The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
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 is produced by Katie Hockmeyer and executive-produced by Lorne Michaels. 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 Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
The Tonight Show (franchise brand)
- Head writer:
- A. D. Miles (2014–17)
- Amy Ozols (2018–19)
- Nedaa Sweiss (2019–20)
- Becky Drysdale (2020)[1]
- Colin Elzie (2021–present)[2]
Jimmy Fallon
The Roots (house band)
The Roots
"Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey"
11
1,961 (as of April 12, 2024) (list of episodes)
- Katie Hockmeyer
- Jimmy Fallon
- Mike DiCenzo
- Gerard Bradford
NBC Studios
New York, New York
40 minutes
- Electric Hot Dog (2021–present)
- Broadway Video
- Universal Television
February 17, 2014 –
present
2014–present
31.4 million[3]
(December 17, 2023)
17.4 billion[3]
(December 17, 2023)
English
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 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 August 13, 2015, NBC announced that Fallon signed a contract to remain as host until at least 2021.[4] On November 2, 2020, his contract was extended beyond that year.[5] On May 17, 2021, NBC renewed the show for five more years through 2026.[6]
Background[edit]
History[edit]
The Tonight Show premiered on NBC in 1954 as Tonight, hosted by Steve Allen. Jack Paar hosted 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."[7] 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 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 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.
Reception[edit]
Critical reviews[edit]
The debut episode received generally positive reviews.[97] The New York Times's Alessandra Stanley referred to 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."[35] 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.[98] "Indeed, Fallon comes across as eager to please almost to 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.[99]
The first season of the show was deemed "wildly successful".[79] Entertainment Weekly summarized the show's inaugural year: "In his first year as host of The Tonight Show, [Fallon] turned 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."[100] Nevertheless, detractors of the show, such as John Walters of Newsweek, criticized Fallon for his weakness in interviews.[79] 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.[101] Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield opined that Fallon's effect led the medium to become overly friendly.[102] Fallon also has been both criticized and lauded for his seemingly uncontrollable laughter where he would laugh at absolutely everything.[103][104]
Ratings[edit]
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;[105] the program's first week averaged 8.49 million viewers, making it the franchise's most-watched week in 20 years.[106] Following its premiere, Fallon consistently won its time slot in ratings, routinely beating Late Show with David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live!.[107] Despite this, the ratings for competitors never significantly fell, with Fallon winning due to a surge in younger viewers.[108] In his first year as host, Fallon's Tonight Show improved on ratings delivered by his predecessor Jay Leno.[100] The series' post-Super Bowl episode in 2015 averaged 9.8 million viewers, and the following week's shows from Los Angeles maintained their highest ratings since their premiere.[107] 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.[109]
The show's ratings began to fall after the debut of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2015;[110] while it quickly rebounded and remained top-rated late-night program,[111] beginning in 2017, The Tonight Show lost total viewership to Colbert.[109][112] Fallon's ratings continued to fall in the intervening years. Colbert secured key demographics wins in 2019,[113] and has since won each consecutive television season overall as of 2023,[114] marking that show's longest winning streak over The Tonight Show.[115]
[116] For the 2020–21 season, Fallon fell to third in overall ratings for the first time, behind both Colbert and Kimmel.[117] Fallon's ratings fall has been ascribed to his pursuit of "broad appeal rather than political criticism" on divisive issues,[118] especially in an era of increased national polarization.[119] His cheerful 2016 interview of Donald Trump was widely considered an unpopular move that contributed to his ratings decline.[120][121][122] Some have argued the decline of the talk show as a form,[123] as well as cratering ratings across linear television[124] 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.[125]
As of late 2023, Fallon averages behind both Colbert and Kimmel in total ratings.[126] According to 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.[127] Fallon holds a higher number of YouTube subscribers, and reportedly leads on social media,[116] but this does not drive advertising rates for the show.[127]
Impact[edit]
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 the entire state of late-night television.[101] Media pundits have predicted that future programs' accessibility online will be more critical than their television ratings.[130] David Letterman, a thirty-year veteran of the format who was the first host of Late Night and then hosted Late Show on CBS until 2015, partly retired due to his inability to produce viral bits.[131]
In February 2015, Ben & Jerry's released 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.[132]
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, a ride based on Fallon's Tonight Show,[133] which opened on April 6, 2017.[55]
Controversy[edit]
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 the history of the broadcast up to that point.[134][135] Fallon made an apology to his staff the afternoon of the Rolling Stone report.[136] 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,[137] with the reporting seemingly and oddly being forgotten about shortly thereafter.[138]
International broadcast[edit]
In Australia, The Tonight Show premiered on The Comedy Channel on February 18, 2014 – airing the same day as its U.S. broadcast.[139] 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.[140] 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.[141] Beginning March 2, 2015, the series returned to pay television, this time, however, airing on E! – airing within hours of the American broadcast.[142] 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.[143]
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.[144]
In Brazil, the show aired on the subscription channel GNT, debuting on February 24, 2014, under the title The Tonight Show com Jimmy Fallon.[145][146] GNT broadcasts the show on a three-day delay at 1 am with Portuguese subtitles.[147][148] The show's broadcast continued until September 2017, when GNT did not reach an agreement with NBC, which disallowed the channel to host the Tonight Show episodes on its on-demand video platform and by the one-week broadcast delay in relation to the United States, with the show's videos reaching the Brazilian public first through YouTube.[149]
In Canada, The Tonight Show airs on CTV 2, in simulcast with NBC.[150]
In MENA Countries, the show airs on OSN First Comedy HD, And re-two hours after the presentation on OSN First Comedy +2.[151]
In France, the show airs at 6:15 pm every Monday to Friday on pay television Canal+.[152]
In Germany, the show was aired every Monday to Friday on One from 2016 to 2017. It included German subtitles.[153] Currently, the show is aired in Germany on CNBC via Vodafone Deutschland cable TV and Astra Satellite Monday to Friday with repeats on Saturday and Sunday.[1]
In Hong Kong, since April 1, 2019, the show began airing on free-to-air channel ViuTVsix at 10:30 p.m. HKT on Monday through Thursday nights.
In Italy, the show aired Monday through Friday at 10:45 pm CET on pay television network FOX the next day from the original NBC broadcast. It started airing on September 19, 2016.[154]
In the Philippines, TAP TV airs the show simulcast from NBC.[155][156]
In Portugal, The Tonight Show airs on the subscription channel SIC Radical every Monday through Friday at 10 pm.[157]
In the Indian Subcontinent, The Tonight Show airs on Comedy Central India same day as NBC.[158][159]
In Southeast Asia, The Tonight Show airs on CNBC Asia with back-to-back editions of the show on weekends, and on Blue Ant Entertainment within 12 hours after the U.S.[160]
In Sweden, the show airs on TV12 the next day after US broadcast.[161]
In the United Kingdom, the show airs a day after broadcast on E! at 10pm local time. An edited-down 30-minute version airs on CNBC Europe at 11 pm GMT, airing on a one-show delay from NBC. A selection of the best episodes are shown on Saturdays and Sundays from 9 pm CET in a 45-minute format.[162] The two channels dropped the series when new sister network Sky Comedy launched with the series as part of its debut lineup in January 2020.[163]