192-471: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is an American late-night talk show hosted by actor and comedian Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC . The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television . It is the seventh incarnation of NBC's long-running Tonight Show franchise , with Fallon serving as the sixth host. The show also stars sidekick and announcer Steve Higgins and house band The Roots . The Tonight Show
384-526: A Grammy Award nomination. In 2015, she co-created the comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt . Fey also created the musical adaptation Mean Girls , which premiered on Broadway in 2018, and earned her a Tony Award nomination. She later adapted the stage production into a 2024 musical film of the same name. Fey has received numerous accolades , including nine Primetime Emmy Awards , three Golden Globe Awards , five Screen Actors Guild Awards , and seven Writers Guild of America Awards . She appeared on
576-595: A lead-out program from NBC's broadcast of Super Bowl XLIX . The show included an appearance by Arnold Schwarzenegger , a lip-sync battle with Kevin Hart and Will Ferrell , appearances by Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots players, and a performance by Ariana Grande . In September 2016, Fallon faced criticism after an interview with the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump . Critics accused Fallon of humanising Trump, who had made controversial statements during
768-553: A seating capacity of around 240, up from 189, but smaller than the seating capacity of The Late Late Show . The investment also included a new control room and a new lobby to welcome guests. The larger audience also meant NBC could take advantage of a newly enacted New York state tax credit for talk shows that are "filmed before a studio audience of at least 200, as long as they carry a production budget of at least $ 30 million and have been shot outside New York for at least five seasons." Fallon's Late Night successor, Seth Meyers ,
960-598: A 1998 episode, and after watching herself, decided to diet and lost 30 pounds. She told The New York Times , "I was a completely normal weight, but I was here in New York City, I had money and I couldn't buy any clothes. After I lost weight, there was interest in putting me on camera." In 1999, McKay stepped down as head writer, which led Michaels to approach Fey for the position. She became SNL ' s first female head writer. In January 2001, she appeared on an episode of Real World/Road Rules Extreme Challenge as
1152-525: A 33-year career on late-night TV, and was succeeded the following September by Stephen Colbert—who departed from Comedy Central and The Colbert Report to host the program. On August 6, 2015, Jon Stewart also retired from The Daily Show (being succeeded by fellow cast member and South African comedian Trevor Noah ), joining The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as an executive producer and occasional contributor. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert achieved critical and ratings successes for its satire of
1344-457: A Carson competitor, CBS's The Pat Sajak Show , lasted less than 16 months, debuting in 1989 and being canceled in 1990. ABC opted not to compete against Carson with a late-night talk show; in 1980, it produced a pilot of a Richard Dawson -hosted show called Bizarre (it instead went to series on Showtime with John Byner as host) and, for two years, carried the weekly sketch comedy series Fridays . ABC instead counterprogrammed Carson with
1536-575: A Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series . From September to November 2008, Fey made multiple guest appearances on SNL to perform a series of parodies of Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin . On the 34th-season premiere episode, aired September 13, 2008, Fey imitated Palin in a sketch, alongside Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton . Their repartee included Clinton needling Palin about her "Tina Fey glasses". The sketch quickly became NBC 's most-watched viral video , with 5.7 million views by
1728-597: A battle with network executives, leading to her being replaced by Arsenio Hall . Hall performed extremely well among viewers in the 18–49 demographic; however, Fox had already greenlit The Wilton North Report to replace The Late Show , leading to Hall hosting his own late-night talk show in syndication after The Late Show was canceled in 1988. The Late Show continued with several unknown hosts until its cancellation. Hall's syndicated show, The Arsenio Hall Show , began in syndication in 1988, becoming more popular among younger viewers than Carson. The last network attempt at
1920-447: A brother, Peter, who is eight years older. Fey describes encountering comedy early: I remember my parents sneaking me in to see Young Frankenstein . We would also watch Saturday Night Live , or Monty Python , or old Marx Brothers movies. My dad would let us stay up late to watch The Honeymooners . We were not allowed to watch The Flintstones though: my dad hated it because it ripped off The Honeymooners . I actually have
2112-435: A buildup, with Guy playing a back and forth glissando between two notes on his trumpet. A few seconds later, the shot cuts to Higgins, who points towards the curtains and introduces Fallon with a drawn-out "And now, here's your host/here he is, Jimmy Fallon!" The curtains then part, revealing Fallon, who walks out to the cheering audience. Higgins also applauds for Fallon, and The Roots continue playing "Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey". After
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#17328686075152304-487: A bumbling prosecutor in reference to Marcia Clark . In the second season, Fey joined the cast in the role of Kimmy's psychiatrist Andrea Bayden, a role she reprised for season three. The season, along with the subsequent two seasons, were nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series , among other nominations. The fourth and final season concluded on January 25, 2019. On May 8, 2019, it
2496-622: A cappella versions of popular songs performed by Fallon and the Roots, have also been popular. The show's most widely circulated interview segment was one aired in January 2015 with actress Nicole Kidman , who jokingly revealed that she once had a crush on Fallon, to which, at the time, he was oblivious. On February 1, 2015, the show aired its first live show from the Orpheum Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona as
2688-450: A concert series, The Midnight Special , that aired Friday nights, and a low-cost talk show, The Tomorrow Show , hosted by Tom Snyder , that aired Mondays through Thursdays. Both shows aired immediately following Carson's Tonight Show at 1:00 a.m. ET . Tomorrow was different from The Tonight Show . For instance, the show originally featured no studio audience, while Snyder would conduct one-on-one interviews (Snyder's guest list
2880-614: A desire to write and direct films. In 2006, Fey worked on a script for Paramount Pictures , which was to feature Sacha Baron Cohen , by the name of Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill , based loosely on the true story of a Hasidic rock musician. In 2007, she was cast in the animated comedy film Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters as the Aqua Teens' mother, a giant burrito . She received her SAG card after appearing in Artie Lange's Beer League released in 2006, in which she
3072-474: A fault, and he treated his Tonight Show launch very much like a guy auditioning to be accepted into homes," said Brian Lowry of Variety , who considered the premiere episode a demonstration in Fallon's strengths and weaknesses. The first season of the show was deemed "wildly successful". Entertainment Weekly summarized the show's inaugural year: "In his first year as host of The Tonight Show , [Fallon] turned
3264-538: A featured player in the Chicago-based improvisational comedy group The Second City . She joined Saturday Night Live ( SNL ) as a writer, later becoming head writer and a performer, appearing as co-anchor in the Weekend Update segment and, later, developing a satirical portrayal of 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in subsequent guest appearances. In 2004, she co-starred in and wrote
3456-488: A few ways from the format which Leno used for his show. Fallon's edition places less emphasis on his opening monologue, a feature which was a staple of the Leno edition. In his opening episode, in which he described what the format of the show would be, he only briefly mentioned the monologue. The show has many recurring segments and games that are played with the various celebrity guests. The most popular of these, "Lip Sync Battle",
3648-458: A format that migrated to television from radio, where it had been the dominant form of light entertainment during most of the old-time radio era. The Pepsodent Show , which opened each weekly episode with host Bob Hope 's rapid-fire, topical and often political observational comedy , was a particularly important predecessor to the late-night format. Early television variety shows included The Ed Sullivan Show (originally known as Toast of
3840-505: A former cast member from 1998 to 2004 on Saturday Night Live , was appointed as the third host of Late Night by executive producer Lorne Michaels in 2009 when O'Brien moved to Tonight (only for a little over a year). Fallon incorporated the Internet much more than other talk shows. Between Fallon's own musical sensibilities and the recruitment of his house band , hip-hop collective The Roots , his incarnation of Late Night "evolved into
4032-520: A great show. Everybody, give it up for The Roots!" The band then plays briefly as Fallon walks over to his desk. On March 20, 2019, the title sequence was dropped and replaced by an abbreviated version of the introduction, which begins with a shot of the curtain and Higgins introducing Fallon with "Welcome to The Tonight Show ! And here's your host, Jimmy Fallon!", with a condensed version of "Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey" played by The Roots as he walks out. In an exclusive interview with Variety , Fallon stated that
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#17328686075154224-735: A guest appearance in the Sesame Street episode "The Bookaneers". She appeared as a guest judge on the November 25, 2007, episode of the Food Network program Iron Chef America . Fey has appeared as Tinker Bell in Disney 's campaign "Year of a Million Dreams." She has also done commercials for American Express and Garnier Nutrisse . Fey also had guest voice roles in the animated comedy series SpongeBob SquarePants and Phineas and Ferb . On April 5, 2011, Fey's autobiography, Bossypants ,
4416-507: A guest artist. Late-night talk shows are a widely-viewed format in the United States, but are not as prominent in other parts of the world. Shows that loosely resemble the format air in other countries, but generally air weekly as opposed to the nightly airings of those in the United States. They also generally air in time slots considered to be prime time in the United States. Late-night talk shows had their genesis in early variety shows,
4608-487: A hilarious, pitch-perfect success as they play off each other with quick one-liners and deadpan delivery". The 2005–2006 season was her last; she departed to develop 30 Rock for Broadway Video . At the time she left, the 117 episodes she co-hosted made her SNL ' s longest-serving Weekend Update anchor, a mark that would later be passed by her replacement, Seth Meyers . In Rolling Stone ' s February 2015 appraisal of all 141 SNL cast members to date, Fey
4800-467: A host of, a slated replacement show (see below). Many late-night talk shows went off the air in the days following the September 11 attacks of 2001, while their networks aired round-the-clock news coverage. Letterman was the first to return on September 17, addressing the situation in an opening monologue. The show was not presented in its normal jovial manner, and featured Dan Rather , Regis Philbin , and
4992-465: A judge of a comedy-based mission. In 2000, Fey began performing in sketches, and she and Jimmy Fallon became co-anchors of SNL ' s Weekend Update segment. Fey said she did not ask to audition, but that Michaels approached her. Michaels explained that there was chemistry between Fey and Fallon, though he felt the decision was "kind of risky" at the time. Her role in Weekend Update
5184-421: A mid-century modern style," including "a slate blue couch, a handsome honey-colored wood desk and matching walls." Behind the desk near the city backdrop is a wood-carved miniature replica of New York City skyscrapers. "I think it's Eugene Lee's masterpiece," said producer Michaels. Fallon's monologue spot is noted by a painted four-leaf clover on the floor. "Fallon's new set is purposefully old-fashioned compared to
5376-410: A modified version of that show's set. After leaving NBC, O'Brien began hosting his new late night talk show, Conan , on TBS on November 8, 2010, after the non-compete clause in his NBC contract had lapsed. In March 2013, news broke that NBC was expected to part ways with Leno for good after his contract expired in 2014, clearing the way for Fallon (whose tenure at Late Night had found success with
5568-473: A musical performance from Tori Amos . Politically Incorrect also resumed on September 17 and immediately drew controversy due to remarks Maher and a guest ( Dinesh D'Souza ) made concerning the "coward" label given to the terrorists by President George W. Bush . The Tonight Show returned the following night, featuring John McCain and a performance from Crosby, Stills, and Nash . After NBC's placeholding run of SCTV at 1:35 a.m. came to an end after
5760-511: A musical performance or stand-up comedy. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon attracted high ratings from its 2014 premiere. Many moments from the show have generated viral videos . The show has been nominated for nine Primetime Emmy Awards , winning two. On May 17, 2021, NBC renewed the show for five more years through 2026. On June 13, 2024, NBC extended Fallon's contract to host until 2028. The Tonight Show premiered on NBC in 1954 as Tonight , hosted by Steve Allen . Jack Paar hosted
5952-607: A new prime time talk show on NBC, The Jay Leno Show . It aired on weeknights at 10 p.m. ET/PT before late local news and The Tonight Show , and featured sketches and elements carried over from his tenure. The program faced dismal ratings, which also led to complaints from NBC affiliates that it was impacting the viewership of their late local newscasts. On January 7, 2010, multiple media outlets reported that The Jay Leno Show would be moved to 11:35 p.m. and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien would be moved from 11:35 p.m. to 12:05 a.m. effective March 1, 2010,
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6144-511: A new extended score of "Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey", just before the camera cuts to a shot of The Roots and pans to the curtain (later changed to a pan of the audience on June 13). Another later change included replacing the show's moon logo with a shot of The Tonight Show' s marquee outside of 30 Rockefeler Plaza. On October 7, 2019, the original opening sequence returned in its entire form. Prior to composing an entirely new theme song, bandleader Questlove noted to Vanity Fair that they were considering
6336-429: A new flavor of ice cream called The Tonight Dough. It consists of caramel and chocolate ice creams topped with chocolate cookie swirls, chocolate chip cookie dough, and peanut butter cookie dough. On October 27, 2015, it was announced that the attraction Twister...Ride it Out , at Universal Studios Florida , would be closing on November 2, 2015, to be replaced with Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon ,
6528-432: A plethora of fill-in hosts for the next four years. Even MTV entered the late-night contest when it debuted The Jon Stewart Show , hosted by Jon Stewart , which ran until 1995. Letterman initially won the late-night ratings battle but fell behind Leno in 1995; Leno generally remained in first place until first leaving Tonight in 2009. To combat NBC's Late Night , CBS gave Letterman's studio Worldwide Pants control of
6720-636: A report from Radar Online from January 2023, the show is averaging 1.3 million viewers, which is less than half the viewers of Gutfeld! on Fox News . Fallon holds a higher number of YouTube subscribers, and reportedly leads on social media , but this does not drive advertising rates for the show. Much like Fallon's preceding tenure on Late Night , many clips of the show have been made available on YouTube , Facebook , and other services shortly after its television broadcast. Many clips have gone on to become viral videos , which, along with widely viewed videos from competitor Jimmy Kimmel Live! , affected
6912-475: A result of various contractual obligations and fears of losing performers to other networks, Leno was given a nightly prime-time show shortly after Conan's run began. Leno posted less than stellar ratings, leading to a domino effect on the late local news. O'Brien's Tonight also suffered falling ratings leading to a public controversy that resulted in O'Brien leaving the network the following year, and Leno returning to host The Tonight Show . Jimmy Fallon ,
7104-554: A result, unlike Broadway Open House , Tonight proved to be a resounding success. The success of the show led Allen to receive another show, entitled The Steve Allen Show , which would compete with The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday nights. Meanwhile, hosting duties of The Tonight Show were split between Allen and Ernie Kovacs ; Kovacs had defected to NBC from his own late-night show on the then-crumbling DuMont Television Network . Both Allen and Kovacs departed from Tonight in 1957 in order to focus on Allen's Sunday night show. After
7296-410: A return to late-night television with a new syndicated program from Sony Pictures Television , Channel Surf with Craig Ferguson ; as opposed to The Late Late Show and other late-night shows, the program was pitched as having a specific focus on television as a topic, and air in a half-hour timeslot. James Corden hosted his final episode of The Late Late Show on April 27, 2023, in a departure that
7488-590: A ride based on Fallon's Tonight Show , which opened on April 6, 2017. On September 7, 2023, Rolling Stone published an exposé on Fallon's tenure with testimony by sixteen former and current staff members alleging Fallon's behavior behind the scenes, which included being drunk on set, abrasive yelling at writers, bullying of staff, among other things. Writers used dressing rooms as "crying rooms" to release tension, and one staffer admitted to having suicidal thoughts during his time on staff because of Fallon's behavior. The report also noted that there were nine showrunners in
7680-462: A satire of opinion-based cable news programs, featuring Colbert portraying a narcissistic pundit reminiscent of Fox News hosts such as Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity , among other influences. Jake Sasseville entered the late-night arena after a self-syndication campaign got him clearance on several ABC affiliates by local general managers in 2008. The Edge with Jake Sasseville aired after Jimmy Kimmel Live! in some markets, reaching
7872-456: A settlement with NBC that allowed him to leave The Tonight Show on January 22, 2010, ending his affiliation with NBC after 22 years. Leno began his second tenure as host of The Tonight Show on March 1, 2010, after the 2010 Winter Olympics , but only after major controversy . Leno's second Tonight iteration was taped at NBC's Studio 11 in Burbank, the former home of The Jay Leno Show , with
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8064-752: A similar show on NBC called Fifteen with Faye for about six months before committing the CBS show. Emerson's show was distinguished from her competition on NBC in that she was more openly political; Emerson, an avowed Democrat , regularly interviewed political and intellectual figures on her show (among them Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ) in addition to a smattering of vaudeville and variety acts. The first version of The Tonight Show , Tonight Starring Steve Allen , debuted in 1954 on NBC . The show created many modern talk show staples including an opening monologue, celebrity interviews, audience participation, comedy bits, and musical performances; it also had some holdovers from
8256-426: A sketch featuring a parody ad for "Masculine Man Masks". On March 22, 2021, Fallon returned to Studio 6-B with a smaller audience, making it the first major U.S. late-night talk show to resume tapings in front of a studio audience. For the first week, the audience would consist exclusively of frontline workers. Fallon noted that the first week's audience was 58 people and jokingly compared the experience to performing
8448-509: A sold-out Madison Square Garden after a year without crowds. The show officially opened to a full capacity audience on June 7, 2021. In the show's debut episode , Fallon introduced his supporting stars and gave a brief history of his life and career, following it up with a sketch, "The Evolution of Hip-Hop Dancing", with actor Will Smith and a musical performance by U2 at the Top of the Rock . Following
8640-525: A successful news magazine entitled Nightline , beginning in 1980. Beginning on August 22, 1988, NBC concluded its main programming for the day with a half-hour entry, Later , hosted by NBC sportscaster Bob Costas and airing at 1:35 a.m. Eastern, after Letterman, Mondays through Thursdays. It originated from 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York and bore a strong resemblance to an earlier NBC late-night favorite, Tom Snyder's Tomorrow, due to its lack of
8832-599: A total of 35 million homes, despite the network's concerns. The show went off the air in 2010. Another syndicated show that earned significant clearance in the late 2000s was Comics Unleashed , which was produced by Byron Allen 's Entertainment Studios , and had still been cleared by some stations (such as WCBS-TV and other CBS owned-and-operated stations ) as late as 2013 without any new episodes having been produced. Scottish native Craig Ferguson succeeded Kilborn as host of The Late Late Show in 2005, renaming it The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson . TBS entered
9024-516: A traditional studio-based format. Politically Incorrect was canceled due to low ratings in the summer of 2002, after which Maher joined HBO and began hosting the similarly formatted weekly series Real Time . ABC then tapped Comedy Central personality Jimmy Kimmel to host a more traditional late-night program, Jimmy Kimmel Live! . From its beginning in 2003 until early 2013, the show aired following Nightline on ABC's late-night lineup. With Nightline past its prime in audience size due to
9216-467: A variation on Late Night 's theme, which itself is a sped-up adaptation of The Roots' 2006 song "Here I Come". For their transition to The Tonight Show , The Roots added Guy and Hendrickson-Smith, two horn players from Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings ("You can't be The Tonight Show without a horn section," said Questlove), to join Bryson on horns. As he did on Late Night , Jonathan Cohen supervises
9408-514: A variety show on NBC, and how she managed her relationships with the show's volatile stars and the new head of the network. In October 2006, the pilot aired on NBC as 30 Rock . Although the episode received generally favorable reviews, it finished third in its time slot. In 2007, Fey received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series . The show itself won the 2007 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series (and did so again for two subsequent years). In 2008, she won
9600-518: A very low level of Flintstones knowledge for someone my age. At age 11, Fey read Joe Franklin 's Seventy Years of Great Film Comedians for a school project about comedy. She grew up watching Second City Television and has cited Catherine O'Hara as a role model. Fey went by the nickname "Tina" at an early age. She attended Cardington-Stonehurst Elementary School and Beverly Hills Middle School in Upper Darby. By middle school, she knew she
9792-548: A week before the show began.) For the next season, the only late-night program on the networks was NBC's Nightcap , a preview of the next day's programming hosted by Mary Kay Stearns . The first late-night television talk show was The Faye Emerson Show , hosted by actress Faye Emerson . It began airing on CBS on October 24, 1949, in local East Coast markets before the network moved the 15-minute show, which regularly aired up to 11pm, nationwide in March 1950. In 1950, Emerson also hosted
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#17328686075159984-466: A week with guest hosts and "Best of Carson" reruns the other two nights. From 1983 to 1986, Rivers and Brenner served as Carson's permanent guest hosts. Many in 1986, including top executives at NBC, thought it was possible that Johnny Carson would retire after reaching his 25th anniversary on October 1, 1987, as it was such a logical cut-off point. In the spring of 1986, a confidential memo, between top NBC executives listing about ten possible replacements in
10176-449: A year, the network debuted Last Call with Carson Daly in its place in January 2002; Daly was a former MTV VJ . Four months later, it expanded to five nights a week (from Later's four), and unlike the other shows on the air at the time, only a half-year's worth of first-run programs were recorded each season. In 2009, Last Call was retooled with a travelogue -like format, using interviews and performances filmed on-location rather than
10368-528: A young, culturally savvy audience that was very desirable to advertisers) to take over The Tonight Show beginning that year, which also marked the 60th anniversary of the franchise. NBC confirmed the change on April 3, 2013. Under Fallon, the show returned to New York City, where the show originated from its 1954 debut until 1972; NBC no longer owns the former company-owned studios in Burbank where Carson and Leno's programs originated (O'Brien's Tonight Show taped at nearby Universal Studios ). On May 13, 2013, it
10560-649: Is a delight to watch throughout. Able to convey Kate's intentions and feelings through the simple looks and inflections, she never melodramatizes her situation; nor does her efficient, perfectionist side become overbearing." The movie grossed over US$ 64 million at the box office. Fey's projects after 2008 include a voice role in the English-language version of the Japanese animated film Ponyo . In 2009, she appeared in The Invention of Lying . Her next film role
10752-483: Is a genre of talk show , originating in the United States . It is generally structured around humorous monologues about the day's news, guest interviews, comedy sketches and music performances. It is characterized by spontaneous conversation , and for an effect of immediacy and intimacy as if the host were speaking directly to each member of the watching audience. Late-night talk shows are also fundamentally shaped by
10944-576: Is a retired brokerage employee born in Piraeus , Greece. Fey's maternal grandmother, Vasiliki Kourelakou, left the Greek village of Petrina, Laconia , on her own and arrived in the United States in February 1921. Fey's maternal grandfather, Constantine Xenakes, was from the village of Panagia on the Greek island of Ikaria . Fey's father had English, German and Scottish-Irish ancestry; one of her paternal ancestors
11136-515: Is housed directly above his studio in Studio 8G; the combination created logistical challenges for executives, who were concerned about "sound bleed" (as the building was built with steel girders, sound is too easily conducted floor to floor). As a result, The Tonight Show tapes at 5:00 p.m., and Meyers' show tapes later in the evening, at 6:30 p.m.. Until 2024, The Tonight Show typically taped five episodes per-week from Monday through Thursday, with both
11328-586: Is produced by Katie Hockmeyer and executive-produced by Lorne Michaels . It streams the following day on Peacock . The show records from Studio 6B in Rockefeller Center , New York City , which is the same studio in which Tonight Starring Jack Paar and then The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson were produced from 1957 until 1972. The program airs weeknights at 11:35 /10:35c. The show opens with Fallon's topical monologue, then transitions into comedic sketches/games, concluding with guest interviews and
11520-599: Is taped every weekday at 5pm. The studio housed both Carson and his predecessor, Jack Paar, before the franchise's move to Burbank in 1972. "It is where The Tonight Show started – actually in the studio where we are going to be, that's where Johnny Carson was, there's Broadway , there's Times Square , there's something glamorous about it. That is The Tonight Show ," Fallon remarked. NBC spent approximately $ 5 million renovating Studio 6B, where Fallon had been taping Late Night , for The Tonight Show 's return to New York City. The upgraded 6B contains improved acoustics and
11712-796: The Joey Bishop Show, with Regis Philbin as his sidekick, to its late-night lineup in 1967, employing a talk show format, in an attempt to compete against the Tonight Show, which lasted until 1969. CBS went without late-night TV (the closest thing it would have to a late-night show was its late-prime-time variety show The Danny Kaye Show from 1963 to 1967) until 1969, when it acquired The Merv Griffin Show from syndication; Griffin returned to syndication in 1972, and CBS would not air any further late-night talk shows until 1989, instead opting for reruns, lifestyle programs and, later, imported Canadian dramas in
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#173286860751511904-802: The Time 100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world in both 2007 and 2009. In 2008, the Associated Press gave Fey the AP Entertainer of the Year Award for her Sarah Palin impression on SNL . In 2010, Fey was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor , becoming the youngest recipient of the award. Elizabeth Stamatina Fey was born on May 18, 1970, in Upper Darby Township, Delaware County , Pennsylvania . Her father, Donald Henry Fey,
12096-496: The 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign and the presidency of Donald Trump ; following the 2018–19 television season, it was the highest-rated late-night talk show overall for the third season in a row, and narrowly beat The Tonight Show in key demographic (18-to-49-year-old) viewership for the first time since 1994–95. On February 12, 2019, NBC announced that Last Call with Carson Daly would conclude after its 2000th and final episode. Daly had already reduced his role on
12288-484: The COVID-19 pandemic , the show suspended production. On March 18, after having used this format for special webisodes of the series, The Tonight Show began airing "At-Home Edition" episodes on NBC; Fallon presented the program from his home, with filming assisted by family members, new interviews conducted via videoconferencing, and reruns of segments from past episodes. On July 13, the program returned to NBC Studios for
12480-598: The Golden Globe , Screen Actors Guild , and Emmy awards all in the category for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. The following year, Fey again won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award in the same categories, and was nominated for an Emmy Award. In early 2010, Fey received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress, and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Lead Actress. 30 Rock returned for
12672-731: The Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota as a lead-out program to NBC's broadcast of Super Bowl LII . The show included guests Justin Timberlake (who was the featured performer at that year's halftime show ), the cast of This Is Us including Milo Ventimiglia , Mandy Moore , Sterling K. Brown , Chrissy Metz , and Justin Hartley , and Dwayne Johnson , with performances by Timberlake featuring Chris Stapleton . On February 20, 2019, during that night's episode, The Tonight Show ' s YouTube channel reached 20 million subscribers, making it
12864-639: The Pixar fantasy comedy adventure film Soul , which was released on Disney+ in December 2020 to critical acclaim. The film went on to receive three Academy Award nominations, including a win for Best Animated Feature . For her performance, Fey won the Critics' Choice Super Award for Best Voice Actress in an Animated Movie . In 2023, Fey starred alongside Jon Hamm in the black comedy film Maggie Moore(s) , directed by John Slattery . That same year, she starred as
13056-464: The Tonight job (unlike O'Brien or Leno), most likely because he was just 17 years old and still in college, when Carson retired. Discussions for Fallon to take over The Tonight Show began in early 2013, with the transition intended to happen by late 2014 at the latest. Many industry observers noted that the change appeared to come as a result of another late-night competitor, Jimmy Kimmel (24 years old at
13248-490: The United Network that ever made it to air (because that network only had a handful of affiliates, it also syndicated the program to CBS, ABC and independent stations); it, along with the network, only lasted five weeks in summer 1967. Steve Allen himself returned to NBC late night in syndication twice in this time frame, first with a show that ran from 1962 to 1964 and then with a series that ran from 1968 to 1971. ABC added
13440-565: The Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes . CBS filled the Late Late Show timeslot with reruns and previously-unaired episodes of Comics Unleashed . The revival, titled After Midnight , premiered on January 16, 2024. Late-night talk show viewership had a brief peak in 2016 in the wake of retirements and new hosts but has been in steep decline since then. Conan O'Brien, in a 2023 interview, noted that several factors played into
13632-529: The "Sarah Palin Network". Fey once again did her impression of Palin when she hosted Saturday Night Live on May 8, 2011. She hosted again on September 28, 2013. Fey returned to host on December 19, 2015, for which she won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. Her most recent hosting appearance was on May 19, 2018, during which she revived her Sarah Palin impression. She served as one of
13824-425: The 2011–2012 season, though due to Fey's pregnancy with her second child, the season premiere was delayed until midseason. Fey's performance on the show was inspired by Julia Louis-Dreyfus , and later used Louis-Dreyfus to play the stand-in for the character of Liz Lemon in flashback scenes during the live episode " Live Show " of the fifth season . After receiving 13 Emmy Award nominations and two wins for
14016-585: The American broadcast. On September 17, 2019, E! channel dropped the show and the program did not return to Australian television for over three years until it was announced that the new FTA multichannel 7Bravo would air the show from its launch in January 2023. In Belgium, the show airs with a delay of several days on Vier at midnight CET every Monday through Friday, and at 11:05 pm CET every Sunday. The show's first broadcast took place on October 12, 2015. Late-night talk show A late-night talk show
14208-599: The City . In 2000, Fey partnered with fellow SNL cast member Rachel Dratch in the Off Broadway two-woman show Dratch & Fey at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City. The production was well received by critics. Tim Townsend of The Wall Street Journal wrote that the fun part of watching Fey and Dratch perform was "seeing how comfortable they are with each other". He concluded that
14400-566: The Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program . When Fallon left the show in May 2004, he was replaced on Weekend Update by Amy Poehler . It was the first time that two women co-anchored Weekend Update . Fey revealed that she "hired" Poehler as her co-host for the segment. The reception was positive, with Rachel Sklar of the Chicago Tribune noting that the pairing "has been
14592-415: The L.A. region prior to the relocation. Fallon hosted The Tonight Show again from Universal Orlando Resort, April 3–6, 2017, in anticipation of the opening of Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon , a motion simulator attraction based on his tenure at the show. Fallon once again aired a special episode after Super Bowl LII , from Minneapolis' Orpheum Theatre . A special episode of The Tonight Show
14784-653: The NBC sitcom 30 Rock (2006–2013, 2020) and the Netflix sitcom Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015–2020), the former of which she also starred in. Fey is also known for her work in film, including Mean Girls (2004), Baby Mama (2008), Date Night (2010), Megamind (2010), Muppets Most Wanted (2014), Sisters (2015), Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016), Wine Country (2019), Soul (2020), A Haunting in Venice (2023), and Mean Girls (2024). Fey broke into comedy as
14976-523: The Thursday and Friday episodes filmed on the same day. In September 2024, following the lead of Late Night and its competitors, NBC announced that it would discontinue original Friday episodes and only produce four episodes per-week from Monday through Thursday. The show's set was designed by theatrical set designer Eugene Lee , known for his credits on Saturday Night Live , whom Fallon thanked on-air on his first episode. The set "emphasizes stained wood and
15168-453: The Town ), which aired on CBS Sunday nights from 1948 to 1971, and Texaco Star Theater with Milton Berle , which aired on NBC from 1948 to 1956. These shows aired once a week in evening time slots that would come to be known as prime time . The first show to air in a late-night timeslot itself, Broadway Open House , aired on NBC in 1950 and ended a year later after host Jerry Lester left
15360-587: The U.S. and US$ 148 million domestically. In 2013, Fey starred alongside Paul Rudd in the romantic comedy-drama film Admission , based on the Jean Hanff Korelitz novel by the same name. The film was directed by Paul Weitz . Fey later starred in the 2014 comedy-drama This Is Where I Leave You , helmed by Date Night director Shawn Levy. As was the case with Baby Mama , although both of these films received generally mixed reviews, Fey's performances were well received by film critics. In 2015, it
15552-401: The anchors: "Fey might be the best Weekend Update anchor who ever did it. She writes the funniest jokes." Robert Bianco of USA Today , however, commented that he was "not enamored" of the pairing. In 2001, Fey and the rest of the writing staff won a Writers Guild of America Award for SNL ' s 25th anniversary special. The following year at the 2002 Emmy Awards ceremony, they won
15744-421: The change was inspired by Netflix 's "skip intro" feature, which allows viewers to bypass television shows' opening sequences on its streaming platform. On June 11, 2019, the introduction was modified to include shots of New York City from the original title sequence, with Higgins introducing the show with "From 30 Rockefeller Center, here in New York City, it's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon !", along with
15936-566: The city. Just before Higgins introduces Fallon, the camera cuts to a shot of Studio 6B, focused on The Roots, consisting of drummer and bandleader Questlove , rapper and lead vocalist Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter , percussionist Frank Knuckles (later Stro Elliot), guitarist and vocalist Captain Kirk Douglas , bassist Mark Kelley, keyboardists Kamal Gray and James Poyser , sousaphonist Damon "Tuba Gooding Jr." Bryson, saxophonist Ian Hendrickson-Smith , and trumpeter Dave Guy . Questlove then shouts
16128-426: The college-cafe-in-the-meatpacking-district where he lived on Late Night ," said Entertainment Weekly . USA Today called the set more "intimate and theatrical" than the set employed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno , and The New York Times called it more elegant, "but also quite formal and a little impersonal." The show's logo, its title set against a full moon, is a callback to The Honeymooners , while
16320-521: The creators of the dances. On April 1, 2022, both Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel swapped places as part of an April Fools' Day prank with the former hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! from Los Angeles and the latter in Studio 6B for The Tonight Show . On August 13, 2022, the show's YouTube channel reached 30 million subscribers and became the first and the only show as of 2023 to achieve this landmark. The debut episode received generally positive reviews. The New York Times 's Alessandra Stanley referred to
16512-559: The date was moved forward from the end of his contract in September 2014, to February so as to use NBC's coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics as a springboard for Fallon's tenure. The date was later moved up a week to February 17, midway through the Olympics. As Leno's contract ran until September 2014, much of his staff were paid until that month. By bringing over many of his recurring bits and features from Late Night , Fallon has departed in
16704-535: The days immediately following a special Sunday night show from Phoenix, Arizona airing after NBC's coverage of Super Bowl XLIX on February 1, using the Stage One facility previously utilized for Conan O'Brien's tenure at The Tonight Show . The L.A. shows brought Tonight back to the locale where it had been based since Johnny Carson relocated the program from New York in 1972 until the start of Fallon's tenure, and echoes Carson himself hosting special broadcasts from
16896-476: The decline, all of which impacted his decision to end Conan and focus on other projects, including a saturated market, the loss of the captive audience to video on demand options, and a changing culture that made it more difficult to make genuine fun of the culture (O'Brien, who tended to rely less on political humor than some of his contemporaries, cited Donald Trump as an example of a figure so polarizing that even those who do not like him would be repulsed by
17088-434: The earlier time slot, forcibly changed the show's format to resemble Carson's, and added gossip reporter Rona Barrett as a co-host. The two did not get along and had an acrimonious relationship on and off the air. The agreement gave Carson's production company ownership of the timeslot following Tonight , which, a year later, Carson Productions and NBC used to create Late Night with David Letterman . When NBC offered Snyder
17280-419: The eggs are raw or hard-boiled. Each week, Fallon has carried over a popular sketch from his Late Night days: the absurdist "Thank You Notes" segment, in which "he dutifully composes notes of gratitude to abstract concepts and inanimate objects." Another recurring segment, " Tonight Show Superlatives", features Fallon presenting yearbook-style superlatives relating to athletes (particularly, NFL players from
17472-462: The end of the year. On September 8, 2014, British actor and comedian James Corden was announced as the new host of The Late Late Show . His incarnation of the program was modelled more upon British chat shows such as The Graham Norton Show , de-emphasizing the monologue and relying on multiple guests present throughout the entire show (rather than interviewed individually). Meanwhile, in May 2015, David Letterman retired from Late Show, ending
17664-426: The entire state of late-night television. Media pundits have predicted that future programs' accessibility online will be more critical than their television ratings. David Letterman , a thirty-year veteran of the format who was the first host of Late Night and then hosted The Late Show on CBS until 2015, partly retired due to his inability to produce viral bits. In February 2015, Ben & Jerry's released
17856-496: The event of Carson's retirement the next year, was leaked. When Rivers saw it, she was shocked to see that she was nowhere on the list despite the fact that she had been The Tonight Show' s permanent guest host since 1983. In 1986, Joan Rivers joined the brand-new Fox network, where she would host her own late-night talk show, The Late Show , which competed directly against The Tonight Show . Clint Holmes served as Rivers' announcer while Mark Hudson served as band leader. Carson
18048-417: The exception of The Daily Show, which opted to continue without an audience as a stylistic choice) had full audiences return to their studio. One of the few programs initially unaffected by COVID-19 restrictions was A Little Late , as it had already filmed the entirety of its first season in 2019. The program shifted to a home-based production for its second season in January 2021, with Singh citing both
18240-473: The fictional novelist Ariadne Oliver in Kenneth Branagh 's mystery film A Haunting in Venice , his third featuring Hercule Poirot and based on Agatha Christie novels. Fey was a part of the ensemble, alongside Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Dornan . In 2024, Fey wrote, produced, and starred in the musical comedy film Mean Girls . It is an adaptation of the stage musical Mean Girls , itself based on
18432-411: The film are based on Fey's high school life at Upper Darby High School and on the non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman . The cast includes other past cast members of SNL including Tim Meadows , Ana Gasteyer , and Amy Poehler . The film received favorable reviews, and was a box office success, grossing US$ 129 million worldwide. In a 2004 interview, Fey expressed
18624-622: The final season, 30 Rock ended its run with 112 Emmy Award nominations. It has been cited as one of the greatest TV series of all time and it is considered to have one of the greatest finales in television history. The show returned for a remotely produced hourlong special which aired on July 16, 2020. On June 23, 2020, Fey apologized for episodes of 30 Rock where characters appeared in blackface . The episodes, which originally aired in seasons three , five , and six , were removed from streaming services and are no longer shown in re-runs. In her apology, Fey wrote: "As we strive to do
18816-444: The first African-American female late-night host. Unfortunately, Garrett only lasted a year before NBC canceled the 12 + 1 ⁄ 2 -year-old Later in favor of reruns of the critically acclaimed cult Canadian-produced sketch comedy series, SCTV , itself a former NBC late-night program that aired Fridays between 1981 and 1983. That action, a temporary measure, was necessitated by the prolonged development of, and negotiations with
19008-433: The first airing of the show, Fallon expressed that it was essentially an extension of his tenure at Late Night , explaining that his Tonight Show would be "the best of the best of what we do". The show has carried over some of Late Night ' s well-known performance bits, such as "Egg Russian Roulette", a game in which Fallon challenges guests to pick random eggs and then smash them against their forehead to see whether
19200-474: The first late-night talk show to achieve such a milestone. On March 26, 2021, TikTok celebrity Addison Rae appeared on the show. During a segment, she taught Fallon how to do some popular TikTok dances. The segment faced much backlash due to its failure to credit all the many Black creators of the dances, despite NBC's later crediting of the creators in the description of the video on YouTube. In lieu of an apology, on April 6, Fallon interviewed virtually all of
19392-557: The first time in its history that the show would begin after midnight in the Eastern Time Zone. On January 12, 2010, O'Brien publicly announced in an open letter that he intended to leave NBC if it moved The Tonight Show to any timeslot after midnight in order to accommodate The Jay Leno Show at 11:35 p.m. ET. He felt it would damage the show's legacy, as it had always started after the late local news since it began in 1954. After several days of negotiations, O'Brien reached
19584-409: The first time since March 12, with limited staff on-site (wearing masks and having been tested and screened before being on-set), and no studio audience. The move made The Tonight Show the first U.S. late-night talk show to return to tapings in a studio setting. The program was filmed from Studio 6-A (which had previously been used by past incarnations of Late Night —including Fallon's while Studio 6-B
19776-588: The following Wednesday. Fey reprised this role on the show of October 4, on the show of October 18 where she was joined by the real Sarah Palin, and on the show of November 1, where she was joined by John McCain and his wife Cindy. The show of October 18 had the best ratings of any SNL show since 1994. The following year Fey won an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her impersonation of Palin. Fey returned to SNL in April 2010, and reprised her impression of Palin in one sketch titled
19968-534: The following week's shows from Los Angeles maintained their highest ratings since their premiere. A 2016 New York Times study of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook Likes found that Tonight is more popular in cities than the countryside. The show's ratings began to fall after the debut of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2015; while it quickly rebounded and remained top-rated late-night program, beginning in 2017, The Tonight Show lost total viewership to Colbert . Fallon's ratings continued to fall in
20160-518: The franchise's most-watched week in 20 years. Following its premiere, Fallon consistently won its time slot in ratings, routinely beating Late Show with David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live! . Despite this, the ratings for competitors never significantly fell, with Fallon winning due to a surge in younger viewers. In his first year as host, Fallon's Tonight Show improved on ratings delivered by his predecessor Jay Leno . The series' post- Super Bowl episode in 2015 averaged 9.8 million viewers, and
20352-416: The genre competed against general variety shows for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Series . Jay Leno hosted his final episode of The Tonight Show on May 29, 2009, with his successor Conan O'Brien, and musician James Taylor as his guests. O'Brien took over hosting duties on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien the following Monday, June 1, 2009. In September 2009, Leno began hosting
20544-572: The history of the broadcast up to that point. Fallon made an apology to his staff the afternoon of the September 7th Rolling Stone report. On October 3, 2023, Rolling Stone noted that Fallon did not address the controversy whatsoever during the first taping of the show after the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike , with the Rolling Stone exposé seemingly and oddly being forgotten about shortly thereafter. In Australia, The Tonight Show premiered on The Comedy Channel on February 18, 2014 – airing
20736-562: The intervening years. Colbert secured key demographics wins in 2019, and has since won each consecutive television season overall as of 2023, marking that show's longest winning streak over The Tonight Show . For the 2020–21 season, Fallon fell to third in overall ratings for the first time, behind both Colbert and Kimmel . Fallon's ratings fall has been ascribed to his pursuit of "broad appeal rather than political criticism" on divisive issues, especially in an era of increased national polarization. His cheerful 2016 interview of Donald Trump
20928-403: The late-night TV race was hosted by Les Crane , which pioneered the controversial tabloid talk show format that would not become popular until two decades later. With most viewers not accustomed to the visceral conflict it entailed, Crane's show lasted only six months. Shorter still was The Las Vegas Show , a Las Vegas -based late-night show hosted by Bill Dana that was the only offering of
21120-495: The late-night scene in 2009 when it debuted Lopez Tonight , hosted by comedian George Lopez . On September 27, 2004, the 50th anniversary of The Tonight Show ' s debut, NBC announced that Jay Leno would be succeeded by Conan O'Brien , in 2009. Leno explained that he did not want to cause a repeat of the hard feelings and controversy that occurred when he was picked for the show over David Letterman following Carson's retirement in 1992. O'Brien's final Late Night episode
21312-534: The likes of Rachel Dratch , Kevin Dorff , Scott Adsit , Jenna Jolovitz and Jim Zulevic ." While performing shows with The Second City in 1997, Fey submitted several scripts to NBC 's variety show Saturday Night Live , at the request of its head writer Adam McKay , a former performer at Second City. She was hired as a writer following a meeting with SNL creator Lorne Michaels , and moved from Chicago to New York. Fey told The New Yorker , "I'd had my eye on
21504-437: The marquee as being a "bold statement" that The Tonight Show had been brought back to New York. Fallon joked that he was "jealous of Letterman ", and that the marquee "makes it exponentially harder for them to fire me." The show's opening sequence, directed by filmmaker Spike Lee , features Fallon visiting various New York City landmarks, including Grand Central Terminal and Katz's Delicatessen . Steve Higgins introduces
21696-431: The medium to become overly friendly. Fallon also has been both criticized and lauded for his seemingly uncontrollable laughter where he would laugh at absolutely everything. The debut episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon averaged a 3.8 rating in adults 18–49, the most coveted demographic, and 11.31 million viewers overall according to Nielsen ; the program's first week averaged 8.49 million viewers, making it
21888-417: The mention of him, even in a satirical context, while those who are his fans would be offended). In a 2024 podcast, Jimmy Kimmel admitted that he only agreed to continue Jimmy Kimmel Live! because he feared he had no career options if the show were to end, also noting that he anticipated that within the next ten years, the networks would decide that the format was no longer cost-effective and cancel all of
22080-458: The monologue, but have occurred as a cold open for the show on a few occasions. Just as he portrayed Mitt Romney during the 2012 election season , Fallon portrayed Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders . Alongside Fallon's impressions, other celebrities occasionally appear. Several have recurring roles, including Dion Flynn as Barack Obama , David Alan Grier as Ben Carson , Aziz Ansari as Bobby Jindal ,
22272-470: The most deeply musical of TV's musical-comedy variety programs", with sketches in which he parodies Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen going viral online. Coincidentally, it was during the 2010 Tonight controversy that Fallon's show found its footing. The show, according to Fallon's former SNL castmate Tina Fey , established itself as "an uncommonly warm, welcoming show". In 2010, New York complimented Fallon's "good humor" and noted his improvement: "In
22464-483: The numbers symbolizing the episode number of The Tonight Show , followed by Black Thought energetically shouting, "Yeah!" During the week of April 4, 2022, Questlove was not present in Studio 6B, so Stro Elliot, who was also playing drums that week, shouted the episode numbers in Questlove's place. As Questlove transitions into a drumroll, the camera pulls out to reveal the curtains and the audience. The entire band goes into
22656-451: The original film she wrote and starred in. Fey reprised her role as Ms. Sharon Norbury in the film. On February 23, 2008, Fey hosted the first episode of SNL after the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike . For this appearance, she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in the category of Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program . Fey hosted SNL for a second time on April 10, 2010, and for her appearance she received
22848-435: The pandemic and a creative preference against a traditional studio-based format. Singh opted not to continue A Little Late beyond 2021, and NBC returned the time slot to its affiliates. Conan concluded its run on June 24, 2021, with O'Brien having announced plans to produce a weekly "variety" show for HBO Max and focus on other digital media projects. On January 17, 2023, it was announced that Craig Ferguson would make
23040-461: The personality of the host. The late-night talk show format was popularized by Johnny Carson and his sidekick Ed McMahon with The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on NBC . Typically the show's host conducts interviews from behind a desk, while the guest is seated on a couch. Many late night talk shows feature a house band which generally performs cover songs for the studio audience during commercial breaks and occasionally will back up
23232-476: The plan fell through at some point before the show. The role was filled by Darrell Hammond , who played Trump over his fourteen years on SNL . Fallon has also appeared as figures such as Vladimir Putin and Bob Dylan . The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon originates from NBC Studio 6B at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City , the original home of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson , where it
23424-486: The position in 1967 and served as bandleader with the NBC Orchestra . The show originated from NBC Studios in New York City but, as part of Carson's shifting the show toward a more entertainment-oriented program, moved to Burbank, California , in 1972. NBC's two other rivals during the early television era, CBS and ABC , did not attempt any major forays into late-night television until the 1960s. ABC's first effort at
23616-501: The post- Late Show time slot, and would premiere The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder in 1995—serving as a spiritual successor to Snyder's Tomorrow . They had originally attempted to lure Bob Costas away from NBC and Later (offering to have him host The Late Late Show and become a correspondent for CBS's newsmagazine 60 Minutes ) , but were unsuccessful due to his desire to stay with NBC Sports , as well as his relationship with NBC chief Dick Ebersol . Snyder departed in 1999 and
23808-491: The presenters on the December 18, 2021, episode hosted by Paul Rudd , in an emergency restructuring of the episode due to a surge in cases of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant . This included her doing Weekend Update with incumbent co-anchor Michael Che . In December 2009, Entertainment Weekly put her Palin impersonation on its end-of-the-decade "best-of" list, writing, "Fey's freakishly spot-on SNL impersonation of
24000-415: The presidential campaign. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton had also appeared on the show prior that year. Fallon responded to the controversy claiming that nobody should have expected him to ask difficult questions since he is never hard on anyone. Fallon acknowledged that the interview was a setback, three months after Trump was inaugurated. On February 4, 2018, the show aired its second live show from
24192-483: The production "isn't about two women being funny ... Dratch and Fey are just funny. Period." One of the SNL sketches, " Sully and Denise ", originated at The Second City. In 2001, Fey formed the television production company Little Stranger with longtime collaborator Eric Gurian . It produces many projects Fey is featured in, including the sitcoms 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt . On August 13, 2007, Fey made
24384-968: The program in 2013 due to his commitments to the Today Show and other projects. On September 16, 2019, NBC premiered A Little Late with Lilly Singh —a new talk show hosted by Indian-Canadian YouTuber Lilly Singh . She became the first openly bisexual person and the first person of Indian descent to host a U.S. late-night talk show. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , nearly all U.S. late-night talk shows were forced to impose major changes to their formats in March 2020 due to public health orders and restrictions on gatherings. They initially adopted formats produced remotely from their hosts' homes, with all guests appearing via videoconferencing . By July 2020, late-night shows began to migrate back to studio-based productions, but with reconfigured or different studios than normal with no audience, and continued use of remote interviews. By October 2021, all late night TV shows (with
24576-414: The proliferation of cable news, and ABC believing in stronger ratings potential in the timeslot, Jimmy Kimmel Live! was moved to 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on January 8, 2013—placing it in line with its competitors, Letterman and Leno. On October 17, 2005, Comedy Central premiered The Colbert Report , a spin-off of The Daily Show hosted by regular cast member Stephen Colbert . The show was structured as
24768-481: The radio era, including a vocal group ( Steve and Eydie , who went on to decades of success after Tonight ) in addition to the house band, something that later late-night shows would abandon. By this point, the Federal Communications Commission had lifted a freeze on new television stations, which allowed new stations to appear across the country, and television set sales soon grew exponentially. As
24960-448: The relative safety of his 12:35 a.m. time slot, Fallon has been cultivating a distinct, and refreshing, strain of humor: the comedy of unabashed celebration." "In our heads, we've been doing The Tonight Show […] We're just on at a later hour," Fallon said. Fallon, who dropped out of college at the College of Saint Rose a semester shy of a degree to pursue comedy, grew up with no designs on
25152-560: The remaining shows: "maybe there'll be one." - DRC (Congo) Le #ChezfrancisKakondeshow on Antenne A Monday/Wednesday and Friday at 23h30 (20th season) since 2003–2023 Host: Francis Kakonde Tina Fey Elizabeth Stamatina " Tina " Fey ( / f eɪ / ; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She was a cast member and head writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1997 to 2006. After her departure from SNL , she created
25344-573: The revered late-night franchise into the hottest party in town, a celebrity playpen full of games, music, surprise guests, and good vibes all around." Nevertheless, detractors of the show, such as John Walters of Newsweek , criticized Fallon for his weakness in interviews. Andrés du Bouchet, a writer for Conan , a fellow late-night show, criticized Fallon for creating what he dubbed "Prom King Comedy"—eschewing odder, more clever material for an over-reliance on games and celebrity cameos. Rolling Stone 's Rob Sheffield opined that Fallon's effect led
25536-500: The role of Alexander Hamilton exclusively for the three-week Puerto Rico engagement of Hamilton' s third US tour at the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center before the company continued their tour in the United States. On November 7, 2019, The Tonight Show aired at the University of Texas–Austin. This was the first time the show had been filmed on a university campus. In March 2020 due to
25728-545: The same day as its U.S. broadcast. It also aired on free-to-air network ABC Comedy (as opposed to The Comedy Channel which is a subscription television network) on a two-day delay, premiering on March 24, 2014. On September 21, 2014, The Comedy Channel dropped The Tonight Show , making ABC Comedy the exclusive broadcaster of the show in Australia at the time. Beginning March 2, 2015, the series returned to pay television, this time, however, airing on E! – airing within hours of
25920-521: The same role and the company of the third national tour of Hamilton , Bad Bunny performing " Mia " in the streets of the Old San Juan , and José Feliciano performing " En Mi Viejo San Juan " alongside Ozuna in the gardens of La Fortaleza . The episode also included a segment where Fallon and Tariq Trotter took on the second-longest zip-line in the world and a tour and food tasting nearby Piñones State Forest with Chef José Andrés. Miranda reprised
26112-488: The screenplay for Mean Girls , which was adapted from the 2002 self-help book Queen Bees and Wannabes . After leaving SNL in 2006, Fey created the television series 30 Rock for Broadway Video , a sitcom loosely based on her experiences at SNL . In the series, Fey starred as Liz Lemon , the head writer of a fictional sketch comedy series. In 2011, she released her memoir, Bossypants , which topped The New York Times Best Seller list for five weeks and garnered her
26304-400: The show according to his preferences, the show was canceled the following month. On NBC's Later, Bob Costas gave way to the host of the cable show Talk Soup , Greg Kinnear , whose tenure was accompanied by a move to Burbank and toward a more conventional, audience-and-celebrity-driven format. Kinnear parlayed that experience into a movie career and stayed only two years; he was succeeded by
26496-419: The show during Paar's hosting resulted in many NBC affiliates deciding to clear the show. He was noted for his conversational style, relatively high-brow interview guests, feuds with other media personalities (his animosity toward print journalists Ed Sullivan and Walter Winchell marked a power shift from print to television; Winchell's career never recovered from the damage), and mercurial personality. Paar quit
26688-415: The show forever, the way other kids have their eye on Derek Jeter ." Originally, Fey "struggled" at SNL . Her first sketch to air starred Chris Farley in a Sally Jessy Raphael satire. Fey went on to write a series of parodies, including one of ABC 's morning talk show The View . She co-wrote the "Sully and Denise" sketches with Rachel Dratch , who plays one of the teens. Fey was an extra in
26880-478: The show from 1957 to 1962, but the show's longest-running and most famous host was Johnny Carson , who hosted the show for three decades and received six Emmys. Following Carson's 1992 retirement, "vast quantities of brainpower, money, and column inches were devoted to the issue of who was truly best suited to carry the franchise forward." NBC chose Jay Leno , who took over the show that year. A pair of conflicts ensued over Leno's 22-year tenure, both revolving around
27072-505: The show in 1960 in a dispute over a censored joke, but was allowed to come back a month later. He permanently left the show in 1962, saying that he could not handle the workload of The Tonight Show (at the time, the show ran 105 minutes a day, five nights a week), and he moved to his own weekly prime-time show, which ran until 1965. After Paar's departure, hosting duties were filled by Groucho Marx , Mort Sahl , and many others. Johnny Carson took over as host of The Tonight Show in 1962 and
27264-450: The show was renamed The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson . Carson streamlined the format of the show, focusing more on entertainment personalities, tweaking the monologue to feature shorter jokes, and emphasizing sketch comedy. Ed McMahon served as Carson's announcer, while from 1962 to 1966, the band was led by Skitch Henderson , who hired, among others, Doc Severinsen . When Henderson left, Milton DeLugg took over. Severinsen assumed
27456-404: The show with "From Studio 6B in Rockefeller Center , in the heart of New York City , it's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon !" and announces that night's guests and "the legendary Roots crew". The Roots are then shown performing outside 30 Rock as Fallon enters the building. The show's theme song, titled "Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey", is "energetic with jazzy overtones", designed to match the shots of
27648-408: The show's announcer Steve Higgins as Jeb Bush , and the show's head writer A. D. Miles as Lindsey Graham . After his critically acclaimed appearances as Trump on Tonight , Fallon was asked to play the role on the December 19, 2015, episode of Saturday Night Live , since Taran Killam (who had been announced as the season's Trump) would be busy playing Ted Cruz . Fallon accepted the offer, but
27840-490: The show's musical guest bookings. Steven Mandel serves as musical producer for The Roots. Following the monologue, the main segments are a mix of interviews and performances—examples of the latter include musical impressions , lip-syncing contests, games of Pictionary and egg Russian roulette . Journalist Richard Zoglin described Fallon's interview style as more deferential than Letterman's, writing that Fallon "resurrected... Merv Griffin -style celebrity gush ." Before
28032-448: The show's premiere as "more sweet than sassy", calling Fallon "the grateful heir, the eager freshman, the class clown with top grades and a good heart, someone older viewers can embrace without fear of being mocked or overlooked." Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter was positive in his assessment of the evening, but noted the older fanbase used to Leno may not latch on as quickly. "Indeed, Fallon comes across as eager to please almost to
28224-428: The show's premiere, many notable episodes of the show have produced segments that went viral on sites like Facebook and YouTube . Among the show's most popular bits are lip sync battles; one featuring actress Emma Stone aired in April 2014, which became a popular viral video. In October 2014, actor Daniel Radcliffe recited rapper Blackalicious ' " Alphabet Aerobics ", which has become the most-viewed online video of
28416-469: The show, a combination of frustration with being upstaged by his sidekick Virginia "Dagmar" Lewis , burnout from having to go through a large amount of material in a short time, and the lack of enough television sets in the United States to make television broadcasting in late nights viable. (Lester himself was a last-minute replacement host for up-and-coming 26-year-old comic Don Hornsby , whom Hope had recommended to NBC but who caught polio and died less than
28608-532: The show. Other clips, including the "Wheel of Musical Impressions" with singers Ariana Grande and Christina Aguilera have been widely viewed, as has a clip of Fallon and comedian Kevin Hart riding the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster during the show's first remote broadcast at Universal Studios Florida . Sketches that reunite casts of television shows, such as Saved by the Bell , in addition to
28800-427: The song ends, Fallon finishes accepting the applause, welcomes the audience and viewers to the show, and begins his brief monologue. Often during the monologue, Higgins, Questlove, and/or Black Thought join the conversation, responding as the straight men to Fallon's comedic take on current events. Similar to what he did on Late Night , Fallon segues directly from the final punchline of his monologue into saying, "We have
28992-778: The teams being featured that week on Sunday Night Football , or NHL players during the Stanley Cup playoffs ). While the vast majority of episodes are produced at the show's New York home base, Fallon's Tonight Show has gone on the road to produce episodes remotely in its first year, spending four nights at Universal Orlando in Florida in June 2014 to promote the new Diagon Alley expansion of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Florida . Four nights of shows from Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles aired February 2015, in
29184-432: The then-current hosts of Late Night , the program directly following Tonight since its premiere in 1982. Original Late Night host David Letterman was considered Carson's top choice as successor and left the network acrimoniously in 1993 after Leno was given the job. Years later, NBC attempted to transit Letterman's Late Night successor, Conan O'Brien to in turn succeed Leno as host of Tonight in 2009. However, as
29376-422: The time of Carson's retirement) of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC , who moved to the 11:35 slot months prior; NBC feared that by waiting too long to promote Fallon, Kimmel could create a stranglehold on young demographics, which is key to the financial success of the franchise. Fallon had reportedly impressed top executives at Comcast (which had recently completed a full takeover of NBCUniversal), and his succession
29568-441: The time slot after Letterman, he refused it, having always been resentful of the forced change in format, and NBC News Overnight , a newscast, took the slot instead, some months after Tomorrow's final broadcast in 1982. During his tenure as host of The Tonight Show , Carson became known as The King of Late Night . While numerous hosts ( Merv Griffin and Dick Cavett being the best-known) attempted to compete with Carson, none
29760-623: The time slot. By the 1960s, NBC had already cornered the market for late-night television viewing and would dominate the ratings for several decades in the future. A number of restrictions on television networks that took effect in 1971, among them a nationwide prohibition on tobacco advertising , the requirement that a portion of prime time be set aside for local stations , and rules prohibiting networks from also acting as syndicators , prompted NBC to extend its broadcast day by an additional hour with programming it hoped would recuperate some of its lost revenue. In 1973, NBC launched two new programs:
29952-578: The title is a throwback to Carson's tenure: Leno and O'Brien both favored a "with", rather than "starring", in their respective titles. In November 2014, a new marquee was added to the Avenue of the Americas entrance of 30 Rock, which promotes the building as the home of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ; the new marquee was also designed so that it can be usable as a stage for performances. John Wallace, NBCUniversal's president of technical operations, described
30144-470: The two left, the format changed to something similar to Today and was renamed Tonight! America After Dark, hosted first by Jack Lescoulie , and later by Al Collins, with interviews conducted by Hy Gardner , and a house band led by Lou Stein performing. The show was not popular, leading to many NBC affiliates dropping the show. The show returned to the original format that year and was renamed Tonight Starring Jack Paar . The even greater success of
30336-475: The typical late-night trappings in favor of a low-key but intense concentration upon Costas interviewing a single guest. Costas hosted the program until 1994. Carson retired as host of The Tonight Show in 1992 following his 30th anniversary as host. This garnered major media attention and speculation on who would replace Carson. The two candidates were David Letterman (host of Late Night since 1982) and Jay Leno (Carson's regular guest host since 1987). Leno
30528-438: The very successful Late Night with David Letterman on NBC expanded from four to five nights per week, displacing the four-year-old Friday Night Videos to the timeslot following it. FNV, which had several subsequent format changes, ran until 2002. Carson did not retire in 1987, instead continuing as host until 1992 with Leno as sole permanent guest host. Rivers was fired from The Late Show in 1987 after abysmal ratings and
30720-429: The wannabe VP (and her ability to strike a balance between comedy and cruelty) made for truly transcendent television." Rolling Stone called her Palin impression "[arguably] the most brilliant move SNL ever made". In 1997, Fey and other members of The Second City provided voices for the pinball game Medieval Madness . In 1999, Fey and Amy Poehler provided voices for the video game Deer Avenger 2: Deer in
30912-411: The whitewashing of characters of color in the film. Fey dedicated the film to her late father, Don Fey, a veteran, writer, university administrator, and firefighter. Fey had a supporting role in the comedy film Wine Country , longtime collaborator Amy Poehler's directorial debut, which was released on Netflix in 2019. In August 2019, it was announced that Fey would voice 22, the co-lead role in
31104-638: The work and do better in regards to race in America, we believe that these episodes featuring actors in race-changing make-up are best taken out of circulation." In 2015, Fey created and produced the television comedy Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt with fellow 30 Rock -alumnus Robert Carlock . The series stars Ellie Kemper as the titular character who escapes from a doomsday cult and moves to New York City . It also stars Fey's former co-star Jane Krakowski , as well as Tituss Burgess (who had previously appeared in four 30 Rock episodes) and Carol Kane . Although it
31296-634: The world, and also shared memories of her own girlhood and mother. In 2012, Fey made her rapping debut on the Childish Gambino ( Donald Glover ) mixtape Royalty . Glover is a former writer on 30 Rock , on which he worked with Fey. That same year, Fey was featured as herself in the episode "iShock America" of the Nickelodeon teen sitcom iCarly . On January 13, 2013, Fey hosted the 70th Golden Globe Awards with Amy Poehler , to critical acclaim. The duo hosted again in 2014 and 2015 , generating
31488-574: Was John Hewson , an English textile manufacturer who immigrated to the United States with the support of Benjamin Franklin , enabling Hewson to open a quilting factory in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . According to a genealogical DNA test arranged by the television series Finding Your Roots , Fey's ancestry is 94% European, 3% Middle Eastern, and 3% from the Caucasus. She has
31680-417: Was a half hour in length and (following a brief host monologue) featured a panel of four guests debating topical issues while Maher moderated in a comedic fashion. With the new millennium in 2000, NBC's Later finally got another permanent host after various figures had taken the chair for several years, in the form of a VH1 personality, Cynthia Garrett, who broke the proverbial " glass ceiling " by becoming
31872-597: Was a veteran of the Korean War , university administrator for the University of Pennsylvania and Thomas Jefferson University , and a grant proposal writer who raised $ 500 million for schools, hospitals, and public service agencies through proposals and direct mail appeals. Following her father's death, Fey established a scholarship fund in his name at his alma mater, Temple University , to support war veterans studying journalism. Her mother, Zenobia "Jeanne" ( née Xenakes),
32064-406: Was accepted by NBC. She signed a contract with NBC in May 2003, which allowed her to continue in her position within SNL as head writer at least through the 2004–2005 television season . As part of the contract, Fey was to develop a prime-time project to be produced by Broadway Video and NBC Universal . The pilot, directed by Adam Bernstein , centered on Liz Lemon (Fey), the head writer of
32256-603: Was announced Fey would be the narrator for the Disneynature film Monkey Kingdom , which was released in theaters on April 17, 2015. She again worked with Poehler, starring in the 2015 comedy film Sisters as the title characters, and received positive reviews for her role. In 2016, Fey starred in the biographical war comedy-drama Whiskey Tango Foxtrot , based on the memoir The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan , to mixed reviews, with some criticizing
32448-589: Was announced that Fallon's former SNL castmate Seth Meyers would assume the duties of Late Night once Fallon moved to The Tonight Show . The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon debuted during NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics in Russia on February 17, 2014, while Late Night with Seth Meyers debuted one week later. 2014 and 2015 saw a realignment to CBS's late night lineup: in April 2014, Craig Ferguson announced that he would leave The Late Late Show at
32640-435: Was announced that the series would return with an interactive special, which premiered on May 12, 2020. The special was released to positive reviews from critics and earned a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie . In 2002, Fey appeared in the surreal comedy Martin & Orloff . She made her debut as writer and co-star of the 2004 teen comedy Mean Girls . Characters and behaviors in
32832-717: Was awarded the Pettway Prize. She graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts, with a major in drama. After college, Fey moved to Chicago . She worked as a receptionist during the day at the YMCA in Evanston, Illinois , and took performance classes at the improvisational comedy troupe The Second City at night. Fey started doing gigs at Improv Olympic where she first worked with pianist Jeff Richmond , her future husband and collaborator. Both Fey and Richmond got jobs at Second City. Fey appeared in "the legendary revue 'Paradigm Lost', alongside
33024-546: Was basketball player and later entrepreneur Magic Johnson , whose syndicated The Magic Hour was a major flop and effectively ended any future efforts from anyone else at a syndicated late-night talk show at that point in time. ABC finally re-entered the late-night first-run comedy fray, after an absence of 15 years, in 1997 by placing Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher (which had aired on Comedy Central from 1993 to 1996) into its lineup after Nightline . Unlike traditional late-night talk shows, Politically Incorrect
33216-402: Was being renovated for The Tonight Show ), using the set of the former NBC talk show Megyn Kelly Today modified with a darker atmosphere inspired by Fallon's home, and conducting his monologue from a stool rather than behind a desk. His first episode in the format featured an interview with Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo , an " It's Beginning to Look a Bit Like Normal " musical number, and
33408-478: Was broadcast on January 15, 2019, filmed in Puerto Rico , rather than a typical remote broadcast, in which Fallon described it as a "love letter" to Puerto Rico, which was severely hit by Hurricane Maria in September 2017. The episode included guests Lin-Manuel Miranda and Chef José Andrés , a musical performance of " The Story of Tonight " with Miranda reprising the role of Alexander Hamilton alongside Fallon in
33600-520: Was compelled to join for "a thousand dollars". Fey and former SNL castmate Amy Poehler starred in the 2008 comedy Baby Mama . The film was written and directed by Michael McCullers . The plot concerns Kate (Fey), a business woman, who wants a child but, discovering she has only a million-to-one chance of getting pregnant, decides to find a surrogate: Angie (Poehler), an obnoxious schemer. Baby Mama received mixed reviews, but critics enjoyed Fey's performance. Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote: "Fey
33792-650: Was eventually chosen, leading to Letterman leaving the network to launch a direct competitor late-night talk show, the Late Show with David Letterman on CBS in 1993. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno debuted in 1992. Letterman was replaced by newcomer Conan O'Brien as host of Late Night . Arsenio Hall's show lost numerous affiliates after Letterman's debut and his show was canceled one year later. Fox returned to late-night television in September 1993 with The Chevy Chase Show . However, due to sagging ratings, disastrous reviews and Chase's embitterment at not being allowed to do
33984-405: Was ever successful in drawing more viewers than Carson did on Tonight , not even ABC's short-lived revival of Paar's show in 1973 using the name Jack Paar Tonite (though Paar blamed erratic scheduling and his own unwillingness to succeed at the expense of Cavett, his friend and former writer). Much like Paar, Carson became tired of fulfilling the workload of 525 minutes a week, so The Tonight Show
34176-460: Was first announced a year prior. It was reported that CBS was reconsidering the future of the Late Late Show franchise in favor of lower-cost formats; in November 2023, the network officially announced that it would premiere a Taylor Tomlinson -hosted revival of @midnight —a comedy panel show previously aired by corporate sibling Comedy Central from 2013 through 2017—as a replacement in 2024. Its development and premiere had been delayed due to
34368-586: Was in Shawn Levy 's 2010 comedy Date Night , a feature that focuses on a married couple, played by Fey and Steve Carell , who go on a date; however, the night goes awry for the two. Also in the same year, she voiced Roxanne "Roxie" Ritchi, a television reporter, in the DreamWorks animated film Megamind (2010). With a total worldwide gross of US$ 321 million, Megamind is Fey's most commercially successful picture to date. It earned US$ 173 million outside
34560-526: Was incensed that Rivers did not consult him beforehand and never spoke to her again. Brenner also left Tonight in 1986, although he did so amicably, to launch a syndicated 30-minute late-night talk show called Nightlife , which was canceled after one season. Garry Shandling , who had been a frequent guest host in the early 1980s, served as permanent guest host, alternating with Jay Leno , from 1986 to 1987, when he left to focus on his cable show , leaving Leno to be Carson's sole guest host. In June 1987,
34752-407: Was interested in comedy. Fey attended Upper Darby High School , where she was an honors student, a member of the choir, drama club, and tennis team, and co-editor of the school's newspaper, The Acorn . She anonymously wrote the newspaper's satirical column, The Colonel . Following her graduation in 1988, Fey enrolled at the University of Virginia , where she studied playwriting and acting and
34944-470: Was often more eclectic and would sometimes include the intellectuals and cultural and artistic figures that Carson had long since abandoned) with a cigarette in hand. Carson's new contract in 1980 allowed him to cut the length of his show from 90 minutes to 60 minutes, and for a short time, Tomorrow was moved to an earlier timeslot, to fill the time gap left by Carson's move. NBC felt that Snyder's more conversational style would not bring in enough viewership in
35136-445: Was originally produced for NBC , it was eventually sold to Netflix and renewed for a second season. The show premiered on March 6, 2015, to critical acclaim. On July 16, 2015, the series was nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards , including Outstanding Comedy Series . Fey was nominated both as the creator/executive producer of the series and for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her guest performance as Marcia,
35328-405: Was ranked third in importance (behind John Belushi and Eddie Murphy ). They credited her with "salvaging [ Weekend Update ] from a decade-long losing streak", and "slapping SNL out of its late-nineties coma." In 2002, Fey suggested a pilot episode for a situation comedy about a cable news network to NBC, which rejected it. The pilot was reworked to revolve around an SNL style series, and
35520-426: Was released to a positive review from The New York Times . Critic Janet Maslin reviewed the book, saying that " Bossypants isn't a memoir. It's a spiky blend of humor, introspection, critical thinking and Nora Ephron-isms for a new generation." In 2011, Fey narrated The Secret Life of Girls , a two-hour-long radio documentary produced by The Kitchen Sisters . She introduced stories of women and girls from around
35712-538: Was shortened to 90 minutes and again to 60 minutes in 1980 with 15 weeks of vacation a year. Because of a lack of competition, Carson was free to take time off (by 1980, he was only hosting three new shows a week) and have guest hosts on the show on a weekly basis, and for weeks at a time when Carson was on vacation, including Joey Bishop (a former competitor of his), Joan Rivers , David Letterman , Bob Newhart , Don Rickles , David Brenner and Jerry Lewis . In his final years, Carson produced new shows only three nights
35904-683: Was spun off into its own show that premiered on Spike (later re-branded as Paramount Network) after being passed on by NBC, who did not realize its potential as showcased by Emma Stone 's rendition of DJ Khaled 's " All I Do Is Win ". Similarly, "Wheel of Musical Impressions", another popular segment spawned That's My Jam , a music and variety game show that debuted in November 2021 on NBC with Fallon as host. Other segments include playing charades, Catchphrase , Pictionary , or other family style games. Additionally, Fallon and celebrity guests regularly appear in sketches parodying pop culture or political events. These segments normally take place after
36096-439: Was succeeded by Craig Kilborn ; at this time, The Late Late Show switched to a more conventional (albeit lower-budget) format in line with Late Show and its competitors. Kilborn had previously served as host of The Daily Show , a late-night satirical news program on Comedy Central , and upon Kilborn's departure, Jon Stewart replaced him on that program. Perhaps one of the most unusual late-night hosts to come out of this boom
36288-478: Was taped on February 20, 2009. Saturday Night Live alum Jimmy Fallon took over as host of Late Night on March 2, 2009. The popularity of late-night shows in the United States has been cited as a key factor in Americans not getting a requisite seven to eight hours of sleep per night. Since 2015, late-night talk shows have competed for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Talk Series ; prior to then,
36480-425: Was well received by critics. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Fey delivers such blow darts – poison filled jokes written in long, precisely parsed sentences unprecedented in [ Weekend Update ] history – with such a bright, sunny countenance makes her all the more devilishly delightful." Dennis Miller , a former cast member of SNL and anchor of Weekend Update , was pleased with Fey as one of
36672-447: Was widely considered an unpopular move that contributed to his ratings decline. Some have argued the decline of the talk show as a form, as well as cratering ratings across linear television renders the problem moot; "Like pretty much everything on TV, late-night ratings are down across the board," observed a columnist for TheWrap in 2021. As of late 2023, Fallon averages behind both Colbert and Kimmel in total ratings. According to
36864-403: Was widely expected throughout the company. The transition reportedly lacked the tension of previous Tonight transitions, and the program's relocation east "signals NBC's strong commitment to not messing with the program any further." On April 3, 2013, NBC announced that Jay Leno would retire in 2014, with Fallon taking over The Tonight Show beginning on February 24, 2014. At Leno's suggestion,
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