Before I get to the body of this post, I must issue a quick confession — I have Jimmy Fallon to thank for my “drunk song.” What, you don’t have a drunk song? Mine is Fallon’s “Idiot Boyfriend,” and I love to pop the metaphorical cork on a box of red wine and then crank it up: “I got a permanent wave, yeah! I got an Ogilvie home perm, baby. Uh! I Honk the horn can you honk the horn? Let me hear you honk it!” Moving right along…

Fallon covers GQ’s second annual Style Bible, which doesn’t look terribly stylish from the looks of the photoshoot. Just a lot of skinny, shiny suits on skinny, shiny Fallon. When this interview was conducted, the rumors of Fallon possibly taking over Jay Leno’s spot had not yet reached a fever pitch. As it turns out, the official announcement was made just yesterday that Fallon will indeed host “The Tonight Show” next season even though NBC hasn’t officially made a deal with Fallon, “but his assent is considered mostly a formality, since the move would represent a significant step up for him.” Really? I would think that Fallon might have a few reservations considering the Conan O’Brien mess just a few years ago, but I suppose NBC is confident that it can work out a good deal. This interview from GQ also broaches the topic, and Fallon gives a very diplomatic response to their curious questioning:

On not being cool while growing up: “The cool crowd was always beyond my grasp. Like, my parents had a fence, a chain-link fence, and my sister and I were not allowed outside it. I was only allowed to ride my bike in my backyard. Like Gus the polar bear at the zoo? That was me. Kids would say, ‘What are you doing, man? Come out.’ I was like, ‘I can’t.’ We got a rope swing. On a tree. We had to wear football helmets to ride the swing. Kids could see us. They would pull up on their bikes so they could watch the Fallon kids, so weird. You know, ‘Why are you wearing football helmets?’ We’re like, ‘So we don’t hit our heads!'”

On what he wants for his viewers: “On Late Night, it’s like we’re all in on the joke. That’s what I wanted it to be. I’m not doing something sneaky. Inside jokes, I don’t like those. We can all ride together, and everyone’s on the same thing going, ‘Aha, I know where you’re going here.’ And if we get weird, everyone knows, ‘Okay, we’ll go for that little ride of being weird.’ Or if I go, okay, I’m going to try to be Neil Young and sing ‘Pants on the Ground.’ We’re all just going to ride it out, laugh, and we’re going to be like, ‘This is so silly,’ but it’s happening. It’s…a happening. That’s such a ’60s word. But that’s what it is. It’s intimate and we’re all having the same experience. A happening. ‘Have fun’ is my message. Be silly. You’re allowed to be silly. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

On collaberating with Stephen Colbert: “Colbert, by the way, is so underrated to me I don’t even know. Can you even understand he’s doing a character for how many years now? This is unheard of in comedy. He’s doing something that people will talk about forever. We did a whole bit where we were BFFs, and we became enemies and we hated each other. And then we sang Fievel the mouse, ‘Somewhere Out There.’ Looking out the window, remembering that we were best friends. Such a smart guy. I love him so much. He’s one of my favorite guys to play with.”

On his habit of laughing during SNL sketches: “Definitely a comedy foul. Lorne didn’t like it. I didn’t like it. But the sketches I laughed in became popular. At the end, it was like the audience was waiting. The studio started to shake. Like an earthquake. I couldn’t hold it in anymore. Torture.”

Will he be the next host of “The Tonight Show”: “I mean, in the nicest way, who really cares. In the nicest way. It would be great, sure, I guess. I’d love it, but it’s not on my mind. I’m in no rush to do anything. I’m kind of a boring character in that book. I’m not in a fight with Jay or Conan, or any of them. I don’t have that story.”

Lorne Michaels on Jimmy Fallon and whether or not he believes he’ll take over The Tonight Show: “I’m not allowed to say it–yet. But I think there’s an inevitability to it. He’s the closest to Carson that I’ve seen of this generation.”

[From GQ]

Man, I remember how Fallon used to crack up on a regular basis during his “SNL” days like during a “Debbie Downer” sketch where he started giggling, and then nobody could stop laughing. I think Fallon’s laughter actually encouraged the audience to laugh even when the material wasn’t that funny. That could be part of the tactic for him taking over “The Tonight Show” too. The dude is no Johnny Carson, of course, but he does appeal to the younger crowd that NBC so covets.

Photos courtesy of GQ