BIO: During his six-year stint on "SNL," Fallon ventured outside NBC with great success. Small parts in Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" and Tom Hanks' and Steven Spielberg's "Band of Brothers" led to starring roles in the feature films "Taxi," with Queen Latifah, and "Fever Pitch" with Drew Barrymore.
Not a stranger to hosting award shows, Fallon has hosted the MTV Movie Awards twice -- in 2001 with Kirsten Dunst, and solo in 2005. He received critical acclaim for his September 2002 hosting of the MTV Video Music Awards, featuring a musical opening where he parodied the year's best videos by Eminem, Avril Lavigne, The White Stripes, Dave Matthews, Nelly, and Enrique Iglesias.
In March of 2009 Fallon took over the Late Night legacy begun by David Letterman and Conan O'Brien and premiered "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." The show immediately garnered attention for viral videos, audience games, and A-list guests. Fallon's choice of house-band, The Roots, has been universally praised. The hip-hop legends were immediately embraced by fans and critics, and their latest album "How I Got Over" debuted in the top ten on the Billboard charts.
Among the shows popular segments are:
- The "Glee" inspired series "6-Bee" where Jimmy and his team compete for glee club superiority against other NBC shows, most notably Amy Poehler and the cast of "Parks and Recreation." That episode is nominated for an Emmy this year for "Best Short-form Picture Editing."
- "Late," a "Lost" parody where Jimmy and his staff are trapped on a deserted floor at 30 Rock and fight to find their way back to the show. Mick Jagger appeared in the series as a "Desmond"-like character forced to keep entering data into a computer to prevent the world from blowing up.
- "Robert is Bothered" where Jimmy plays "Twilight" star Robert Pattinson, sitting in a tree on the 30 Rock roof garden, citing all the things that "bother" him. The real Pattinson joined Jimmy in the tree on March 1, 2010, and claimed that Jimmy's impression "bothered" him as well.
- "The Real Housewives of Late Night" where Jimmy's "wife," Denise (played by Jimmy Fallon), fights with the "wives" of his staff.
- Audience participation bits like "Lick It For Ten," "Competitive Spit-Takes," and "Freestyling with The Roots."
- Songs and musical impressions, including Fallon as Neil Young singing the theme to the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air," and Fallon and The Roots as "Ladysmith Snack Mambazo" singing about snack foods like Hot Pockets and Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
In addition to ruling the time period in ratings (out-delivering CBS's "Late Late Show" in every key ratings demographic in the second quarter of 2010), "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" has been praised by critics. For the week ending May 23, 2010, Entertainment Weekly named "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" number one on their "Must List."
In less than two years on the air, "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" has already begun collecting awards. The show website, latenightwithjimmyfallon.com has already won an Emmy Award in 2009 as well as a repeat nomination this summer. In 2009, the website won a Webby Award and Fallon himself received the "Webby Person of the Year" Award. Fallon is nominated for a Teen Choice Award this summer for "Choice Comedian."
On August 29, Fallon hosted the NBC telecast of "The 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards," live coast-to-coast, from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles.
