Jimmy Fallon hosts 62nd Emmy Awards, TV's (and his) biggest night Special

A survivor of the recent late night talk show wars, Jimmy Fallon, a 'Saturday Night Live' veteran, is getting a chance to live out one of his childhood dreams by tackling the emcee's duties at this year's edition of TV's prestigious Emmy Awards Show.

If there is a single idyllic, dream gig that nearly every performer (particularly stand-ups and talk show hosts) would sell their soul to see listed on their career bio, it's emceeing either the Academy and/or Emmy Award shows – the pinnacle of every entertainer's earthly desire. While the host or hostess may try to downplay the significance of the Award shows (especially if they've never gotten to rub elbows with their childhood idols onstage before). For former Saturday Night Live cast member Jimmy Fallon, who recently survived the late night talk show war by remaining anchored to the Late Night With Jimmy Fallon set, after Conan O'Brien proved he was the real stand-up guy (no pun intended) after refusing to throw Jimmy under the proverbial bus when Jay Leno returned to The Tonight Show. FYI: Although Conan O'Brien had taken over The Tonight Show throne before Jay Leno began airing his- less-than-successful, five-nights-a-week, prime time “revolutionary” talk show, when Leno's show was scheduled for cancellation and would move back to his old stomping grounds at the show that Carson built, Conan was offered his old Late Night spot back. But, instead of yanking the chair right from under Fallon, O'Brien (who walked away with an alleged $40 million dollar severance package) decided to try out some different projects he was working on and gave Fallon his fair shake to make it or break it in late night. So far, so good. Fallon's ratings have been impressive and, at times, are doing better than many of O'Brien's older Late Night episodes. He's become such a hit with television viewers of all ages, he was the obvious choice to host this year's Emmy Awards (inheriting the duties from last year's critically-acclaimed show stopper Neal Patrick Harris). While Fallon promises this year's Emmy show will contain even more surprises than 2009's, he is genuinely apologetic about not being able to be specific about revealing many of the show's new well-timed gags, musical numbers and guest stars.. “We're going to do something different this year that no one's ever done,” Fallon says enthusiastically. “We're going to do the exact same show that Neil Patrick Harris did last year – word for word. And we'll come out and do his opening. We're going to give up the same awards just acted by different actors,” he says seriously. After a couple of seconds of silence, Jimmy lets out a hearty laugh and jokingly admits. “That's all still up in the air if that is actually going to happen. We might not do it,” he admits, as his laugher subsides. “In all seriousness, I'm going to definitely embrace all the fun, interesting things that happened in television this year, which I think was a great year whether it be the new shows like Modern Family and Glee or, you know, the shows that are going away like Lost and 24 and Law & Order. I had a lot to play with from this past year, and I’m definitely going to include that in our show and just embrace all of televisions and moments, nominated or not.”

NBC

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For many of us who don't have a clue about what's going on with your Twitter idea and the Emmys Show? What's up? “It’s just that we thought it would be a pretty cool idea to do, because this technology really didn't exist or hasn't existed before in the past. So now Twitter’s out there and it's happening, I think it could be a good thing. You know, because it gives people the chance and the opportunity to do something different. What we're basically doing, is if you go to nbc.com/imontheemmys it’ll give you a list of presenters that you could possibly write the intro for. So for example, if it's Jon Hamm (Mad Men) you could be sitting in your apartment watching the Emmys and say like, 'Oh, my grandmother wants to leave my grandfather for Jon Hamm,' or something like that or maybe even Jon Hamm himself. That, you know, I didn't even think about this. Jon Hamm, himself, could tweet in and say. This man is bigger than Jesus.' And then that would be the one we choose and that would be our intro. So it's going to be fun. We've done things with twitter on our show at late night and they usually work out and they -- it usually turns out really funny and it's fun for the audience as well as our show.” In the Emmy's Variety Category, do you have any favorites? Conan O'Brien is up against your old show SNL. So I was wondering if you have any favorites or if you are pulling for anybody... “The Academy told me that I'm not allowed to gamble this year. It's some Pete Rose clause. And so I can't legally say who I'm rooting for. But if Conan does win, I'm sure he'll say something really funny.” Will Betty White be attending and any idea how prominent you might feature her in this show? “Betty White will be attending and doing some fun stuff, I'm sure. Hopefully, she's not drunk. Please dear Lord. I mean it is just a mess. It is just a mess. We were out at a John Mayer concert the other night, and it was just a mess getting her home and just getting her in the limousine. It was just like. 'Oh, not again!' So she promised me she’s going to clean up her act. (laughs) Seriously, she's a classy lady and she's a great sport. So yes, hopefully, what I'm going to do with this year's Emmys is this -- I mean the fact is it's a room full of like hundreds of your favorite television stars.And so my job as a host is to make sure the show’s exciting and entertaining and moves quickly for the people in the room but also put on a show for everyone watching at home. And, really, everyone at home wants to see their favorite stars. So I want to get as many people involved as I can, whoever will do a bit or something with me. I'm going to reach out to everybody.” Why would anybody in their right mind want to host an awards show with all the criticism you get on a Monday morning from all the pundits out there? “Yes, usually the reviews are -- it's a tough gig. But you can't really do for the reviews. I mean, I'm hosting my show now for – I think we’re almost coming on our 300th show. So that's what I do for a living. I host.So this is just another hosting job, but it's at that an uber level just like, you know, probably 4,000 people and it's the biggest audience I'll ever be hosting in front of that I have ever hosted in the past.” You have a very diverse audience with your late-night fans and people who are fans of yours from you days on SNL. Do you have any concerns over reaching out to all those people with your gig on the Emmys? “I'm excited about it. I mean, it’s a big opportunity for me and people who haven't seen my show to see what I can do and just to get to know me a little bit. So I think I'm going to use that. That's probably the real win for me, you know. I hope of course I get good reviews. But, as I said I'm going to be doing Neil Patrick Harris’ opening from last year, which got pretty decent reviews, I’m hoping to get half of it. If I can get half of the good ones he got I'm psyched.” While you were growing up, what sort of award shows did you watch and were there any hosts that you're kind of specifically pulling from as inspiration for what you're going to do?“Not necessarily. We just kind of go at it. As soon as they asked me to host, I was honored, because it was something I always dreamed of doing. It seemed so cool. As soon as it was announced, I got, you know, immediately like probably 200 ideas of what I should do. And I wrote out like probably 100 of them. And then I gave to the producers and he was like, ''These are all great but we do actually have to give out awards during the show. And so we have to whittle this down.' So we picked the best of what we had. And I think it's good. And, I'm not going to make it the best of the Jimmy Fallon Show. It’s just going to be more about the nominees and how cool it is that everyone's in the same room at the same time.” What's also great about making you as a presenter is not just your hosting talents, but you seem to have a real love for television. You must be a real star and show watcher yourself. “I really am. I watch a lot of TV, too. I mean I have five TiVos cranking at one time. I mean, whether it be taping the new season of Jersey Shore or Ask This Old House, I've got it on TiVo. I basically have a museum of a 2010 television in my apartment.” Recently, how are some of the people that you've met who were childhood heroes of your's or people you grew up watching and thinking, “I'll never meet them in my lifetime.” Anybody come to mind?“Well, hosting -- yes, hosting our show, I mean, you get to see stars. I go, 'My gosh, I can't believe I'm sitting here talking to Michael Caine and we’re actually relating, we’re actually relating to the same subject.' Or, I'm having a conversation with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. These are people I never in my life would think I’d sit down and just have a conversation with them. I'm a pretty lucky guy.” At the end of the day, what makes a good presenter? “Well, I think a good presenter is someone who enjoy what they do. I love looking for those unforgettable moments at any award show. You know, so I can host and I could write out anything I want, but really the show is the moment. So you go like, Oh yeah, that person's speech was awful or that person’s speech was great or that girl's dress was awful,' You look for those moments and you go, 'My God, that was great. So I'm kind of hoping that there will be that Jack Palance push up moment at this year's Emmys. Everyone looks for that. I doubt we'll be seeing Betty White doing any push-ups, but if I can convince her that would really save me a lot of guff. I'd be really psyched if she did it” (laughs)

NBC

Jimmy Fallonand the Producers for The Emmys Show officially roll out the red carpet.

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You can click to the complete 2010 nomination list at the Academy's Official Site at www.emmys.tv Jimmy Fallon will be hosting the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards on August 29, 2010 on most NBC affiliates at 5:pmPT/7pmCT/8pmET (Check local listings)