Jimmy Fallon accused of toxic and erratic behaviour behind the scenes of The Tonight Show
Jimmy Fallon accused of toxic and erratic behaviour behind the scenes of The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon is the subject of a Rolling Stone feature today about problems behind the scenes of the legacy tonight show. The article suggests that alcohol is a major factor in the hosts behaviour.
According to two current and 14 former employees, The Tonight Show has been a toxic workplace for years — far outside the boundaries of what’s considered normal in the high-pressure world of late-night TV. They say the ugly environment behind the scenes starts at the top with Fallon’s erratic behavior, and has trickled down to its ever-changing leadership teams — nine showrunners in the past nine years — who seemingly don’t know how to say no to Jimmy. Former employees describe The Tonight Show as a tense and “pretty glum atmosphere,” with some alleging they were belittled and intimidated by their bosses, including Fallon himself. Employees describe being afraid of Fallon’s “outbursts” and unexpected, inconsistent behavior. Many of these staffers voiced their concerns through HR complaints, but problems at The Tonight Show persisted.
The article talks about the high-pressure environment on that show, with it impacting on employee mental and physical health. The problems are attributed to Jimmy Fallon and a succession of showrunners who were not able to say no to him.
“It was like, if Jimmy is in a bad mood, everyone’s day is fucked,” one former employee says. “People wouldn’t joke around in the office, and they wouldn’t stand around and talk to each other. It was very much like, focus on whatever it is that you have to do because Jimmy’s in a bad mood, and if he sees that, he might fly off.”
“We’re up against it” was a commonly-used phrase around the office among employees, they say, to warn each other if Fallon was “not having a good day” and therefore, everyone else was in for a rough one as well.
There was also the time Jerry Seinfeld told Fallon to apologise:
Two employees remember witnessing Fallon scold the crew member who was in charge of his cue cards in the middle of a taping with comedian Jerry Seinfeld. They say it was an uncomfortable moment. Seinfeld told Fallon to apologize to the cue-card production member, which he then allegedly did. The employees say this incident, which felt awkward to watch, did not make it to the version of the show that appeared on television. (Representatives for Seinfeld did not respond to requests for comment.)
“It was very awkward, and Jerry [Seinfeld] was like, ‘You should apologize to him,’ almost trying to make it a joke,” a former employee says. “It was one of the strangest moments ever and so many people were there, so it’s kind of hard to forget.”
The questions I have:
How long will it be until Fallon announces that he’s stepping away to seek rehab - there have been rumours for years about his drinking.
Will the Strike Force Five podcast, launched just last week and hosted by five of the late night talk show hosts, become Strike Force Four? And how will the hosts address this on the podcast? This podcast is suddenly a must-listen show.
Strike Force Five is sponsored by Ryan Reynolds companies Mint Mobile and Aviation American Gin. Will the Aviation sponsorship continue on the show?
What is the future of Ben & Jerrys Tonight Dough? It is delicious, but also has Fallon’s grinning mug on the side of the carton. I love the ice-cream, but hate myself everytime because of that brand affiliation. It’s less Tonight Dough and more Tonight Uh, Oh right now. Put that on your B&J containers, Unilever!
Since the Rolling Stone article was published, Jerry Seinfeld has disputed the incident he was involved in. Indiewire has a reaction article, in which Seinfeld is quoted:
Seinfeld initially didn’t respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment, but in a statement sent to the publication after the article went live, called the version of the story an “idiotic twisting of events.” “This is so stupid. I remember this moment quite well,” he wrote in his statement. “I teased Jimmy about a flub, and we all had a fun laugh about how rarely Jimmy is thrown off. It was not uncomfortable at all. Jimmy and I still occasionally recall it and laugh.”
Masterson sentenced to 30 years
That 70s Show star and high-profile Scientologist Danny Masterson has been sentenced to 30 years to life for rape.
The actor, who maintains his innocence, was convicted on two of three forcible rape charges this past May. Masterson was accused of raping three women at his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003, which was during the time he was on “That 70’s Show.” The jury convicted him of raping two women in 2003, but could not reach a verdict on an allegation from November 2001 involving a former girlfriend, though the jurors voted in favor of conviction.
Both trials shined a light on the Church of Scientology, and the verdict marked a stunning downfall for one of Scientology’s most prominent celebrity members. Masterson is a lifelong member and all three victims were Scientologists at the time of their assaults, but have since left the church.
Read more: Variety
Do you want to feel old? 30 years of The X-Files
This Sunday marks the 30th anniversary of the broadcast of The X-Files first episode. This was a show that was buried on a Friday night and not expected to do much more than possibly build a small and loyal cult viewership before the show would inevitably be cancelled.
But the show was actually rather good and that cult audience grew and grew until it became a genuine big time TV hit show.
Expect to see a bunch of articles looking back at the show over the coming days. One of the earliest is this one by Cindy White at The AV Club. I would assume most articles will pick up on a similar idea to what White is writing about, which is that the best elements of the show were in its monster of the week episodes and not the series-long alien conspiracy plots. What I think most of these articles will miss, contextually, is that when the show originally aired week-to-week on TV, the conspiracy episodes were often the show’s biggest episodes and delivered talking points that drove the engagement behind the series. Yeah, every so often the show would give us a creepy monster like Flukeman that would have audiences talking the next day, but it was questions around who The Smoking Man is and what happened to Mulder’s sister that had viewers eagerly watching.
I was obsessive over this show as a teen. I don’t feel old knowing it debuted 30 years ago in the US. We only got it here in Australia in January 1994, so I reckon that gives me five months before I need to start feeling old over this.
I do remember exactly where I was when the first episode aired - it was on an exceptionally tiny TV in a caravan park that my family had to move into for a few weeks as we moved interstate and went house hunting. I also remember where I was when I saw the last episode, which was in the family home a decade later in the same lounge room where I had watched almost the entirety of the show since. I will say I had a better time with one of these episodes than the other, even if I was watching it on a terrible caravan park TV.
Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish told attendees at a Goldman Sachs-sponsored conference that the plan is to rise the price of its streaming service within the next two years. Read: Variety
A former junior staff member on Lego Masters is suing Endemol Shine Australia and an associate producer claiming she was denied a safe workplace and was treated unfavourably. Read: TV Tonight
In a cost-cutting move, Roku has begun deleting shows from its platform. Titles include the not-very good Quibi acquisition Most Dangerous Game starring Christoph Waltz and the actually rather good Slip from Zoe Lister-Jones. Read: Deadline
Star Wars fans in the US, London, UK; Bangkok, Thailand and Brazil may be excited to hear that the fifth episode of the rather good TV show Ahsoka will get a cinema release this week ahead of it being streamed on Disney+. Read: Dark Horizons
Nintendo is showing off its upcoming Switch 2 console to developers. Read: Dark Horizons
If you want a deep dive interview with the creators of the revived Tiny Toons cartoon about how the new show is different from the 90s cartoon, NYT has this lengthy piece.
Amid the strike action production pause, Warner Bros Television has suspended deals with top talent including Greg Berlanti, Bill Lawrence, Mindy Kaling, JJ Abrams, John Wells, and Chuck Lorre. Note that this is just a suspension of the deal and not a cancellation. Read: Deadline
I came across this photo in my Internet travels this morning. It’s the stars of hit show M*A*S*H* on the picket lines during the 1980 SAG & AFTRA strike:
Lawmen: Bass Reeves debuts Nov 5 on Paramount+.
Revealing the untold story of the most legendary lawman in the Old West, LAWMEN: BASS REEVES follows the journey of Reeves (Oyelowo) and his rise from enslavement to law enforcement as the first Black U.S. Marshal west of the Mississippi. Despite arresting over 3,000 outlaws during the course of his career, the weight of the badge was heavy, and he wrestled with its moral and spiritual cost to his beloved family.
The Boys spin-off Gen V debuts Sept 29 on Prime Video.
The Burial debuts Oct 5 on Prime Video.
Inspired by true events, when a handshake deal goes sour, funeral home owner Jeremiah O'Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones) enlists charismatic, smooth-talking attorney Willie E. Gary (Jamie Foxx) to save his family business.
All The Light We Cannot See is a limited series debuting Nov 2 on Netflix.
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, All The Light We Cannot See is a groundbreaking limited series that follows the story of Marie-Laure, a blind French girl and her father, Daniel LeBlanc, who flee German-occupied Paris with a legendary diamond to keep it from falling into the hands of the Nazis.
NYAD debuts on Netflix Nov 3.
Annette Bening, Jodie Foster, and Rhys Ifans star in NYAD to tell a remarkable true story of athlete Diana Nyad who, at the age of 60 and with the help of her best friend and coach, commits to achieving her life-long dream: a 110-mile open ocean swim from Cuba to Florida.
Quiz Lady debuts Nov 3 on Hulu.
Castlevania: Nocturne debuts Sept 28 on Netflix.
Spy Kids: Armageddon debuts on Netflix Sept 22.
When a game developer unleashes a powerful computer virus, the children of two secret agents must work together to save their parents - and the world.
Creature debuts Oct 20 on Netflix.
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