FRESH AIR
Every single day of Jimmy Fallon’s life is like Thanksgiving. The comedian and host of Late Night tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross that he is appreciative of the word moist — for being the “worst word ever.” He’s thankful, too, for taco shells that have survived their long journey from factory to supermarket to his plate — and then break the moment he fills them. And he’s grateful that the name Lloyd starts with two L’s. Otherwise, he says, it would just sound like “Loyd.”
Fallon has spent most of his career coming up with jokes and doing impressions. His early impersonations of Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Cosby, Pee-Wee Herman, Adam Sandler and Eddie Murphy helped get him an audition in front of Lorne Michaels and then a job on Saturday Night Live, where he stayed for six years. After leaving the show to appear in several films, he was tapped by NBC to become the host of Late Night, after Conan O’Brien left in 2009 to prepare to take over Jay Leno’s slot on The Tonight Show.
Thank You Notes
When he’s not interviewing guests, Fallon spends a lot of time on Late Night impersonating musicians. He does spot-on versions of ,, John Mayer and . His Neil Young even famously dueted with the real Bruce Springsteen on a The resulting duet became one of the most popular segments in Late Night history. MORE