Playboy's 20Q: Jimmy Fallon

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[Q] Playboy:Taxi is your first major film role since leaving Saturday Night Live. Many SNL alums have failed in the movie business. Are you worried you'll suffer the same fate?

[A] Fallon: Yeah, I'm kind of nervous. Movies and TV are very different. SNL happens so fast. You come up with an idea on Monday, then you perform it on Saturday, good or bad. But when you make a movie, you have to wait a year before you even see it. You don't know how it's being edited or what it's going to be like. It's out of your control. I just have to remind myself that America is forgiving. You'll always get a second chance. An actor can do eight flops, and if the ninth movie is a hit, they'll call him a genius.

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[Q] Playboy: Unlike most of your fellow alumni, you haven't made a film based on one of your recurring SNL characters. On behalf of the entire moviegoing public, we'd like to thank you for sparing us Jarrett's Room: The Movie.

[A] Fallon: I never wanted to do that. I wanted the show to be one thing and the movies another. There should be a separation. I was a fan of all those SNL movies, but I never wanted to make one myself. It's tough to do an SNL movie. Right out of the box, people suspect the worst. I was happy that Mean Girls surprised everyone, because there was a lot of cynicism: "Oh great, another Lorne Michaels movie." He doesn't get credit, but the guy has really good taste in comedy.

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[Q] Playboy: For a guy with such a loyal following among the MTV set, you're been unexpectedly conservative in your film career. How have you resisted the temptation to make the big bucks doing teen sex comedies?

[A] Fallon: I never wanted to do movies for the money or to be famous. I feel lucky if I'm offered any film roles at all, but I don't feel the pressure to say yes. All I ever wanted was to be on Saturday Night Live. Everything else is gravy. I don't need to do anything for money--which is not to say I have enough money. Definitely everybody wants more. I'm sure I could find a way to spend all that crazy Hollywood cash. I was thinking about getting an ambulance or a fire truck as my regular car. It would be a great way to get through traffic in a hurry. Nobody is gonna tell an ambulance to pull over. Are you kidding me? When I put my siren on, everybody would just get out of my way.

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[Q] Playboy: Your Taxi character is an undercover cop investigating a gang of hot female bank robbers. Based on your research, are most crimes committed by attractive, scantily clad women?

[A] Fallon: Yes, surprisingly enough, but the media doesn't let you see that. It's a big cover-up. Most bank robberies--I'd say at least 75 percent--are committed by Brazilian supermodels.

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[Q] Playboy: In Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous, you play band manager Dennis Hope, who suggests that rock stars should retire before reaching middle age. Could the same be said for aging comedy stars?

[A] Fallon: Yes, definitely. Sometimes they should retire even before that. I don't see myself aging well. I'm going to be the guy watching reruns of Saturday Night Live alone in his apartment, weeping softly while putting wrinkle cream around his eyes and self-injecting Botox. My living room will be covered with 8,000 copies of the Best of Jimmy Fallon DVD, because I'll be the only one who bought it. Most nights I'll be drunk in front of my mirror, slathering on cabaret makeup, ready to do another set for my empty apartment. That's my sad future.

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[Q] Playboy: Are you the product of over-Protective parents, or did they let you run wild as a kid?

[A] Fallon: I was very sheltered growing up. My parents used to make my sister and me wear football helmets in the backyard. We had an awesome swing set on a tree, and it would've been the greatest thing ever if it weren't for the helmets. People would walk by and go, "Look at the idiot Fallon kids." My grandparents lived close to us, almost in our backyard. They were watching my mom, my mom was watching us, and everybody was like, "Keep an eye on the baby. Don't let the baby cross the street." My mom is still that way. I got a Vespa at an awards show, and one day I took it over to her house to show it off. I drove it down the street, and when I came back my mom was in tears: "Don't ever do that again!"

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[Q] Playboy: At what age did you discover your talent for impresonations?

[A] Fallon: I was two years old. I don't really remember it, but my parents have it on tape. My mom said, "Do James Cagney," so I said, "You dirty rat." When I was a little older, I liked to imitate people in my neighborhood. I'd hang out with this kid named Joey Gonzales, and when I came home my mom would start yelling, "Would you please stop talking like Joey?" I didn't even realize I was doing it. If I hang out with anybody long enough, I can do an impression of them. If I watched a Seinfeld episode, for instance, by the end I could do Jerry or anybody else from the show. You know how when you see Rocky, (continued on page 146)Jimmy Fallon(continued from page 129) at the end of the movie you feel like fighting? It's like that.

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[Q] Playboy: Did you always want to be a comic, or did you consider other careers?

[A] Fallon: I Was obsessed with being a mailman for a while, mostly because they have the cool cars with no doors. And I love their uniforms because they get to wear shorts in the summer. That's not bad. I'd love to go through a drive-through in a mail truck. I also wanted to be a priest at one point. I really got into church and Mass and all that stuff. I'm Irish Catholic, so I grew up watching movies such as The Bells of St. Mary's and Boys Town, in which priests were looked up to and respected. I went to a Catholic grade school, so until I was 12 I seriously considered becoming a priest. But the girl thing kind of ruined that. That's the one bad thing about being a priest--you can't marry. I just don't have that kind of self-control.

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[Q] Playboy: You were a computer-science major in college. Were you poised to become a real-life incarnation of Nick Burns, the snide company computer guy you Played on SNL?

[A] Fallon: I got pretty close. But I switched my major in the fourth year because it was getting too hard. I had just finished Cobol, and I was going into C++. That's for the nerds out there. C++ is a really hard language. The biggest thing I wrote was a video-rental program. It allowed you to check in a video yourself, and it would automatically charge you for an overdue one. I eventually switched my major to communications but never finished. I spent most of my time studying comedy. My friend Frank Gentile and I would write standup bits in the laundromat of our dorm and drink 40s. We both loved Saturday Night Live, and we wouldn't allow anybody else in the room when we watched the show. We'd even kick out my roommate, just so we could really focus on it.

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[Q] Playboy: You're a major Pee-wee Herman fan, and you admit that Paul Reubens was one of your main inspirations. Is that because of the comedy or the public masturbation?

[A] Fallon: A combination of both. As a kid I loved his movies and his creativity. Pee-wee Herman is such a great character. The idea of a guy who will never grow up has such an appeal to me. It's a nice, affirming message that I can really relate to. I'd be happy if I could write a character nearly as inspired as Pee-wee. As for the masturbation, it's been said before, but I'll say it again: Where is Paul Reubens allowed to masturbate anyway?

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[Q] Playboy: Is Saturday Night Live as surreal a work environment as we imagine?

[A] Fallon: More so. It's the only job that lets you speak nonsense for hours. But at times it really warps you. One day I went to work at 30 Rockefeller Center, and when I came into the office, these dudes were running around in hazmat suits. I didn't think anything of it--I just assumed we'd been working on a sketch about nuclear fallout or something. No big deal, right? It turns out they'd discovered anthrax in the building, and the dudes in hazmat suits were for real. I figured it out when I saw some people crying. I was like, "Wait a minute--this isn't part of a sketch?"

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[Q] Playboy: You had a reputation at SNL as the cast member most likely to break character and start laughing in the middle of a skit. How does a guy end up in comedy without being able to keep a straight face?

[A] Fallon: I'll take my share of responsibility, but it's not entirely my fault. It became a thing with Will Ferrell to try to make me laugh. It started with the cowbell sketch, when Blue Oyster Cult is recording "Don't Fear the Reaper" and the producer wants more and more cowbell. I was just about to do my line when I looked over at Will--his gut was hanging out of his shirt, his glasses were flying off, he was sweating and his eyes were nuts, and I just lost it. So that became a running thing with him. We did a scene in a hot tub, and Will was pinching my leg under the water. Nobody could see what he was doing, so it just looked like I was breaking up. I've apologized to Lorne Michaels over and over again, but there came a point when he didn't care anymore.

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[Q] Playboy: What was your single favorite Saturday Night Live experience?

[A] Fallon: Probably the mirror sketch with Mick Jagger. That was the coolest thing I've ever done. When I heard he was doing the show, I kept begging the writers, "Please, please put me in a sketch with Mick." I didn't have the courage to approach him with some ideas until Thursday. I pitched him the mirror thing, and by way of example I did an impersonation of him. [Dances as Mick Jagger] "C'mon, man, do the rooster. You know what to do. Everyone likes it when you point your fingers. You do that great, when you point at people." That made him laugh and he agreed to try it. So at midnight on Friday I went to his hotel suite to hang out. We had some tea and talked about what songs we were going to sing. We sang 10 Rolling Stones songs together. He's absolutely as cool as you think he is. I've never met anyone like him who actually lives up to your expectations.

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[Q] Playboy: For "Weekend Update" you usually dressed like a kid who was late for church. Was the disheveled look intentional, or do you honestly have a problem tucking in your shirts?

[A] Fallon: Doing "Update" was one of the first times I ever had to wear a suit. I learned how to tie a tie for "Update." I didn't know how before I became a coanchor, so I guess it was good for me. Now I actually enjoy ties and suits. It's a world of wardrobe that I never knew anything about. As for the disheveled part, my hair has always been messy. That's just the way I am. I tried combing it to the side once, but it made me look like a news reporter from the 1930s.

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[Q] Playboy: You and Tina Fey always seemed like the perfect match. Was this a fabricated friendship, or did you have a relationship prior to becoming co-anchors?

[A] Fallon: She's honestly a friend. She wrote a lot of stuff for me when I first joined the cast. She did all the Sully and Denise sketches. When we both got "Update," there was never any competition whatsoever. It was always about making it work, finding ways to make it funnier. Tina is very giving. If we went into dress rehearsal and I didn't have any jokes, she'd give me a few of hers. If my joke bombed, she'd say something funny and bring the audience back. Outside the show, though, we didn't really hang out. She doesn't drink that much, so it rules out any social interaction. It's the only way I can hang out with people. Horatio Sanz and I spend a lot of time together, and brother, that man can drink. We've come up with a lot of great material when drinking.

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[Q] Playboy: If Tina gets a new male co-anchor, can we count on you to make unannounced visits to the "Update" set, stinking drunk and begging her to take you back?

[A] Fallon: That's gonna happen either way. They've already changed the locks on the studio, but I'll get in there somehow. When I told her I was leaving, it took her about a second to get over it. That really hurt.

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[Q] Playboy: Why did you decide to leave Saturday Night Live?

[A] Fallon: I'd been on the show for six years, and that was three years longer than I'd planned. Three years always seemed better. I think John Belushi did only three. I don't want to be the guy who stays at the party too long. Besides, you can always come back as an alum. Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase would visit the show occasionally, and they're cool--Aykroyd, especially. That man knows how to party. He took me and a few other cast members on a tour of the building and showed us all the secret places. There's a window that leads to an outdoor lawn with grass and a pond. I can't say any more than that. I didn't want to give away a floor. But trust me, there's definitely a cool secret place--several of them, actually. When Aykroyd was on SNL in the 1970s, he was friendly with some of the janitors, so they gave him keys to all the secret rooms. He had a chance to explore every inch of 30 Rockefeller Center.

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[Q] Playboy: How have you adjusted to leaving SNL and joining the outside world again?

[A] Fallon: It's been a strange transtition. Doing the show is like running a race. When it's over, you just want to do it again. At the moment, I'm having trouble sleeping, because I'm used to staying up late. I have to remind myself that I don't have to do that anymore. But for better or worse, that's what I've become. My normal sleep patterns are long gone.

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[Q] Playboy: You wrote a book with your sister, called I Hate This Place: The Pessimist's Guide to Life. Do You consider yourself a pessimist, or does comedy require a bit of doom and gloom?

[A] Fallon: I try to be an optimist, but it doesn't always work out. Actually, the book was our way of making ourselves laugh during some tough times. She had just graduated from college and I had moved out to L.A., and neither of us had a job. We were both thinking the same thing: What have I done? When does life get good? We were depressed and we started e-mailing each other these meanspirited affirmations, just trying to make the other person laugh. I showed a few of them to my manager, and he convinced us to do the book. It flopped, but I still think of myself as an audior. That's how I like to be introduced in social circles. J.D. Salinger and I have a lot in common. I'm not a reclusive genius, and I've hosted a few more MTV awards shows than he has, but we're both published authors and our names both start with J.

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[Q] Playboy: You've kissed your share of SNL hosts. Who's a better smoocher, Gwyneth Paltrow or Sir Ian McKellen?

[A] Fallon: I ask myself that almost every day, and I gotta say...[long pause] I gotta say Gwyneth. She's a really good kisser. [Another long pause] I'm not saying that's the honest answer, but that's all you're going to get from me.