The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is apparently no laughing matter behind the scenes as an explosive new exposé is revealing a mountain of complaints pointing to a toxic workplace environment.
That includes accusations that Fallon engaged in erratic behavior, possible alcohol abuse on set, and many ex-employees saying working on the NBC late-night talk show impacted their mental health.
The report based its findings on “two current and 14 former employees,” according to Rolling Stone. In one particular instance, an ex-employee gave their anonymous recollection of a time that Fallon appeared to be “drunk.” Something seemed off back in 2017 when Fallon crossed off a joke on a paper he was grasping and then appeared confused by the alteration after a brief interlude riffing with the audience. As the ex-employee explained:
“He couldn’t remember he had just crossed it out himself […] I was like, ‘Oh, my God, he [seems] drunk. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. This could be awful — this could be the end of the show right here.’”
The incident was corroborated by another staffer who witnessed it from a live studio feed, according to the report.
It got to the point where the dynamic of the talk show host oscillating between having “good Jimmy days” and “bad Jimmy days” behind the scenes became common knowledge. He could be the charming and witty host you see on TV one day but berating an employee in front of other staffers the next, the report said. It was also speculated in the staffers’ self-reporting that they often suspected Fallon of being hungover or smelling alcohol on his breath in the elevator at times.
At one point, even Jerry Seinfeld had witnessed Fallon haranguing a staff member who was handling cue cards. Seinfeld reportedly told Fallon, “You should apologize to him,” according to one former employee’s account.
Adding to the chaos is the constantly changing leadership behind the scenes of The Tonight Show, with the series seeing nine different showrunners over the course of nine years, the report said. The article characterized the rotating door of executives making the chronic toxic workplace problem an issue that has been allowed to fester. In particular, the ex-co-showrunners Jamie Granet-Bederman and Nedaa Sweiss — who were active from 2020 to spring 2022 — were called out by the former employees for engaging in bullying.
This all comes after dribs and drabs of stories and rumors about Fallon’s allegedly problematic alcohol use have surfaced over the years, though the talk show host has previously denied a report alleging NBC executives were worried about Fallon’s drinking.
Right now, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is on hold — alongside many of the other major talk shows — due to the Writers Guild of America strike. As a result, Fallon now co-hosts a limited podcast series called Strike Force Five that features the likes of other late-night heavyweights, such as Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver.