Radio Show Host]

Oh, really?

[Jimmy Fallon]

My friend who, like, owns a pizzeria is like, dude, I sold Meryl Streep besides the pizza. I can't believe this. Like, awesome. And no one can pay their taxes. And it's just.

[Radio Show Host]

Again, every one of those little towns generally has one piece of business that keeps the whole town together. Like, my wife is from a town called Bradford Pennsylvania. And the Zippo lighter factory is there. And everybody that lives in Bradford works at the Zippo lighter factory. And if it goes down, that town is shut down, man.

[Commercial Announcer]

Lights out.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It's sad. It's like. It's just. Yeah, it shuts the whole thing down. Like, it was depressing. There were like. I don't know, there were tumbleweeds. I know it doesn't sound real, but there were tumbleweeds going down the street. Do you think they opened up a tumbleweed manufacturer?

[Co-host from Syracuse]

I'm originally from Syracuse. And do you think part of the depression had to do with the fact that it snows there from September to May?

[Jimmy Fallon]

Dude. I was stuck in Tully. Do you know where Tully is?

[Dish Network Advertiser]

Yes.

[Co-host from Syracuse]

I grew up, right, like, five miles. I grew up in Nedro, which is five miles north of Tully.

[Jimmy Fallon]

All right, well, I'm so glad because no one else has lived to tell the tale. You guys live through, like, 12 foot snowdrifts and weird stuff like that?

[Co-host from Syracuse]

Yes.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's insane.

[Co-host from Syracuse]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I was stuck in someone's house for, like, three days. Humans should live here. Most people. This is crazy. My parents put snowdrifts.

[Co-host from Syracuse]

They still live there. And once or twice per winter, I will talk to them and try to convince them to come down. And they say, well, we can't, because the plows came by. So not only can they not come down, but they physically can't leave the house.

[Jimmy Fallon]

They plow them in the driveway.

[Co-host from Syracuse]

Yeah. Like 19ft of snow. And you have to almost dig a doorway to get to the street just to pick up your new snow.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You're not even joking. It's like 19ft of snow.

[Commercial Announcer]

Wow.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It's like the craziest thing I've ever seen in my life. So I'm like, I love. I love Syracuse and all that, but you got to pick your month when you're going to go visit.

[Radio Show Host]

That's why you understand when Northerners move down here and there's like a dusting of snow and all the schools shut down.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Shut down. People freak out like it's the apocalypse. Right. It's 2012. Where's John Cusack?

[Co-host from Syracuse]

I'm pretty sure that the Syracuse Tully Saugerties Chamber of Commerce will not be hiring Jimmy Fallon or.

[Radio Show Host]

I

[Jimmy Fallon]

don't do that. But I love my hometown. I'll give Saugerties props all day long.

[Radio Show Host]

How's the show going, man? Is it everything that you thought it would be? Is it a lot different than you thought it was gonna be?

[Jimmy Fallon]

It's super. It's A lot of work. If you want to do good stuff, you just gotta really put your time in, you know, it's like. Like any job, I'm getting better at it. You know, I didn't know what I was doing when I first started. You know, I got in there, I didn't know how to interview somebody and, you know, just talk to them for six minutes, you know. You know, I remember when I was talking to Robert De Niro was my first guest, and he's nice enough to do the show. It's a great guy. But at the two minute mark, I have two minutes left to the interview. I've asked him every single question that I have written down, and I just start freaking out and just like, what do I say? Do I bring up the Godfather? I mean, what do I do? Raging Bull? I mean, this is embarrassing.

[Co-host from Syracuse]

You should always just say, have you ever been to Tully, New York, by the way?

[Jimmy Fallon]

I'm writing it down now. That's my go to question. But now I'm so much better at it. And it's like, I think our writers are hitting their stride now. And the band has always been great, but I think people are tuning in. Ratings are always been great. It's just me that just needs to get better. I think right now we're hitting our stride. I'm doing much better.

[Commercial Announcer]

I heard or read somewhere a rumor that you have turned over your entire writing staff from the beginning till now. Is that true?

[Jimmy Fallon]

No. Same exact people.

[Commercial Announcer]

Oh, okay.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Oh, yeah. We. Nothing's changed at all. No, I would never change anyone over. I loved writing from the start. But I mean, just like any job, you just gotta settle in and just. You gotta find your. Find your. Find your way.

[Radio Show Host]

Like, what?

[Jimmy Fallon]

I mean, like, we just did this bit. My friend Mike Descenzo, who's a writer, he was like, I think you should do Neil Young singing the theme song from Fresh Prince of Bel Air. And so that's what we ended up doing. And I actually. We just announced me as Neil Young, and it faked people out. There were, like, three blogs that thought Neil Young came on our show and sang the theme song of Fresh. Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

[Radio Show Host]

I saw the video. I just saw a clip of it on Huffington Post this morning. It's really, really funny. It's really funny.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It's ridiculous. And, like, we faked out, like, Hollywood Reporter, and like, they were like, I don't know how Jimmy Sean convinced Neil Young to do this. This is insane. He's singing the theme song to Fresh Prince. I was like, what? And they've since corrected it, but oh my God, we printed out all that because we were just laughing in the office. Like, this is great.

[Radio Show Host]

How much time goes into preparing for one show? Because I think people tune in, they see an hour show and they're like, how much time can they really be prepping for a show like that? How much is prep time and how much is actual air time?

[Jimmy Fallon]

From 10 in the morning till 3 o' clock in the afternoon is all writing and Prep. And from 3 to 5 is rehearsal. And then from 5:30 to 6:30 is when we tape. So it usually starts at 10 in the morning. We go from there and then at nighttime after the show, we have a quick post mortem if something wasn't good on the show. And then we do pre tapes. Like, you know, if I'm going to do like for spoofing the Real Housewives, you know, we all get dressed up as women and it takes like, you know, an hour to get into makeup and then we shoot for three hours. I'm at home by like 11:30 midnight most nights.

[Radio Show Host]

And do you have family?

[Jimmy Fallon]

I have a wife, yeah.

[Radio Show Host]

Oh, how's she handling all this?

[Jimmy Fallon]

She's kind of cool, to be honest. She's a. She's a producer. She works with Drew Barrymore and Flower Films. And so she. A lot of her business is out in LA, so meetings start at like 6:00', clock, LA time. So it's 9:00 o' clock New York time. So she's on the phone from like 9 to 10:30 almost every night doing business meetings.

[Radio Show Host]

This may be the one way that relationships in Hollywood will work is if you guys barely talk to each other and just BlackBerry each other.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I have seen her, though. I have seen her before and she looks great. I'm very happy. But she's super rad. We're having the best time now and it's like. But it's very time consuming if you really want the show to work. Which is why, you know, I like doing radio and I appreciate you guys having me on because it gets me out to an audience that would normally never hear me. So I appreciate this.

[Radio Show Host]

Sure.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And we're working Thanksgiving Day, we're working, we're doing the float and then we're doing a show Thanksgiving night. We're going to be live. We have Robin Williams as a guest, which a lot of shows aren't going live Thanksgiving or the night after. We have two brand new shows.

[Radio Show Host]

That's such an easy show for you, man. You put Robin Williams on There. You don't have to do anything.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Oh, yes. It's a beautiful thing. Yes. Suddenly the kid at home going, go fuck away. Yeah. Yes. And 1, 2, 3. And Adam Lambert and yes. Okay, perfect. It's going to be fantastic. It's going to be. I'm just going to let him go and just walk off the stage. Yes, exactly. I can't wait. Yeah, he's. I love Rob Williams. I'm so excited. It's going to be fun.

[Radio Show Host]

Well, good luck with the show, man, and continued success with it. You said the ratings are great on it and I hope it's. It continues, man.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for having me on. I really, really appreciate it, guys. And I'll shout out to Tully. Okay. Yeah, perfect.

[Radio Show Host]

Take care, man.

[Co-host from Syracuse]

Take care.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Bye, guys.

[Radio Show Host]

Jimmy Fallon.

[Commercial Announcer]

Aw, you wanna root for him? So sweet.

[Co-host from Syracuse]

Is he gone?

[Radio Show Host]

He is, yeah.

[Co-host from Syracuse]

When his show first came on, it was tough to watch for a while. Cause I remember I told you guys I was following him on Twitter and you could watch the building of the show, the architecture of it, and him getting ready for it and ramped up and I had it on TiVo and I gave it like every episode for the first month and it's still got a season pass. And I go back to it now more often than I have been. It's definitely getting better, but I think

[Radio Show Host]

he'd tell you that sounds like he was saying the same thing, that he sucked at it at first, but he's getting better now.

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