Jimmy Fallon's Most Candid Confession About His Career

Jimmy Fallon has been a staple of late night television since 1998, beginning with his work on "Saturday Night Live." Years after Fallon left "SNL," he transitioned to the role of talk show host for "Late Night," before eventually taking over for Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show" in 2014. While longtime fans see his confidence and talent every night on TV, Fallon does have one major career-related fear that he shared on the Halloween 2024 episode of "Hot Ones."

"As a comedian, silence, like there is right now," Fallon said. "The deafening silence is my biggest fear. Crying on camera, which is happening now, my biggest fear." Fallon's words came as he finished the last chicken wing on the table.

That wing was layered with sauce rated at a Scoville level of 2,693,000 making it the world's hottest pepper sauce, according to Food & Wine. Though he struggled to finish, Fallon did so, claiming, "But probably my biggest fear is giving up in front of the American public. And I'm not doing that." He then took one final bite.

Jimmy Fallon's lavish life may be in part due to his stint on "The Tonight Show" — an Emmy-nominated run with nearly 2,000 episodes, welcoming over 4,000 guests (via People). That's quite the accomplishment, considering one of his first lines on the show in 2014 was, "Welcome to The Tonight Show. ... I'm Jimmy Fallon and I'll be your host. For now."

Though his success was impressive, Fallon took it in stride, revealing to NPR in 2017 what he felt his true purpose was. "I'm meant to make people happy," he said. "That's my job. That's what I'm supposed to do on this earth. And I'm going to do whatever I can to make people happy." Also in that interview, Fallon shared an anecdote from his childhood that makes his career in comedy make a lot of sense: He was very smiley, which was a criticism he received on his kindergarten report card. "I think I would smile even when I was getting yelled at," Fallon admitted.

Fallon's appearance on "Hot Ones" also included a plug for his new comedy album, "Holiday Seasoning," which released in November 2024. The star-studded "Holiday Seasoning" track list (including features from Dolly Parton and Justin Timberlake) is further evidence that Fallon's career is a success.