The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon has finally revealed his side of the story concerning his infamous failed date with Nicole Kidman. Fallon offered his clarification during the May 20 episode of his show when his guest, Isabela Merced, playfully teased him about the much-discussed incident.
“In 2012, we had The Last of Us video game creators on Late Night to preview it a year before it came out,” Fallon began. “That’s got to be one of the scariest video games I’ve ever played in my life, The Last of Us.”
Merced then blurted out, “Was that the game you were playing when you bombed your date with Nicole Kidman?” directly referencing Kidman’s 2015 on-air confrontation with Fallon about their misinterpreted interaction.
The audience reacted with a collective “ooh,” while Fallon stared blankly at the laughing 23-year-old actress. “It’s a pleasure meeting you, we’re out of time,” he finally retorted, struggling to hold back his own laughter. “We’ll be right back. We’ve had a great Tonight Show — one of the best ones we’ve ever done!”
“So was it?” Merced quipped, pressing the issue.
“No, we were playing Mario Kart,” Fallon responded, a hint of exasperation in his voice. “But thanks for bringing it up.”
As Merced further joked that the clip of him sharing that story is her “favourite,” Fallon covered his face with his hands and declared, “It’s the most embarrassing!”
“63 million people watched that,” she teased, prompting Fallon to repeatedly groan, “Oh no, no, no.”
Fallon first revealed the details of his date with Kidman when she was a guest on a 2015 episode of his late-night show. The segment began with the two having an awkward realization that they had very different interpretations of the interaction: Kidman believed it to be a date, while Fallon thought he was simply being set up to discuss a potential upcoming movie role.
