Jimmy Fallon, host of The Tonight Show, has renewed his deal with NBCUniversal, extending his tenure through 2028. Fallon began hosting the show in 2014. Before that, he hosted Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and was a cast member on Saturday Night Live. 

“For nearly 30 years, Jimmy Fallon has brought laughter into the homes of millions and charmed audiences from the stages of 30 Rock,” NBCUniversal Media Group chairman Mark Lazarus said. “It’s been a privilege to witness Jimmy at the helm of The Tonight Show and we’re thrilled to see what innovations he and the incredible staff will deliver in the years to come at the network.”

Fallon was on SNL from 1998 to 2004. After performing in a number of films, including Taxi and Fever Pitch, he hosted Late Night with Jimmy Fallon from 2009 to 2013. He took over the Tonight Show host role from Jay Leno in early 2014. 

“For nearly 30 years, I’ve brought laughter into the homes of millions and charmed audiences from the stages of 30 Rock,” said Fallon. “It’s been a privilege to be at the helm of The Tonight Show and I’m thrilled to see what innovations me and the incredible staff will deliver in the years to come at the network. No, I’m not changing my quote. Tell Mark to change his.”

Fallon also hosts musical game show That’s My Jam and appears on game show Password on NBC.  

“Throughout his time at NBC on Saturday Night Live, Late Night and The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon has demonstrated his extraordinary talent and been an integral part of our iconic comedy brand,” said Frances Berwick, chairman, NBCUniversal Entertainment. “We couldn’t be more excited to continue our relationship with Jimmy and to see him carrying The Tonight Show torch into the future.”

From Universal Television and Broadway Video, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is executive produced by Lorne Michaels and produced by Chris Miller and Gerard Bradford. Miller is the showrunner.

Late-night hosts Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and John Oliver have teamed up on a podcast called “Strike Force Five,” which debuts on Spotify August 30. All proceeds from the podcast go to staffers of the late-night shows, who are not working due to the writers’ strike. 

Spotify says, “Strike Force Five welcomes you to a conversation between five rival colleagues for an inside look at late-night television.” It describes how the five hosts decided in the spring to meet weekly, via Zoom, and discuss the Hollywood strikes and what they mean for late-night TV. “What ensued was a series of hilarious and compelling conversations,” Spotify said. 

The series will run for at least 12 episodes, with each host serving in the revolving moderator role. 

Colbert hosts The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS. Fallon hosts The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on NBC. Kimmel hosts Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC and Seth Meyers hosts Late Night with Seth Meyers on NBC. Oliver hosts Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on HBO. 

Podcast sponsors are Mint Mobile and Diageo (Aviation American Gin, Bulleit Frontier Whiskey, Casamigos and Ketel One Vodka). 

“Have you ever wondered what it would be like to watch a football team with five quarterbacks on the field at once?” Spotify wondered. “Introducing Strike Force Five!”

NBC has ordered a second season of That’s My Jam. Jimmy Fallon hosts the music and comedy variety game show, inspired by games seen on The Tonight Show, which Fallon hosts. 

Each episode features two teams of two celebrities competing in a series of music, dance and trivia games and raising money for charity. 

Season one guests include Kelly Clarkson, Ariana Grande, John Legend and Blake Shelton, all of The Voice, along with Terry Crews, Chance the Rapper, Taraji P. Henson, Kate Hudson, Bebe Rexha and others.

The series premiered in early January.

That’s My Jam is produced by Universal Television Alternative Studio, in association with Fallon’s production company, Electric Hot Dog. Fallon, Jim Juvonen and Mike Yurchuk serve as executive producers.

Past episodes are on Peacock. ■

Lester Holt, anchor of NBC Nightly News and Dateline, turns up on The Kids Tonight Show on Peacock Oct. 28. Jimmy Fallon executive produces The Kids Tonight Show, which debuted Oct. 14.

Two episodes drop weekly.  

Charli and Dixie D’Amelio are the guests on the second Oct. 28 episode. Charli is a dancer and social media star. Dixie is a singer and Charli’s older sister. 

The D'Amelio Show premiered on Hulu last month. 

Recker Eans, Mykal-Michelle Harris, Olivia Perez and Young Dylan host The Kids Tonight Show, which shoots in 30 Rock’s Studio 6A, across from Fallon’s Studio 6B. 

Peacock said the show “offers a unique kid’s lens on the iconic series The Tonight Show, which Fallon hosts. 

Along with Fallon, Lorne Michaels, Jim Juvonen, Jay Peterson, Todd Lubin, James Sunderland, Brian McCann, Paul Ricci and Mark Efman executive produce the show. The Kids Tonight Show is produced by Universal Television Alternative Studio, a division of Universal Studio Group, Electric Hot Dog, and Boat Rocker’s Matador Content.

Late-night shows, including The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on NBC, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS and Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC, will be part of Climate Night Wednesday, Sept. 22. The shows’ programming will focus on climate change. “Each show will approach the issue with its own signature brand of humor and the shared goal of helping audiences to think more about the defining issue of our time,” said organizers. 

“I don’t want to die,” said Kimmel.

“In the interest of recycling, please use whatever Jimmy Kimmel said,” said Fallon.

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee on TBS, Late Night with Seth Meyers on NBC, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Comedy Central and The Late Late Show with James Corden on CBS are also taking part in the event. 

"I'm thrilled to participate in Climate Night," said Bee. "But maybe we should move it up a few days? Just because, you know, it's urgent?"

Climate Night will take place during Climate Week NYC, the summit of global leaders and climate activists in New York City to promote actionable solutions. Climate Night was created by former The Daily Show and Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj showrunner Steve Bodow. 

"Climate change has gone very fast from 'probably the future,' to 'actually, right now' – which means we all need to be talking and thinking about it much more," said Bodow. "Late-night hosts reflect our national conversation even more than Russian Twitter bots set it – so this incredible group of shows coming together makes a statement about the scale and urgency of the world's hottest problem."

Each show will encourage its audience to learn more about the issue and how they can get involved.

"I'm proud to dedicate one entire night of my show to the climate, so I can say I wasn't part of the problem, I was 1/365th of the solution,” said Colbert.

Jamie Granet-Bederman has been named showrunner on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Granet-Bederman has been a producer with Fallon since 2009, dating back to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. 

Gavin Purcell had been showrunner since late 2019, and shifts to focus on his development deal with Universal Television. Jim Bell was named showrunner late in 2018, and left NBC in November 2019. 

Nedaa Sweiss, former head writer of The Tonight Show, was named co-showrunner, said the New York Times, and will leave early in 2021 to develop comedies at other networks. 

CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is winning the late-night race, ahead of Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC and NBC’s The Tonight Show. 

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is executive produced by Lorne Michaels. 

In a matter of weeks, COVID-19 has upended industries across the board, including entertainment and media companies that have had to close down studio productions. Many are now pivoting to social video as a way to connect with audiences and deliver a much-needed escape via entertainment content.

A new report from social video analytics company Tubular Labs shows how audience consumption of entertainment content is changing during the pandemic. It explores how influencers, especially late-night hosts, are leaning into video to keep their fans entertained. But first, some topline insights from the report:

Entertainment Category Reigns Supreme for Social Video

When it comes to social video, the entertainment category is the No. 1 creator genre on YouTube and Facebook for both views and uploads across the last year. Although entertainment influencers upload more videos, media companies make up a slightly larger share of views.

Related: Late Night Shows Are Back with ‘WFH’ Formats

Not only do U.S. creators account for the most views of entertainment content worldwide (132 billion in the last year), U.S. entertainment content attracts a global audience, with 35% of its views coming from outside the U.S.

"Digital video's reach has no boundaries,” said Rob Gabel, CEO at Tubular Labs. “With the world awash in anxiety and people physically separated, right now — more than ever — video entertainment is a catalyst for banding global citizens together and providing much-needed optimism during these unprecedented times."

When it comes to entertainment content types, the TV and movies category makes up the biggest portion of views on YouTube (112 billion in the last year). For videos uploaded between March 12 and April 3 as the coronavirus pandemic spread and many Americans were forced to shelter at home, TV-related content amassed 564 million views, with nearly half (253 million views) coming from late-night talk shows, led by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (A&E and American Idol also rank high).

Late-Night Hosts See Explosion in Views With “Stay-at-Home” Shows

With production studios now closed, late-night TV show hosts are taking to social video to bridge the gap and bring fans new content from their own homes — and it seems to be working. The ‘Home Edition’ of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon received a significantly higher V7 views rating (views in the first seven days since a video was published) in the last couple of weeks than the show did over the last year (1.2 million vs. 517K). Jimmy Kimmel’s series of quarantine “minilogue” videos reached higher V7 views than his show throughout the last year (1.1 million vs. 419K). And virtually hosting late-night concerts has been a successful approach, most notably for James Corden of The Late Late Show in recent weeks (962K vs. 599K).

"During this quarantine, celebrities are as human and relatable as ever,” said Gabel. “There’s something fun about seeing your favorite host broadcasting from their personal domain. It makes us feel a kind of solidarity because even celebrities are affected by the quarantine, and they’re still doing whatever they can to bring joy to fans around the world."

How Live Streaming Fits Into the Picture

While indie influencers are used to producing content live and are thus thriving in these times, media companies can tap into this trend too. Entertainment influencers are still getting more of people’s live watch time, but media companies have been catching up in the weeks after the outbreak, with 66% growth.

But there’s also an opportunity for media companies to tap into their rich content repository and repurpose their best performing evergreen content: 66% of the U.S. entertainment content watched from the start of the outbreak is content from 2019 or older.

You can download the full entertainment report from Tubular Labs here. 

Spike TV has partnered with Jimmy Fallon, his Eight Million Plus Productions, John Krasinski, Stephen Merchant and Matador to air the half-hour series, Lip Sync Battle, the network announced today.

Fallon, Krasinski, and Merchant serve as executive producers, but will also perform on the show, which will begin taping in January and premiere in April, 2 2015. 

Beth McCarthy-Miller of SNL will direct the series with additional executive producers Rick Schwartz of Eight Million Plus Productions, Jay Peterson of Matador and EVP Talent Development and Production, Viacom Entertainment Group, Casey Patterson.

Episodes are set to feature celebrity lip sync duels, where each choose their go-to song. To find out more, click here.

Over-the-top video streaming service Crackle will launch a new season of its hit series Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee on Nov. 6, the service said Friday.

Celebrities set to converse with series host/creator Jerry Seinfeld during the fifth season of the Emmy-nominated series include Fred Armisen (Portlandia),Colleen Ballinge (Hipsterhood),Bill Burr(Walk Of Shame),Jimmy Fallon (The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon),Kevin Hart (Think Like A Man Too), Amy Schumer (Inside Amy Schumer)  and Ali Wentworth (In Living Color).

Previous episodes of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee currently running on Crackle have featured such comedy legends as Jason Alexander, Aziz Ansari, Alec Baldwin, Mel Brooks, Louis CK, Larry David, Tina Fey, Ricky Gervais, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Seth Meyers, Howard Stern and Jon Stewart, among others, said company officials.