Jimmy Fallon and Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter during Thursday night’s Tonight Show monologue. (Photo: Todd Owyoung/NBC)
First on LateNighter: A lightning delay at Thursday night’s NFL Kickoff game in Philadelphia wreaked havoc on NBC’s late-night lineup, pushing The Tonight Show to its latest start time since Jimmy Fallon took over the desk in 2014.
The game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers was already set to push Fallon later than usual, with The Tonight Show scheduled for 12:05 a.m. ET instead of its standard 11:34 p.m. start. But a third quarter weather delay sent the broadcast careening further into the night. Fallon didn’t hit the air until 1:12 a.m. ET—more than an hour later than planned.
That late-night milestone puts Fallon in rare company. Only once in modern Tonight Show history has the franchise aired later: September 5, 2013, when Jay Leno’s Tonight Show followed an NFL Kickoff game between the Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos that was also delayed by lightning.
For Fallon and team, the delay had to have been especially frustrating. In an era of shrinking audiences for linear TV, NFL games remain one of the few dependable lead-ins capable of delivering a ratings jolt. Thursday’s episode had been positioned as one of Fallon’s highest-profile of the year. NBC is leaning into that strategy this fall, with The Tonight Show set to air four special Sunday editions after Sunday Night Football.
How many viewers stuck around past 1 a.m. remains to be seen, but Fallon clearly came prepared for the big stage. The episode opened with a cold open cameo from Eagles star Saquon Barkley, followed by a special opening montage featuring the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and a special NFL-themed edition of “Tonight Show Superlatives.” Fallon’s production team treated the night like an event—only to have the weather literally rain on the parade.
The episode’s ratings performance will be closely watched, both as a measure of Fallon’s ability to capitalize on an NFL lead-in and as a test of just how late viewers are willing to stay up for network late night in 2025. Thursday night’s Nielsen numbers should arrive mid-day Monday.
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