Television April 16, 2024
Jimmy Fallon Recalls Doing Stand-Up Outside a Grocery Store! (Exclusive)
Jimmy Fallon is ready to celebrate a star-packed decade of hosting “The Tonight Show”!
“Extra” spoke to Fallon, who reminisced about how far he’s come since doing stand-up outside an L.A. grocery store.
“I was out here when I started trying to do stand-up, trying to make money,” he said. “I tried everything I could to get famous. I remember doing stand-up outside of a Vons because I heard that Michelle Pfeiffer got discovered as a cashier at Vons, so I did stand-up and played guitar and did impressions outside of the grocery store in L.A.”
Fallon eventually got his big break on “Saturday Night Live.”
He recalled, “I remember actually doing ‘Saturday Night Live’ and I was hoping just to be in one sketch, and I was in a sketch, I’d call my mom before the show, like 11:25, like, ‘Mom, I’m going to be in the show tonight, so stay up.’”
Now, Fallon is hoping to one day become the longest-running host on late night by passing Johnny Carson’s 29-year run on “The Tonight Show.”
Jimmy admitted that he didn’t even think he’d make it “two years” on the show, saying, “I was like, ‘Oh man, they’re going to fire me.’ They are gonna say, what is this guy doing?’”
In all seriousness, he commented, “I feel so lucky that I get to go and play and have fun and that’s our goal… I want everyone to be entertained and have fun.”
Fallon is about to have more fun hosting the closing ceremony at the summer Olympics in Paris.
He shared, “I’m honored to do it. I want to represent the country… I love France. I love Paris. I want to respect their culture, too. I’m going to learn as much French as I can in three months and learn a song, and I want to make America proud.”
Jimmy’s “Tonight Show” anniversary special airs May 14 on NBC.