https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/jimmy-fallon-tonight-show-toxic-work-environment-crying-rooms-nbc-1234819421/

Not a ton of specifics. Specifics that are provided are bad but not criminal. This doesn't seem very good:

Quote:

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Rolling Stone contacted more than 50 Tonight Show employees, past and present, during the reporting for this story. After reaching out to representatives for Fallon and NBC (https://www.rollingstone.com/t/nbc/), Rolling Stone reached out to an additional 30 current and former staffers. While many of them praised Fallon's immense talent and comedic gifts, not a single one agreed to speak on the record or had positive things to say about working on The Tonight Show. Nor would any of the program's nine showrunners since 2014 comment about the program's namesake on the record they wouldn't even give statements of support, as is
common in the entertainment industry.

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Then there's this. Reminder there are two sides to a story.

Quote:

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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 (https://www.rollingstone.com/t/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.
"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."
Representatives for Seinfeld did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Following the publication of the story, however, Seinfeld sent a statement to Rolling Stone: "This is so stupid. I remember this moment quite well… 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. Idiotic twisting of events."

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Interesting.

I didn't read the article, but if the second excerpt is the worst thing they could find this is the weakest controversy possible.

I would say getting a show on the air 5 days a week is stressful for everyone involved.

Those jobs are generally stepping stones in the first place.

Especially stressful when you are supposed to be a comedian but one of the most unfunny people in the history of comedy.

Captain Winky said:

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I didn't read the article, but if the second excerpt is the worst thing they could find this is the weakest controversy possible.

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If Seinfeld is telling you to apologize, it must have been bad... That said, it sounds like he didn't tell him to apologize.

Jimmy Fallon’s popularity is utterly mysterious to me. I just don’t get it. https://t.co/9IeMNQMZ0o

— Nick de Semlyen (@NickdeSemlyen) September 7, 2023

Jimmy Fallon Apologizes To ‘The Tonight Show’ Staff After Bombshell Report https://t.co/SKAhEpvSex

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) September 7, 2023

The man is a tool, and I hope he gets cancelled by his fellow leftists loonies, but he won't, the left defends their own no matter how illegal, wrong, or immoral. He is a high priest of the ends justify the means.

He was funny on SNL, gets his own late night show, Trump gets elected, Jimmy and his writing staff lose their minds.

Does anyone on this thread or on this board watch his show? If so, do y'all think it's funny?!?

Sponge said:

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Especially stressful when you are supposed to be a comedian but one of the most unfunny people in the history of comedy.

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This isn't about Dane Cook.

Fallon's prime time show "That's My Jam" is one of the stupidest television shows ever created.

Conan >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Fallon

Quote:

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These staffers say it was commonplace to hear people joking about "wanting to kill themselves," and that they would refer to guests' dressing rooms in the office as "crying rooms"

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Makes sense, ostensibly the staff and guests have to watch the Jimmy Fallon show

Also, Rolling Stone is garbage

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Conan >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Fallon

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You can't really compare the two, Conan is one of the top 3 hosts of all time, Jimmy is a giggling puppet…

maroon barchetta said:

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Sponge said:

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Especially stressful when you are supposed to be a comedian but one of the most unfunny people in the history of comedy.

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This isn't about Dane Cook.

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I liked Dane Cook in Employee of the Month. Outside of SNL (where he mostly got audience laughs by breaking character by giggling), I can't think of anything that I enjoyed with Jimmy. Have you seen fever pitch? Jimmy is a talentless hack…

Oyster DuPree said:

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Quote:

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These staffers say it was commonplace to hear people joking about "wanting to kill themselves," and that they would refer to guests' dressing rooms in the office as "crying rooms"

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Makes sense, ostensibly the staff and guests have to watch the Jimmy Fallon show

Also, Rolling Stone is garbage

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Didn't Rolling Stone run that article about the UVA frat raping the girl, and it all turned out to be fake?

And they got sued?

1st Conan
2nd Letterman
3rd Arsenio
4th Carson
-
-
49th Rick Dees
50th Byron Allen
-
-
99th Fallon

My gut feeling is a lot of these places are high stress, high pressure environments that bring out the absolute worst in people. I also think there's more pressure on writers that work for hosts are aren't funny, Fallon being one of them. If he showed up and no writers had material I don't think he could wing it and it be short of a train wreck. I also think it's not difficult to see when the guests are having a good time vs just going through the motions. Conan has always been my favorite since the 90s, he was different, the show was different, you could even see the guests having fun with him, the show itself was fun not just funny. I also think him not getting the tonight show was a good thing, I think it would have broken him. I think he cares too much about what he puts out and the people that work with him. IIRC he paid for everyone on his staff after everything went sideways and they took the tonight show away and gave it back to Jay Leno. The tonight show is lowest common denominator programming, which is a very specific product, with very specific requirements.

FWIW some friends of mine actually met Fallon randomly back in the day when they were at a bar in NYC and he was still on SNL and said he was cool with them and hung out for the night. He was being low key in the back of the bar and they all had a good time. I only bring this up to illustrate that some of these jobs can change people if they aren't strong enough and they let it happen. Also people saying writing for the tonight show was their dream job seems hyperbolic to me, so I take the rest of the article with a grain of salt. I don't know that I've heard rumblings about the tonight show being toxic but there were rumors about Ellen's show being an awful place for years.

I don't think Fallon is a very good host but he has come up with some pretty funny skits.

All the late night talk shows are awful.

Fallon, Kimmel, Colbert, Seth Meyers, James Cordon.

All crap.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Conan >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Fallon

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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>The other politically compromised unfunny idiots…

aggiephoenix02 said:

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1st Conan
2nd Letterman
3rd Arsenio
4th Carson
-
-
49th Rick Dees
50th Byron Allen
-
-
99th Fallon

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Craig Ferguson was the best. His show was so good.

Yeah he was, good call. Probably top ten too…

aggiephoenix02 said:

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Yeah he was, good call. Probably top ten too…

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Some motivated poster should start a thread about an all time list…

Captain Winky said:

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I didn't read the article, but if the second excerpt is the worst thing they could find this is the weakest controversy possible.

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Agree with this. Those quotes are absolutely nothing. Seems like someone set out to write a hard hitting piece of investigative journalism, couldn't find anything, and still had to pen the article.

I watched Tonight Show when Fallon first took over and it was good, especially skits like "Eww". Haven't seen it in years though.

Also, lol at Rick Dees and Byron Allen showing up in this thread.

FWIW, one of my oldest and dearest friends works on the show. She has worked with Jimmy consistently since SNL. While I've heard complaints about certain staff members (and isn't there always someone to complain about at work?), she has never once had one negative word to say about Jimmy and I can guarantee that if she at all felt that he was problematic, she wouldn't work with him and I would have heard about it. She is also extremely grateful for what he has done for staff since the strike- and he has done more than is being reported. I haven't talked to her about this new zoom call but I'm sure I will at some point.

And yet Fallon > Rolling Stone magazine's'investigations'

bagger05 said:

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"It was very awkward, and Jerry [Seinfeld] was like, 'You should apologize to him,'

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I read that in Jerry's voice

I miss late night talk shows...

Though I think Fallon is one of the least funny comedians I've ever seen, I've never even heard a rumor about him being a jerk behind the scenes. Nothing I read there seemed to be damning. Their evidence is the lack of super positive reports. That sounds very much like a nothingburger.

But I will need to jump on the bandwagon of missing Conan.

For me, it was Conan > Ferguson > letterman... and then, who the hell cares.

Craig Kilborn or GTFO…

From what I've watched of Fallon he's still far and away less 'mean spirited' in his jokes about non liberals than his late night peers. Maybe that has changed the last few years. He's the only late night show we could stand the last ?10? Years when we have randomly watched.

Considering how fragile and "safe space" so much of Hollywood tends to be I will at least take the claims with a grain of salt. I could even believe his being an ass is when someone tries to act like they're writing for Kimmel or Colbert.

Who knows. That industry attracts or creates a lot of nuts these days.

I remember people saying his ratings suffered because he would not be near the liberal ******bag his competitors were night after night.

TCTTS said:

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Jimmy Fallon’s popularity is utterly mysterious to me. I just don’t get it. https://t.co/9IeMNQMZ0o

— Nick de Semlyen (@NickdeSemlyen) September 7, 2023

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I mean...this is clearly one friend poking fun at another. Thats kind of Martin Short and Steve Martin's (and really that whole era of comedians) thing they love to do when they are performing.

If you miss COnan, his podcast is fantastic.

Quote:

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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

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The cue card dude probably ****ed up somehow.

If you do it for a living and some support staff is making your life harder, i can see where you'd get pissed.

So I don't blame the dude in that regard.

Same thing with Ellen. She was probably a ***** but if you got to go out everyday and put on your game face you probably get short with people.