Late Night host Jimmy Fallon talks Robert De Niro, The Roots and replacing David Letterman.
Voted “most likely to replace David Letterman” in junior high.
“I guess it planted a seed in my head maybe in 8th grade. I mean, I was little then but I guess I was a pretty funny kid. It’s that Irish personality where I wasn’t one of those people that needed to kiss the Blarney stone. I came from a family of just entertaining people…They would have parties and they would sing, you know, have a microphone set up with a reel to reel and some speakers — even though we weren’t famous, we were a performing family.”
KEEP READING: Jimmy’s journey to ‘Late Night’ …
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And that’s how he ended up here.
“I loved standup, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do, I wanted to try movies and so I gave my shot at the movies … I didn’t really do it. Then 2008 rolls around and [Lorne Michaels] called me and said, ‘Hey remember that thing we were talking about five years ago.’ When I left Saturday Night Live he was like, ‘Just remember, you know, we’re going to have to replace Conan O’Brien eventually so keep that in the back of your head,’ and I was like, ‘All right, I guess’ … so then like maybe probably six months before the NBC announced something, you know, I was hearing rumors that I was the next host and all this stuff.”
KEEP READING: ‘Late Night’ goes high tech …
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Jimmy’s ready to liven up late night.
“I think our [show] will be different in the fact that we’re younger, we’re into like tech stuff, gadgets, phones, video games. We’ll treat a video game premiere like a movie premiere … I’m currently on Twitter and Facebook and Flickr and Digg; I’m on all that stuff. And I want to be as interactive as possible.”
KEEP READING: Jimmy’s first guest is …
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First he’s turning up the star power.
“[Robert] De Niro is my first choice. I think he’s quintessential New York. He’s a legendary actor. I love him. I worked with him once at Saturday Night Live and a couple things here and there. We like each other, but we’re not buddies. I don’t hang out at his house or anything. He’s never invited me over for coffee …”
KEEP READING: He’s calling in a few favors …
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Then again he could use a little help from his friends.
“I figured I’d call in the favors early because I didn’t want them to be waiting like, ‘Huh, when is he going to have Tina Fey on so we can just get this over with?’ And, I love her. She’s just the nicest person ever. She would be the first guest; she would be the last guest. She would do anything for me … she was the most famous person in the world at one point and that’s just got to be awesome. I mean, we sat next to each other at a desk for a long time and we connected and she’s fun to work with. We play well together.”
KEEP READING: Jimmy’s got Roots …
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He’s planting some Roots.
“I pitched [The Roots] my big spiel and I said, ‘Look, No. 1 you’re going to raise the bar of what a house band could ever be. I mean, you are a band already; you are The Roots. I mean, I don’t know who to compare you to.’ They can play with Tony Bennett and they could play with Jay Z and it sounds great … No. 2, they’re from Philly, it’s only an hour and a half on the train so it’s kind of a close gig. And then I said No. 3, ‘We’re in New York so if you want to play after the shows there’s endless clubs and places you can play in New York City, you know, if you want to go’ because I know they love to just be on stage and perform. They’re hungry … and a great band.”
KEEP READING: Interviews can be tricky …
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And he’s getting used to doing celeb interviews.
“The first couple [interviews] I’ve done I’ve been a little nervous and I’ve been like ‘Hey, where you from? Connecticut. Oh good. Do you do impressions? Oh great. I heard you went on vacation, and you had a hang gliding incident. Oh good. We’ll be right back.’ And I was like ‘Wait, that was the worst conversation I’ve ever had in my life!’”
KEEP READING: His mentor …
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He got a little advice from the late night gurus.
“[Stephen] Colbert told me, ‘I’ll tell you something that Conan gave to me that Carson gave to Conan and that was; With a show [like this] you’ll use everything you know.’ And I go, OK and he goes, ‘No, that’s the truth, you will; you will use everything you’ve ever known.’”
KEEP READING: Tune in …
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Ultimately, just give him 10 minutes …
“I just know that every night I’m going to go out and give the best I can. And try to make you forget about your life and the bills you have to pay and your job. Just give me 10 minutes at 12:30 and I’ll make you laugh and then you can go to sleep or stay awake.”
