I have an intense love for Jimmy Fallon. Have since his SNL days. He survived the 2010 Conan/Leno debacle after beginning his role as host of NBC's Late Night March 2nd 2009 before Leno ousted Conan by January of 2010 (Coincidentally, Conan's last turn as host of the Tonight Show aired on my 29th birthday and still resides in my DVR). On the flipside, Fallon has amazing rapports with his competitors, Jimmy Kimmel, Craig Ferguson and Stephen Colbert. Fallon has truly come into his own as of late. He is a class act nice guy and at the same time an utter screwball who also does ads for Capital One and Maker's Mark. This year alone he had a special post Super Bowl episode of his show, he Slow Jammed the news with the President of the United States, he and his amazing house band the Roots released a comedy album of the show's best songs and had a primetime music special just before the London Olympics began. He is it! And I really could go on.
I have often said I want to see Fallon host the Oscars. He hosted the 2010 Emmys with acclaim and he is nominated this year for two Emmys for his Late Night show and his return appearance to SNL as host of the pre-Christmas show. He has the experience and the pop culture relevance to host a big show like the Oscars. So why did Fallon shut down rumors when Matt Lauer interviewed him in London this week? Well, it seems Mickey Mouse may be to blame. Seems that ABC, the network that airs the Academy Awards, unofficially of course, was none to thrilled to see Fallon of NBC host on their network. ABC's Jimmy Kimmel is already booked as host of the Emmys which airs Sunday September 23rd on ABC. When Lauer asked Fallon about hosting the Oscars, Jimmy's response was serious and nondescript. He simple said "It's an honor to be asked by the Academy, but it's not my year."
In addition to the ABC shutout stories, apparently the president of the Academy's term change played a role. Tom Sherak was reportedly negotiating with Fallon and for Lorne Michaels to produce the Oscar telecast. Michaels is of course SNL's famed creator and producer as well as producer to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Conan O'Brien before it, and 30 Rock, Portlandia and Up All Night. Sherek commented today that the Academy's Board of Governors gave him the authority two months ago to find a
producer for the 2013 show but he was not able to complete a deal before his term as president was up.
Main sources for info:
LA Times article from 6 days ago that was updated today and the
Today Show interview between Matt Lauer and Jimmy Fallon.
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