Jimmy Fallon
With all the turmoil and changes that happened with late-night TV series in 2009, Jimmy Fallon was one of people to emerge as a winner, when it comes to industry recognition. Since replacing Conan O’Brien as host of NBC’s "Late Night," Fallon has won his first Emmy Award for his first full season on the show. (As a producer of "The Jimmy Fallon Experience" on LateNightWithJimmyFallon.com, Fallon won the 2010 Emmy for outstanding creative achievement in interactive media (nonfiction). "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" also won the 2010 Emmy for outstanding short-form picture editing; the prize was awarded to editor Christopher Tartaro.) Fallon has been tapped to host the 2010 Emmys, which NBC airs in a live ceremony August 29 at 8 p.m. Eastern Time/5 p.m. Pacific Time.
Given that Fallon is winning acclaim for his Internet activities, it should come as no surprise that his stint as the host of the 2010 Emmy Awards will include a new Internet element that will be a big change to the show. Fallon has started a contest soliciting Twitter users to write the introductions for Emmy Awards presenters. The best intros will be announced live during the show — and on Twitter, of course. The Twitter contest for the Emmys is just about the only new thing that Fallon could reveal about his plans for the show, when he recently talked to journalists via a telephone conference call. But the comedian/TV host/actor kept the jokes flowing during the interview, and he revealed some interesting trivia, such as which TV shows are some of his favorites.
Jimmy Fallon
How is that Twitter contest going so far? Are you getting a lot of tweets already?
Yes they're starting to come in already. Now it’s finally up and running, which is very exciting. It’s just we thought this was a pretty cool idea to do because this technology really doesn't exist or hasn't existed before in the past. So now Twitter’s out there and it's happening so I think it could be a good thing. , because it gives people the chance, opportunity to …
What we're basically doing is I'll explain it again is that [at] nbc.com/imontheemmys, if you go to that, it’ll give you a list of presenters that you could possibly write the intro for. So for example, if it's Jon Hamm, you could be sitting in your apartment watching the Emmys and say, "Oh, I want to say like my grandmother wants to leave my grandfather for Jon Hamm," or something like that or maybe even Jon Hamm himself. That I didn't even think about this. Jon Hamm himself could tweet in and say, "This man is bigger than Jesus." And then that would be the one we choose, and that would be our intro. So it's going to be fun. We've done things with Twitter on our show at late night and they usually work out, and it usually turns out really funny and it's fun for the audience as well as our show.
Is there going to be a particular theme that you will be focusing on this year, whether it's the clips will be like "Mad Men"-themed or reality-show-themed? Is there anything that you find that's on the pulse today in pop culture that you will be incorporating, whether it's Lindsay Lohan or Tiger Woods?
We're going to do something different this year at this Emmys that no one's ever done. We're going to do the exact same show that Neil Patrick Harris did last year, word for word. And we come out and do his opening. We're going to give up the same awards just acted by different actors. And that it's still up in the air if that is actually going to happen. We might not do it.
But in all seriousness, I'm going to definitely embrace all the fun interesting things that happened in television this year, which I think was a great year whether it be the new shows like "Modern Family" and "Glee" or the shows that are going away, like "Lost" and "24" and "Law & Order." I had a lot to play with from this past year and I’m definitely going to include that in our show and just embrace all of televisions and moments, nominated or not.
Jimmy Fallon and Betty White in "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon"
In the variety/music/comedy series category, do you have any favorites? Conan O'Brien’s up against your former show "Saturday Night Live."
Yes. The Academy told me … I'm not allowed to gamble this year. It's some Pete Rose clause. And so I can't legally say who I'm rooting for. But if Conan does win, I'm sure he'll say something really funny.
Will Betty White be at the Emmys this year, and do you have any idea how prominently you might feature her in this show?
Betty White will be attending. Hopefully she's not drunk, please dear Lord. I mean it is just a mess. It is just a mess. When I mean, we were out at a John Mayer concert the other night, and it was just a mess getting her home and just getting her in the limousine. It was just like, "Oh, so she promised me she’s going to clean up her act." But she's a classy lady and she's a great sport. So yes, hopefully what I'm going to do with this year's Emmys is …
I mean, the fact is it's a room full of like hundreds of your favorite television stars. And so my job as a host is to make sure the show’s exciting and entertaining and moves quickly for the people in the room but also put on a show for everyone watching at home. And really, everyone at home wants to see their favorite stars. So I want to get as many people involved as I can, whoever will do a bit or something with me. I'm going to reach out to everybody.
Sheryl Crow and Jimmy Fallon in "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon"
And the response has been good?
Very positive, yes.
Why would anybody in their right mind want to host an awards show with all the criticism you get from all the pundits out there?
Yes … it's a tough gig. But you can't really do for the reviews. I mean I'm hosting my show now for I think we’re almost we’re coming on our 300th show. So that's what I do for a living. I host. So this is just another hosting but it's at that über level just like, probably 4,000 people and it's the biggest audience I'll ever be hosting in front of that I have ever hosted in the past.
Do you have any concerns about reaching out to all those people?
I'm excited about it. I mean, it’s a big opportunity for me and people who haven't seen my show to see what I can do and just to get to know me a little bit. So I think I'm going to use that. That's probably the real win for me. I hope, of course, I get good reviews. But as I said, I'm going to be doing Neil Patrick Harris’ opening from last year, which got pretty decent reviews. So … if I can get half of the good ones he got, I'm psyched.
Ben Kingsley and Jimmy Fallon in "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon"
With all of that, you probably can't reveal too much. But is there anything you can tell us that you're aiming for exactly?
I can't. I like people to be surprised. I really do. There's nothing like that emotion of seeing something on TV and you’re going oh wow that was just exciting. I mean I could tell you, but you don't even want to know. I know you have to ask because that's your job, but nobody wants to know the ending of "Lost" at the first episode. You want to be surprised and go, "My gosh, and then talk about it." So I can tell you that I want to involve other people in the opening. And that it's going to be really fun. I think everyone will enjoy the opening.
When you were growing up, what sort of award shows did you watch and were there any hosts that you're kind of specifically pulling from as inspiration for what you're going to do?
Not necessarily. I mean, we just kind of go at it. As soon as they asked me to host I was honored and I got immediately like probably 200 ideas of what I should do. And I wrote out like probably 100 of them. And then I gave to the producers and he was like these are all great but we do actually have to give out awards during the show. And so we have to whittle this down. So we picked the best of what we had. And I think it's good. I'm not going to make it "The Best of Jimmy Fallon Show." It’s just going to be more about the nominees and how cool it is that everyone's in the same room at the same time.
You won an Emmy this year. What was your reaction to that and what have you done to celebrate?
Oh yes, that was really cool. We got nominated for two Emmys and we won both, one for editing and one for our website. There was a lot of cheering and screaming and crying. And that was just in my dreams the night before. I had a bad dream. And I don’t want to talk about it. It's a long story. But yes, a lot of emotions.
Michael Caine and Jimmy Fallon in "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon"
You’re a famous TV personality, but are you real star watcher yourself?
I really am. I watch a lot of TV, especially too. I mean I have five TiVos cranking at one point I mean whether it be taping the new season of "Jersey Shore" or "Ask This Old House" I've got it on TiVo. I basically have a museum of a 2010 television in my apartment.
Who has been some of the people that you've met who have been maybe your heroes?
Well, yes hosting our show, I mean you get to see stars. I go my gosh, I can't believe I'm sitting here talking to Michael Caine, and we’re actually relating to the same subject. But we’re having a conversation or Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. These are people I never in my life would think I’d sit down and just have a conversation with them … We don't travel in the same circles. Me and Michael Caine do though. Yes, we always go to the same bridge games.
So what makes a good presenter?
You look for those moments at any award show, so I can host and I could write out anything I want, but really the show is the moment. So you go like, "Oh yeah, like the person's speech was awful or the person’s speech was great or that girl's dress was awful." You look for those moments and you go, "My God, that was great!" So I'm kind of hoping that there will be that Jack Palance push-up moment. Everyone looks for that. I doubt we'll be seeing Betty White anyway doing any push-ups, but if I can convince her that would really save me a lot of guff, yes. I'd be really psyched if she did it.
Jimmy Fallon and Randy Jackson in "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon"
And in a way, it sounds like stand-up comedy. Anything can happen.
Yes and it’s live. It’s live on both coasts the first time they're doing it in 30 years. So there's no spoilers, so you can tweet out who the winner was and it’s not going to ruin anyone's experience because the people on the West Coast are watching it at the same time as the people on the East Coast, which is really cool, yes. I mean it's very exciting being out here but because I'm from New York and I'm in the business … I don’t focus on it that much, and I think L.A., it's nothing but the business. I mean, it’s the trades and I mean it's really fun. I mean I'm staying in a hotel in Beverly Hills and there are Hollywood Reporters and Varietys and L.A. Times. Just these things. It's all about the business. Actually, it's making me a little bit more nervous or excited for the show that I was. I'm like, "Oh wow! God, I guess it is a big deal."
Will we get to see your "Glee" parody featured in the Emmys since the whole cast is going to be there?
I don't know. I’m in the Nokia Theatre right now. I'm in rehearsals right now. And so I know a bunch of people are coming through. I don't want to give anything away and say anything. And I really wish you wouldn't either, because I like people being surprised. I think it's more fun for the viewers to not know. Just know that it's the Emmys and it's going to be fun. I know a lot of the "Glee" kids are nominated. I am a Gleek. So if I can play with those guys I'd love to.
What's been the biggest challenge for you hosting the Emmy show?
Keeping my weight down. I got Spanx made. Tom Forward made my Spanx this year. If you were going to ask me who I'm wearing that's what I'd say, yes. I'm a little nervous. I've thrown up a couple times. Not actually because I’m nervous because I just want to lose weight. And it's faster. It’s a faster way to lose weight if you just throw up all your food. But I'm really just kind of excited. I'm here now. I want to rehearse. I want to see where the entrances are and how I walk out and I want to really want to get comfortable with the stage. I had fun here last year when I got to play when Neil was hosting. And I think I'm going to have a lot of fun this year too. I wish I could air it tomorrow so you could see, because I'm pretty proud of what we’re doing.
Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon in "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon"
Now that you are a success and your show is popular, what does that mean to you?
It's exciting. I mean, when we went into the show, it was like we were just following a guy who's been in your TV set for 16 years. It’s not an easy thing to follow. I didn't know how it was going to turn out. I didn't know if the critics were going to like our show, if we were going to get anything. I mean the fact that we won Emmys, it doesn't make any sense to me. It's like this is all happening so fast. And I mean we worked so hard, so I feel like we deserve it. But we’re really still babies. I mean I've only been on a year-and-a-half so we're still like excited and laughing going like this is amazing. And then the enemy opportunity came up and I'm like, "This is off the charts. What a crazy year this has been."
But yes, I can't be happier with the way everything’s turning out as far as our show. I really don't pay that much attention to the ratings but I'm told by other people that our ratings, they’ve been pretty good. We've been doing well, especially in the past couple of months. So that's always good. And when you win an Emmy or any of that stuff or get recognized it's a good morale for the office. Like when you guys write something about our show or put a joke that we wrote in the monologue in your papers, it means the world to us because it gets back to us. And if something’s on a blog or a website and people say like, "Hey this was a funny bit on the show," office morale goes through the roof. So it really affects our confidence level and affects our show and makes our show better when we get good reviews or accolades.
What are some of the Emmy-nominated shows that you enjoy watching that you may be perhaps in secret rooting for to win?
I watch a lot of TV. So I got to say I don't want to pick any favorites. Of course, "Saturday Night Live" is what made me who I am, so I do love "Saturday Night Live." I think that show’s underrated. I think the fact they’re doing a live show, that they put together in a week and just do a live show with all the costumes, changes and all that stuff during commercial breaks, it’s just a fascinating show. I mean, gosh, I learned so much on that show, so I do love that.
But gosh, there's just so many fun people. I'm psyched to be friends with a lot of these people because they're all showing up and they’re all help me out. And I know [Stephen] Colbert is going to present, Ricky Gervais is going to present, Tina Fey is going to present, Julianna Margulies is going to present. And I’ve had all these people on the show and like they're all great. And just the fact that they all came out of want to present and do a fun bit on the show just helps me out and makes my job a little bit easier.
Jimmy Fallon and Jessica Biel in "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon"
Was the Twitter contest for the Emmys your idea? Were you wondering if it would attract kind of younger audiences to watch the ceremony?
Well, just as well as I do, old people love to treat. That is something that is known. So I’m really going for the older crowd with Twitter. Yes, of course. Yes, that's kind of obvious. So but I think I had a bunch of ideas. I sat with some of my writers and I’m like, "What can we do? How do we make it interactive?" Like we were going to have people tweet if they want to see a "Boy Meets World" reunion, stuff like that. But then that was a little bit too extreme on one end …
You have to go kind of broad so that everyone can join in on the fun and get creative. And we've done this bit in our show called "Hash Tags," where we put out a hash tag like, "My parents are weird." And then people just write in and they tell us why their parents are weird. Like someone like at blah, blah, blah put that my mom is weird because she dances at the ATM machine because she knows the security cameras are on and the she wants to give the security guys a little entertainment. That is hilarious.
So it's like I would never write that. That's not even a joke but the fact that someone's submitted that is funny and hilarious. And I think so it works well for my audience because they get to be part of the show and it works great for our show because it's good fun. And so we were thinking what can we do? And I think this thing will work out. It's already live, and we've already gotten some good ones already so I feel pretty confident about that.
A lot of the female stars do these detox diets and weight loss plans to fit into their Emmy dresses. What do you do to fit into your Emmy tux?
I maintain my weight so far, so all the things still fit. I tried the tux on last night, it’s all good. But I'm working out with the Situation from "Jersey Shore." He's kind of my trainer these days. So I meet up with him. We sit around. We both do like 5,000 crunches. And then we just go to Pinkberry and just talk about politics and stuff.
Yes, but to be honest I've been drinking green juice everyday, which you obviously know about. But it's a mix of all that stuff like kale and spinach and cucumber. And it tastes like lawn clippings, let's be honest. I've been doing that and just getting on the treadmill and doing a bunch of cardio trying to get in shape just so I'm not out of breath reading names, standing at a podium and reading names. So I just want to make sure that doesn't happen. So I am on the treadmill every day.
Martha Stewart and Jimmy Fallon in "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon"
There’s a growing number of weight-loss shows on television. What’s your take on these shows, and there are any that you watch?
Yes I mean I watch "The Biggest Loser." I like the idea of it that people can just see that they can totally physically change. They can look totally different. The winners look drastically different. And you send that message out to people that if you do work out, it is possible you can completely change. I don't think you’d have to quit your job and do nothing but work out all day, eight hours a day. It's going to take much longer than the eight weeks on the show. But I think I like the message that you could get healthy and get your stuff together is pretty cool.
"Celebrity Fit Club," I'm not sure about that. That kind of derailed it for me. I think the second season of that, they lost the fitness part of it and just wanted some scandal and it just got weird. But I watch all those shows. I like any of that stuff.
I think better than even the weight-loss show is like Dr. Drew. I think that guy’s awesome. "Celebrity Rehab," it's like crazy to watch someone that’s going through rehab. And he doesn't try to make a big fight and make a big scandal out of it. He's actually just tries to talk them through it and help them through it. And I think even "Sex Rehab" is a great show. I was thinking of going on "Sex Rehab." I was thinking about it but then I figured I’d host the Emmys first.
Are your writers from "Late Night" also helping with the Emmy broadcast or is a whole new set of people doing the writing?
It's a whole new set of people. It's like the Emmys have their people who write the intros to the presenter bits and all that stuff. And they have their own band, so the Roots aren't coming. The Academy has their own people that they have to use. But I flew out. The Academy paid for four of our writers to come out from my show … So they're coming out. And then a few of the other writers … are just going to come out and I'm going to pay them with a Starbucks gift card and thank them for coming — just maybe like 100 bucks on their cards just so they can come out in case we have any last-minute things.
You know, people think there’s always like writers in the back room backstage … But the truth is it's the host really that has to just be quick and be honest because if something happens on stage, you just got to quickly think of a bit and do it. ,Yu can't be like, "Oh well, all right, that happened. Let's pause everything." You can't pause a live show. I mean you can, with TiVo and DVRs but you can't in the award show. But it's like you can't write a big bit over something that just happened. You just kind of have to react using your brain. So they're here for just kind of to keep my confidence high, almost like height men in the hip-hop community. Yes, it's going to be fun, and they're all out here … They're all psyched to be out here. But we’re working well with the other people. They're great people. The Academy knows how to do these award shows pretty well.
Samuel L. Jackson and Jimmy Fallon in "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon"
If you dress up on stage as Robert Pattinson, what complaints would you add to his bother list for the night?
What's with the long speeches? Well who cares, we know you want to thank your wife. You have to or else you’ll get divorced. We get it. What else would he say? I’d have to write it out. But I'd have to write it to be able to do that. But I'm trying to think of what else. Why is it a red carpet? Why is it not a green one? So he'd probably make complaint to like why do we have to go outdoors and general sparkles in the sunlight? I mean look at me, L.A. is nothing but sparkling people. Vampires can’t come to L.A.
And what personal traits do you have that are going to make you a better host than Neil Patrick Harris?
I don't know if I will be. I think he did a great job last year. But I just know that I love this gig. I'm excited about doing it. I'm honored to do it. I want to keep it moving, keep it fast, keep it respectable. And it's a fun night. I mean, you're sitting at home. I've done this. You want to see all your favorite stars. They're all in one room for two hours. And you get to make fun of them. You get to tweet about them. You get to love them. You get to see new people you've never heard of. It's a real fun exciting event, and I’m just so psyched to be hosting it and happy. I'm very happy.
On a personal basis, you recently said that you want to have children. Who is your celebrity father role model?
My celebrity father role model? I don’t know, Brad Pitt looks like a good dad. It looks like he's pretty fun. I think he’s cool. Yes, he's a fun guy. I've seen him with his kids, and he's actually a really fun guy, playful, but yet he's a good dad.
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