Last week, I linked to a story about Jimmy Fallon’s latest alcohol-fueled injury. He was in Cambridge, Massachusetts (to receive an award) and he went out drinking with some college students. He ended up tripping over a kneeling girl whilst holding a bottle of Jagermeister. The bottle broke and Fallon cut up his hand. This was like his third injury requiring a trip to the hospital in four months’ time. As Bedhead wrote last week, there are some mutterings that NBC executives are worried about Fallon’s drinking and “clumsiness.” The NY Post followed up Radar’s reporting over the weekend, doing a detailed report on how Fallon’s partying/drinking has been sort of out of hand for a while – you can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
NBC execs are worried: “It’s gone from being a whisper to a chatter,” says one industry insider of Fallon’s over-the-top behavior.
Fallon has been getting into drunken escapades for a while now: “The consecutive injuries come on the heels of a seemingly endless parade of Page Six mentions chronicling the after-hours antics of the host, who is married to Nancy Juvonen (co-owner with Drew Barrymore of the production company Flower Films) and has two daughters, both under 2 years old.”
Some incidents: “There was April 2014 at the East Village dive bar Niagara, where Fallon was allegedly involved in a brawl after a Thursday night taping of “The Tonight Show.” (The next evening, he managed to rally and partied at a Chelsea watering hole until the early morning, buying shots of vodka for the entire bar.) This past January, patrons recorded a clearly inebriated Fallon belting out Katy Perry’s “Walking on Air” while literally crawling on the bar at West Village gay bar Marie’s Crisis. An inside source says that before August’s annual Apollo in the Hamptons summer benefit, which is held at Ronald Perelman’s 57-acre East Hampton estate, Fallon was drinking heavily and “doing shots.”
A Manhattan bartender thinks he’s a mess. She says: “He’s a mess. I love him.” She recalls a time around 2009 when a happily wasted Fallon, then the newly tapped host of “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,” played beer pong with the staff at the now-closed Whiskey River in Union Square until 5:30 a.m., before continuing the party upstairs at the bar’s private apartment. “Everything you’ve heard [about his behavior] is true…He likes to hang out and be the life of any party,” the bartender says, adding that Fallon now brings a bodyguard on his escapades and keeps a driver waiting to take him home. “When he’s drunk, he doesn’t care who takes a photo of him.”
Even Fallon’s friends now he’s a drinker: “Jimmy generally goes out with very, very close friends and people from the show. He’s not rolling up to 1Oak. But he likes to drink. He likes to go out.”
The pressure of the job: “There is so much money at stake, the pressure is enormous. [Besides doing the show daily], they’re looking for the next viral thing to hit. He has to do calls with affiliates and sponsors…He has no outlet. He’s young. He’s still learning. You forget he hasn’t been doing this 10 years.”
Some sources insist that Fallon isn’t drunk all the time because he has to rehearse and be lucid to learn dances and routines and such for the Tonight Show. Unnamed NBC sources insist that he’s fine, that NBC is okay with him right now, and what else are they going to say? Fallon’s contract with NBC goes until fall 2021. That’s a lot of liquor. My guess is that Fallon IS a happy drunk and that he does feel the need to “blow off steam” and have a “good time” but at his age (41), it is starting to come across as “functioning alcoholic” more than anything else.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
If my job was to come up with new ways to make Competitive Spit Takes interesting, I’d drink too.
This.
I mentioned this in the last thread about Fallon… the Tonight Show has become a rehash of a rehash of a once charming idea from his Late Night show to get SOME of his guests to play goofy games from time to time. Now every episode has a stupid game and it is just not interesting anymore. He is not a good interviewer (so sycophantic) so the program really is like a well-functioning mess. Apparently, just like it’s host.
Bryan Cranston doing let me play with your look, let me play with your loooook still makes me LOL.
@miagirl So true!!! His interviews are so awful and so fawning. It’s sometimes painful to watch. I do think he is quite funny whenever he does a character in a sketch though. You can see why he was an SNL cast member for so many years.
BTW – Not buying that he’s an alcoholic yet. Just sounds like ugly rumors to me.
Internet comments denying his obvious drinking problem remind me of the same reaction to Cosby’s scandal: lotsa bros in denial. That changed over time as it became more and more obvious The Cos was not so lovable; you don’t see so many Cosby defenders typing away.
Anyone with common sense can see that a 41-yr-old with a wife and 2 babies at home who’s carousing every night, apparently cheating, and having lots of “accidents” — that aging dude’s got a problem.
Considering the previous gossip about his weird bad attitude toward his babies [because of the way they were conceived], he sounds like a troubled guy who’s very different on the inside that he is on the outside.
True. I don’t know how late night hosts do it. Their jobs are so demanding and stressful. And they have to do it EVERY FREAKING DAY !
And that goes not only for the hosts but all the people involved in the production.
What about the rumors on BlindGossip that he isn’t very nice to his wife?
I feel like he will quietly go to rehab…maybe during the Holiday break at year’s end.
Agree. The rumors are getting too loud for everyone to ignore.
His eyes are beginning to show the above-and-below-eye puffiness that is characteristic of most alcoholics. So there is some physical confirmation of his drinking issues.
Something has to be wrong at home. He has two kids under 2 and when he drinks its until he is drunk.
Too much stress at home and at work.
Yeah, it’s probably his wife’s fault. *eye roll*
Alcoholics are not created by outside parties. They are created by inner inability to handle the pressures of life in a more constructive way. And if he is 41 years old and still behaving this way, he’s an alcoholic. I think some people are more vulnerable to alcoholism than others, both physically and mentally, but ultimately, it’s the responsibility of the alcoholic. There isn’t necessarily anything wrong, anywhere. That’s just what they do.
I didn’t say it was the wife’s fault. I said something is wrong at home that he is going out and drinking to get drunk. Especially since his wife is not with him.
Everyone is so quick to label. I don’t know that he is an alcoholic, yet.
But I am sure he will do a rehab stint to get everyone to shut up.
Exactly GNAT.
Having had experience in my family with this, they once said that they could wake up one morning and see the sky was blue, and that would cause them to need a drink.
i.e. there was no logical reason sometimes, it happened regardless of if they were stressed our or not or how good their lives seemed at that time.
@Denisemuch while he’s out his wife is taking care of 2 kids under two….even if she has help, that’s still an unthinkable, inconsiderate situation. What’s “wrong at home” is that he is an alcoholic.
As GNAT said, stress does not make an alcoholic. For many, it is a long-term “habit”, which is a dependency.
And for some, they also have a personality disorder mixed in as well, that causes them to be irresponsible, unaccountable, uncaring, narcissistic, and also a charming life of the party when they want to be.
@Denisemich
This type of behaviour predates his marriage. His costar from the SNL days is on record as saying they used to get smashed all the time. Doesn’t sound like he is drinking because there are problems in his marriage more like the marriage is in trouble because he can’t stop this behaviour.
@Denisemich
You’re right, you didn’t say it was his wife’s fault. I’m sorry for assuming that’s what you meant.
He’s an alcoholic. I’m not being quick to label. Anyone his age who gets sloppy drunk on a regular basis has a problem with alcohol, and I’m sure it will take a toll on his body and mind soon if it hasn’t already. And as everyone else said, alcoholics don’t need a reason to drink. They don’t drink because of problems; they create problems by drinking.
It might start as a way of coping with stress, but it doesn’t stay that way forever. It becomes a habit, it’s fun, it becomes your routine. It’s what you “do”, and the reasons become less and less rational. He may have problems at home, but that isn’t the reason he drinks (in fact it may be the other way around). He drinks because he drinks.
@Denisemich, I bartend once a week for fun as do the majority of my coworkers. One of my fellow bartenders comes in after his day job, has a few beers to bolster himself before he heads home to two small kids and his wife. I’ve caught him blind drunk making out with another of our co-workers as well. He’s the very definition of a ‘problems at home’ avoidance drinker.
Fallon seems to be on another level entirely if these stores are even half true.
Wow! The only thing “wrong” at home is that there are responsibilities there he doesn’t want to deal with. Much like Assfleck, he’d rather be partying or hanging with his bros than be a father and husband.
And stop with the “but late shows are so stressful…” Show me a full-time job that isn’t stressful. And think about Johnny Carson and Jay Leno who did that show for decades all while maintaining class and a healthy family. The show isn’t the problem. Home isn’t the problem. Jimmy is the problem as it is with all alcoholics. Do not give him or any other addict an excuse to do what they do. They’re already looking for reasons to indulge and people to blame rather than hold themselves accountable and admit their just selfish a-holes.
To be an alcoholic you have to crave a drink. A news story can only tell you that he drinks too much for polite society.
I had a friend who literally used to get fall down drunk. Like found in a doorway down and drunk. She didn’t know when to cut herself off because it was no longer a good time. We lived in different places but people told me they thought she might have a problem. But she didn’t drink everyday and doesn’t drink to excess now that she has left that situation.
I also, agree that if it goes on long enough it becomes a habit and then a problem. The question is does he crave a drink daily or is he a really bad social drinker that turns into a college kid.
I don’t know.
We will see if these stories are true soon enough. He will either go to rehab, stop drinking in public or get much worse.
“to be an alcoholic you have to crave a drink”
You couldn’t be more wrong. You seem to lack the understanding of life with an alcoholic, and for that I am happy for you and you should be extremely grateful. My husband is an alcoholic and I assure you he doesn’t “crave a drink” daily like you seem to think. It is more like the alcohol takes over and he becomes a different person entirely. Binge drinking is alcohol abuse as well.
Jay Leno is FAR from classy. Maybe he never cheated on his wife, but classy he ain’t.
@kitten: Yes! Was just coming back to note that Carson was notorious for not having a stable family life (to the point where he included that in his own material), and that Leno is – to this day – absolutely despised by others in comedy for his very lack of class.
Funny/happy man outside, fu#@ed up/twisted inside. Sad but it seems true in this case. It’s almost a cliche. Isn’t it?
Unfortunately, a cliche for a reason. It’s incredibly common to find alcohol & drugs – especially amongst comedians and people performing live. Sometimes, thinking about the after party or the relief of pressure is the only thing that gets a performer on a stage, willing to go there emotionally in front of a bunch of people, and all the way through a show without freaking out. And the adrenaline is so high after a show that it can take forever to get calm without additional substance assistance.
There are also a lot of comics & performers who actually believe they are funnier and better when they’re a little ‘loose’ – so the alcohol/drug factor is tempting to some on both ends of what they do.
Agreed. In my experience, he’s exhibiting all the signs of being a [barely] functioning alcoholic. I’m sure he used to be a functioning alcoholic, but he’s losing control now. NBC needs to get in front of this FAST. He’ll be in re-hab this year, for sure. That’ll help, but he needs comprehensive therapy to get to the source of his issues and deal with the ongoing stress of his job.
I really wonder what NBC is going to do, especially since they got into such a sticky situation with the Conan/Jay thing. If they canned Fallon now, it would be an embarrassment for them because they put their money on him being a long-term gig.
Personally, I don’t care for Fallon all that much and hate his often noted “fake” laugh. I do get the impression that he doesn’t quit fit the Tonight Show suit although they seem to give him a little freedom with his celebrity games and such. That being said, he’s never said an ill word about his peers and seems to be an alright guy in real life. I hope he gets the treatment he needs for his alcohol issues.
I knew when he out up that cute picture of his kid the other day to deflect from his drunken image post hand injury that he was in trouble with the bosses. The advice from executives is always “change the narrative” or “show pictures of kids and puppies”!
People bitched about Jay Leno but Leno found a healthy outlet for his stress which was working on and buying old cars. And even at a younger age Leno said he would always “go home” to stay out of trouble. There is a lot of trouble and temptation in the business.
They hitched their wagons to him, I think they’ll stick with him but try to get this under control. You’re right, it would look pretty bad if after all that mess with Conan, they had to change it up yet again.
On Reddit and Tumblr,you can find many stories about him and his drunk nights in NY bars
Yikes. I feel like, at some point, when you have a wife and young kids, you just have to grow up, you know? These are the antics of a early 20s dude, not a middle-aged family guy.
I wonder why his wife puts up with it (besides money)? It can’t be a very pleasant marriage when one half of the couple is working constantly — and, if not working, partying with college students in random bars.
His wife should have plenty of money herself when she co-owns a production company.
Reddit and tumblr seem like reliable sources.
Wow, I don’t know how someone can keep up that kind of partying while working the hours he does. He must be exhausted/hung over all the time. At 41, it’s going to catch up with him in a big way soon. If it hasn’t already.
Yes, he sounds like my ex, a very highly functioning alcoholic. By 35, he threw up every single night. By 37, when I left, he would call a friend and tell him something, then call him the next day and tell him the exact same thing. This is not normal. He has a real problem, and I suspect it will start to show in his work soon, if it hasn’t already.
Esmom I was just going to say the same thing! Gosh I used to do this in my 20’s but even then it was difficult. But then again I had to be up at 6:00 a.m. and stayed out til at least 2:00 a.m. drinking! Ugh. And I wasn’t married with kids either. I feel for his wife and kids. My ex used to bartend and go out afterwards and he’d be crawling home as I was leaving for work. I left him.
He does have a lot of people around him helping him out. The Tonight Show isn’t all on his shoulders, and if it was I doubt he’d be functioning. That said, it’s still not sustainable and the cracks are showing. I wonder if they’ll be able to quietly shuffle him off to rehab before he crumbles.
I have to confess that I still party like a frat boy – but it’s more like once a month now lol. Can’t handle it too heavy-duty any more than that. I like partying, I like drinking … but the older I get, the less I can do it. I deliberately chose a child=free life so I could continue with my hedonistic ways lol. Even back in my hey days, I still didn’t go out every night though.
He needs help. Several serious injuries indicate a problem. He doesn’t need to become another casualty of drugs and alcohol. His wife and kids don’t need that either.
Um, here’s the thing, he’s not young. He has a wife and two very young daughters and a multimillion dollar late night talk show, and he is supposedly drinking like a frat boy in college. Even if he is not an alcoholic and just a crazy binge drinker, he should give up the booze. He is going to lose his family if he doesn’t watch out.
Yes, he clearly seems like the type who cannot stop at one or two drinks. Giving it up would probably be best. He might be surprised at how much better he’d feel. Because he can’t be feeling very good with habits like that.
I was thinking that too. At 41, he isn’t all that young anymore, and he’s had a TV career for a long time now. This isn’t a twentysomething noob being thrown into the deep end, here. I’m sure his job is super stressful, but it’s not like he didn’t know that going in.
Also, I would postulate that a crazy binge drinker IS an alcoholic, especially if they do it on nearly a daily basis.
I agree with your crazy binge drinker is actually an alcoholic observation, especially when talking about someone who is 41 years old.
Someone once told me there are two types of alcoholics: the type that crave it and need their fix, no matter the time of day, and then the type that once they start drinking, don’t know when to stop and always drink a ton. Don’t know if that’s accurate but it sounds right; I have seen both types.
Exactly – some of the comments in the article act like he’s some 22 year old who accidentally got famous and is just blowing off steam while he’s young, but this is an older guy with a LOT of responsibilities, especially those two young daughters.
I feel kind of… ick about these stories. It goes one of two ways: he’s either a functioning alcoholic and tabloid fodder is feeding, or he needs assistance of some sort and I don’t think this is good for gossip.
I think people are harsh ,cut him some slack @41 he has tons of pressures and likes a drink to unwind, big deal ! If he really needs help ,hope he gets it. I like him and loved him on SNL he’s funny and talented . I think he’ll be alright👌🏻👌🏻
He also has a wife and two small kids. He should go home and unwind with his family not in a bar with strangers.
But he doesn’t just like a drink to unwind. He could do that at home and spend some time with his family, but he doesn’t. He goes out to bars and gets sh*t-faced night after night.
Pressure is no excuse for abandoning your wife & small children every night to drink with randoms. This isn’t new, the stories go back years. It’s the recent injuries that suggest it’s worse now.
It seems obvious he needs help and yet people want to look the other way….the NYP article ends with the excuse “There’s a sort of loneliness to being a late night host.”
Really, at the end of the day there’s a sort of loneliness to any challenge in life, it is up to us to get through things, no one can do it for us. It’s part of being a responsible adult.
Ang, I like him, too. But it’s not helping someone like him to say he needs to drink to unwind. He’s way beyond unwinding. He’s getting sloppy trashed on a regular basis. That’s unhealthy mentally and physically. And as a former wife of a man with a very similar pattern – it’s impossible to have a relationship with someone who is always drunk or hung over. The person you loved is no longer available to you, ever. I feel really bad for his family.
Agreed. And the additional problem with a ‘high-functioning alcoholic’ is that they often don’t seem drunk….but they are still impaired, with discussions and arguments leaving you feeling like you’re in some bizarre never-never-land.
It’s truly head-spinning. I can’t imagine enduring that, with an infant and young toddler.
Very true justagirl. People who only knew my ex casually would have been very surprised to know he had a problem.
Any 41 year old who is rolling out of New York city bars after playing beer pong until 5:30 am needs to closely evaluate his relationship with alcohol. Blowing off steam is having a glass of wine at home while cooking supper or going out with a friend for a couple of beers and a shared appetizer. Dancing on the tops of bars until all hours of the morning, and nearly having your finger amputated from smashing it on a glass table, is called being a very sloppy drunk.
Or playing beer pong til 5:30am…. but just once in a while.
I love Jimmy, never knew he had any kind of drinking problem. He can be really funny sometimes, I love his impressions of Donald Trump and Bruce Springsteen. Hope he is not one of those happy funny comedians on the outsidde and a real unhappy depressive on the inside, so many of them are.
You’d think Jimmy would be funnier since he’s always wasted.
I feel sorry for his wife. She’s always seemed like a nice person. She already has two kids under two. She shouldn’t have to deal with his drunken a**, too.
I know someone who worked and partied with Jimmy years ago and from what I’ve been told I gathered he drinks a lot now because his life is a very narrow closet.
narrow closet?
It’s really none of our business what others are doing in their personal lives. I know that he’s been able to make an amazing career for himself and function day in/day out in a way that I never could . . . Bless him! I hope he’s well and happy. And if he wants to or is forced to, I hope he enjoys a long and happy retirement.
Is it me or does he tend to slur his words?
Some people get the world handed to them and throw it away. He has too many enablers surrounding him. His wife had two small babies to care for; she doesn’t need to take care of this big baby. I watched him on the Tonight Show when he first landed the gig. Now? Never watch. He is too sloppy. And has to be the center of attention, taking it away from his guests. Get sober, Jimmy. The life you’re living isn’t a life.
I have only watched him a few times on YouTube. I didn’t find him funny, I thought he was very tame. I don’t get some of these american talk show hosts. We Brits are used to sarcastic hosts. The only one I occasionally thought was funny is letterman.
I think that if you look at the substance abuse problems suffered by members of the SNL cast over the years and then look at the larger patterns of substance abuse suffered by comedians, professional, amateur, or otherwise, the issue becomes pretty obvious. People trying to make it in that profession suffer from unique stresses and can pretty easily find themselves buried by tremendous amounts of doubt and anxiety. Fallon’s been in the professional spotlight for a long time which carries an even more unique set of weights.
It’s not an excuse. If your career ambitions are causing you to make the same unhealthy lifestyle choices over and over, then it’s probably time to rethink your priorities.
I am coming from personal experience….you get to a point, where you “cross that line into addiction” and then, you can never go back. He clearly exhibits symptoms of problematic drinking behavior (i.e. negative consequences) but has not suffered things like loss of a job, loss of his wife/family. That is the stuff of addiction and hitting rock bottom. He needs to pull away now before his life is destroyed and while he still has some control….maybe he is already too gone; it happens so insidiously. One day you think you deserve to unwind this way and you deserve to drink that bottle of wine b/c of the stress of your life. Then one day you wake up and you are ADDICTED to it. I wouldn’t wish the hell of addiction on my worst enemy. I always liked Jimmy and I hope that he can get help if he truly needs it 🙂
It’s interesting that now that this story is (finally) hitting mainstream outlets, the line is that he’s a drunk. He most certainly is, but that’s always been true of him. He has other addictions too.
Addiction to any drug, and alcohol is a drug, is to escape one’s reality. Not exterior reality, interior reality. We are not comfortable in our own skin. Seems many male comedians have depression and dependency issues. Many have died from it through the years. Rehab is not a magical cure as anybody that’s been through it can tell you. It can be a good beginning to the battle however.
Watching him on his show..it is very hard to see someone who is a hard drinker or alcholic…but the fact that he wiped out recently in Cambridge, Mass. and messed up while drinking with college kids does confirm to me that Jimmy Fallon seems to be a bit like Peter Pan..he really is a grown up but perhaps thinks he is the amusing buddy of some Harvard kids. They must be wondering WTF. It is interesting that this recent incident in Cambridge where they give the annual hasty pudding award (and every year a top celeb is chosen, they always come and are gracious and funny but never have they gotten wasted and taken to the hospital…so its sounding like he has a drinking problem..it sounding louder that he might be a functioning alcholic. would hate to see it take him down or force him out of doing what he loves. Wake up, Jimmy!
Jagermeister? Shots? BEER PONG!? Crikey, most of us grow out of that halfway through college. With his working hours, I’d say he has a pretty telling lack of self-preservation. Differential diagnosis: Alcohol abuse. Totally.