I know he’s not everyone’s favorite, but I actually like Jimmy Fallon. I miss him on Saturday Night Live, and when I see the odd clip of his last night show, he usually makes me chuckle. I think he’s a better interviewer than people give him credit for, and he’s successfully taken his ego out of his career, and has come across as very humble and genuine in many of the interviews I’ve seen with him lately. Anyway, Jimmy decided to chime in about the Conan O’Brien/Jay Leno drama at NBC, and with all of the sniping, stupidity, and ballsy moves, it’s weird that Jimmy comes across as one of the few adults in the situation (video below). I actually feel for the kid:

Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC’s ‘Late Night,’ has stayed relatively quiet about the storm brewing at the network over ‘The Jay Leno Show’ and ‘The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien.’ But now he is speaking out.

Fallon, whose 12:35 time slot is in limbo, took the high road and praised both Leno and O’Brien without bashing the network.

“Here’s what I know, Jay Leno is going to go back to 11:30. Conan O’Brien was offered 12:05, and he said he didn’t want to do that. He said it wasn’t fair to him and he said it wasn’t fair to me, which was very nice of him to say,” Fallon began.

“I’m happy to have a job. I really am. I have a lot fun doing this show. We all do. But it’s kind of weird because these are two of my heroes and two of my friends,” he added.

“Leno, I was on his show so many times before I was even at this job and when I got this job he gave me so much advice, as did Conan,” Fallon continued. “Conan O’Brien if he didn’t kick ass here for 17 years, I wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t have a job.”

“I feel like I’ve met a great woman, I got married and now I’m finally getting to know my in laws and they are crazy,” he joked.

[From PopEater]

I guess no matter what happens, Jimmy is kind of screwed. Either they’re going to put Leno back on the Tonight Show, or maybe Conan will leave, or maybe Leno will leave, or maybe all of the above or whatever. No matter what happens, I guess Jimmy is still going to have his late-late show. Throughout it all, Jimmy has been keeping his head down which might earn him points with NBC. Maybe not, though. NBC is being run by morons. Here’s the video from last night:

The rumors have been brewing for months, ever since Jay Leno took over the 10 p.m. timeslot on NBC every single f-cking weeknight, and was met with nothing but crickets chirping. Leno is out, finally and thank God. Except he’s not really out, he’s just out of the 10 o’clock slot as of February 12. The chairman of NBC Entertainment announced that there are hopes that Leno goes back to 11:30, Conan O’Brien goes to 12:05, and Jimmy Fallon goes on late-late night. To which I say “meh” for many reasons. First of all, good luck breaking all of those contracts, douchebags. Secondly, last year, NBC handed Leno a pile of money and walked away from promoting their few remaining hour-long original dramas, so screw them no matter what – if a network doesn’t want to pay for originality and storytelling, why should I feel for them? They got what they deserved, and how.

Jay’s walking off prime time.

Confirming days of rumors, Jeff Gaspin, the chairman of NBC Universal Entertainment, on Sunday announced that starting Feb. 12, The Jay Leno Show will no longer air at 10 p.m. but that the network hoped to keep Leno for an 11:35 p.m. show, Conan O’Brien for 12:05 p.m. and then Jimmy Fallon after that.

But, Gaspin adds, “It’s not a done deal yet.”

Gaspin admits that The Jay Leno Show “did not meet affiliate needs” but that through it all, Leno and O’Brien have been “incredibly gracious and professional.”

“Beyond that is a private conversation and when it all settles, you can talk to them about that,” Gaspin says. “We’re back in conversation tomorrow.”

When asked why O’Brien would choose to remain at NBC with other networks interested in him, Gaspin says, “Conan’s motivation will become more clear as time goes on. We gave something important to him, which was The Tonight Show, made it clear that it was moving with him. Conan wanted the franchise of The Tonight Show; Jay wanted to tell jokes at 11:30. Still things [need] to be worked out.”

[From People]

The only person I actually have any sympathy for is Conan O’Brien. No, that’s not true, I feel for Jimmy Fallon too. The two of them are getting royally screwed when all they did was honor their contracts and try their best. And I do think Gaspin is blaming Conan to a certain extent, especially when he says “Conan’s motivation will become more clear as time goes on.” As in “The Tonight Show is failing because Conan is unfunny, and not because Jay Leno’s hour-long show sucks all of the air out of the room every single f-cking night.” I feel like Conan and Jimmy are going to be falling on their swords big-time, when really this ridiculous scheme was the kind of out-of-touch corporate stupidity that any f-cking idiot knew was going to fail. Oh, and it’s Leno’s fault too. And I hope he gets his.

Jimmy Fallon, 34, has finally received his college diploma from the College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY. He had attended school there from 1992 through 1995, but dropped out with only a semester left on his communications major in order to move to Los Angeles to be an actor. He not only graduated on Saturday with 1800 of his much younger classmates, but was also the keynote speaker.

He didn’t go back to the school for a semester, however. Instead, he showed the college a portfolio of his work in LA that demonstrated that through real-life experiences, he had gained the knowledge that another semester would have also given him.

It’s been 17 years in the making, but Jimmy Fallon finally received his bachelor’s degree in communications from the College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y., Saturday. The NBC Late Night host, 34, was one of 1,800 students who donned a cap and gown and marched to the Pomp and Circumstance at the university’s commencement ceremony at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

In addition to picking up his communications degree, the funnyman served as the keynote speaker and spoke to his fellow graduates.

“There’s always going to be someone out there like that movie critic, who doesn’t believe in you or who thinks your head is too big or you’re not smart enough,” Fallon told the graduates. “But those are the people you need to ignore, and those are the times you need to just keep doing what you love doing.”

The Saturday Night Live alum attended St. Rose from 1992 through 1995 but decided to drop out just one semester short of graduating to pursue a comedy career in Los Angeles.

In order to graduate, Fallon presented college officials a portfolio of his work on TV and film that illustrated he had learned and fulfilled the college’s core curriculum through his real-life experience, which satisfied remaining credits.

[from People]

Using his TV work to get credit at college could be seen as a cop-out, but you have to give him credit for making the effort to get the diploma. He’s a successful comedian, and whether or not you like his work, you have to admit that he’s made a name for himself without a degree. And it’s not as if he used TV work to get his degree in organic chemistry. He’s a communications major. With only one semester to go, it would have been easy for him to say, “Well, I almost graduated – that’s enough.” But instead he made it happen. Better late than never.

You’ll get to see Jimmy on the big screen soon in Drew Barrymore’s Whip It!, also starring Ellen Page.

Here’s Jimmy with his wife Nancy Juvonen at Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World Gala on May 5th. Images thanks to WENN.com .

Word has it – and by “word” I mean the sorta-reliable people over at Fox News – that Jimmy Fallon will definitely replace Conan O’Brien when O’Brien moves over to host The Tonight Show in 2009. Jay Leno is being “forced” into retirement according to Fox, and a lot of gossip has been whispered over the past year or so regarding O’Brien’s replacement.

The word is out among the NBC brass: As rumored and bounced around for some time, Jimmy Fallon is set to take Conan O’Brien’s job as host of “Late Night” in 2009. It’s a done deal. Conan, of course, will be taking over for Jay Leno, who will leave the “Tonight” show in May 2009 as part of a forced retirement.

There’s much debate about letting Leno leave NBC etc., but right now let’s just concentrate on Jimmy. He’s the perfect successor to Conan and should have just as big an audience when he takes the reins. Fallon is one of those great underrated performers. This should be the right milieu for him. Fallon, who recently married producer Nancy Juvonen, is said to be thrilled and ready, if not a little scared, about taking Conan’s desk. He still has to pick a producer and a band, among other things.

[From Fox News]

NBC is expected to make the formal announcement in mid-May when they present their Fall schedule in New York. Though NBC is “forcing” Leno into retirement, it appears he’s just retiring from NBC. He may do a show on ABC that would replace Nightline and push Jimmy Kimmel’s show back a half hour, into the 12:30 slot. He also may go back to promoting Doritos, which is pretty much the only thing I knew about him before he started hosting the Tonight Show.

Jimmy Fallon is pretty funny, and does have a bit of a following. But he hasn’t really done much since he left Saturday Night Live in 2006. He was in an independent film called The Year of Getting to Know Us that was screened at Sundance to terrible reviews. Aside from that, it seems that he’s spent the last couple years… just… chilling. Makes you wonder why NBC decided to go with him – but either way, he’s pretty funny, and hopefully will thrive in his new job.

Here’s Jimmy Fallon in Beverly Hills on March 20th. Images thanks to WENN.

In an interview with Elle magazine, Drew Barrymore said that she likes her body and will never strive to be rail thin like many of her Hollywood counterparts:

She also said that Cameron Diaz is her best friend and that she is “totally into girl love.” She said her friends are her outlets for “dreams and creative aspirations.”

Drew certainly has a good head on her shoulders, and she seems like a fun person to hang out with. She was photographed with funnyman Jimmy Fallon in Punta Mita, Mexico on September 3rd. This doesn’t mean that Drew and Jimmy are together. Drew is most likely still with her longterm boyfriend, Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti. A commentor on Lime-Light.org, where we found the pictures, notes that it looks like Drew’s friend and business partner, Nancy Juvonen, is with them, and that she may be dating Jimmy.