Jimmy Fallon Has Eyes Set On Passing Johnny Carson As Longest-Running Host On A Late-Night Show: “Let’s Do 30 Years!” — Contenders TV
deadline.comJimmy Fallon, host of NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, is about to celebrate his 10th anniversary fronting a franchise that first began with Steve Allen behind the desk in 1954, followed by Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien (and Jay Leno again) — and he’s keen to keep it going.
Speaking about Carson’s record as the longest-running (and most-identifiable) host of this seminal late-night show, Fallon said during a panel at Deadline’s Contenders Television event, “I’m gonna go, you guys want me?
Let’s break the record, let’s go, let’s do 30 years!” RELATED: Contenders TV – Deadline’s Full Coverage Fallon himself has already spent 25 years at NBC in different incarnations.
He started on Saturday Night Live in 1998 (“thinking that’s the goal”) and has now “for more than half of my life been at the same building.” Fallon’s Tonight Show incorporates more than just talk, and Deadline’s Pete Hammond asked him whether Tonight now is more of a variety show than a talker. “Yeah, may be considered a talk show, but it’s really a variety show,” Fallon said.
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