Look up off in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Off or OFF may refer to:

• OFF! (band), American hardcore punk band
• OFF (acronym for Organization for Fun) pseudonym for German DJ and singer Sven Väth
• Off (album), an album by Ciwan Haco
• OFF!, an insect repellent
• Off side, one half of the cricket field
• Open Font Format
• Owner free filing system, a P2P-network which breaks up files into blocks
• Oil-for-Food Programme, the United Nations arrangement with Iraq from 1995 to 2003
• Our Favorite Family, a nickname for the eponymous family in the animated television series The Simpsons

See also[link]

• Offside

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Gordon-Levitt in March 2012.
Born	Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt (1981-02-17) February 17, 1981 (age 31) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1988–present

Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt^[1] (born February 17, 1981) is an American actor whose career as both a child and adult has included television series and films. He is known for his roles in the 2009 indie film (500) Days of Summer (for which he earned a Golden Globe nomination), a supporting role in the 2010 science fiction film Inception, and for starring in the 2011 drama 50/50 (for which he earned his second Golden Globe nomination).

Beginning in commercials as a young child, he made his film debut in 1992's Beethoven. Gordon-Levitt subsequently co-starred in the television sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996–2001) as the young Tommy Solomon. After a hiatus during which he attended Columbia University, Gordon-Levitt left television for film acting, appearing in films like 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) and Manic (2001), followed by critically acclaimed performances in 2004's Mysterious Skin, 2005's Brick, and 2007's The Lookout. He runs an online collaborative production company titled HitRECord.

Early life[link]

Gordon-Levitt was born in Los Angeles, California, and grew up in Sherman Oaks. His family is Jewish, though "not strictly religious",^[2] and his parents were among the founders of the Progressive Jewish Alliance.^[3][4][5] His father, Dennis Levitt, was once the news director for the Pacifica Radio station, KPFK-FM.^[6][7] His mother, Jane Gordon, ran for the United States Congress in California during the 1970s for the Peace and Freedom Party; she met Dennis Levitt while she was working as the program guide editor for KPFK-FM.^[6] Gordon-Levitt's maternal grandfather, Michael Gordon, was a Hollywood film director between the 1940s and 1970s, known for helming the 1959 Doris Day/Rock Hudson film Pillow Talk.^[6] Gordon-Levitt had an older brother, Dan, who was a photographer and fire spinner;^[8] he was born in 1974 and died in October 2010.^[9][10]

Gordon-Levitt joined a musical theater group at the age of four and played the Scarecrow in a production of The Wizard of Oz.^[6] Subsequently, he was approached by an agent and began appearing on television and in commercials for Sunny Jim peanut butter, Cocoa Puffs, Pop-Tarts, and Kinney Shoes.^[6]

Career[link]

Early acting work[link]

Gordon-Levitt began his acting career at the age of six, appearing in several late 1980s made-for-television films. In 1991, he played David in the Dark Shadows television series. In 1992-1993 he played in The Powers That Be, a sitcom starring John Forsythe, as a clever young boy named Pierce Van Horne. In 1994 he appeared in the Disney film Angels in the Outfield as an orphan who sees angels. In 1996 he began playing Tommy Solomon on the sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun, a role that made him a popular TV personality.^[6] The San Francisco Chronicle noted the coincidence that Gordon-Levitt was a "Jewish kid playing an extraterrestrial pretending to be a Jewish kid".^[11] Gordon-Levitt was attending Van Nuys High School while acting on the show.^[12] During the 1990s, he was frequently featured in teenage magazines, something he resented.^[6] He has also said that during this time period, he did not enjoy being recognized in public, saying that he "hates celebrity".^[11]

Gordon-Levitt starred in the 1999 film 10 Things I Hate About You, a modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, and voiced Jim Hawkins in Treasure Planet (2002), a Disney adaption of the novel Treasure Island.^[13]

In 2000, he began attending Columbia University.^[6][14] He studied history, literature, and French poetry in General Studies.^[6] He became an avid and self-confirmed Francophile and a French speaker.^[6] He said that moving to New York City from his hometown "forced" him to grow as a person.^[11] He dropped out in 2004 to concentrate on acting again.^[6]

Later acting work[link]

Gordon-Levitt has said that he made a conscious decision to "be in good movies" after returning to acting.^[14] His films include 2001's drama Manic, which was set in a mental institution, Mysterious Skin (2004), in which he played a gay prostitute and child sexual abuse victim, and Brick (2005), a modern-day film noir set at a high school, in which he had the lead role of Brendan Frye, a teen who becomes involved in an underground drug ring while investigating a murder. Brick received positive reviews, with The Minnesota Daily's critic commenting that Gordon-Levitt played the character "beautifully", "true to film's style", "unfeeling but not disenchanted", and "sexy in the most ambiguous way."^[14][15] Another reviewer described the performance as "astounding".^[16] He also starred opposite Steve Sandvoss as a young judgmental missionary in Latter Days (2003), a film that centers on a sexually confused Mormon missionary (Sandvoss) who falls for his gay neighbor. He had roles in Havoc and Shadowboxer.^[17]

His next role was in 2007's The Lookout, in which he played Chris Pratt, a janitor involved in a bank heist. In reviewing the film, The Philadelphia Inquirer described Gordon-Levitt as a "surprisingly formidable, and formidably surprising, leading man",^[18] while New York magazine stated that he is a "major tabula rasa actor ... a minimalist", and that his character worked because he "doesn't seize the space ... by what he takes away from the character."^[19] The San Francisco Chronicle specified that he "embodies, more than performs, a character's inner life."^[11] His 2008 films include Killshot, in which he played a hoodlum partnered with a hired killer played by Mickey Rourke, and Stop-Loss, directed by Kimberly Peirce and revolving around American soldiers returning from the Iraq War.^[14]

Gordon-Levitt played a lead role opposite Zooey Deschanel in (500) Days of Summer, a well-received 2009 release about the deconstruction of a relationship.^[17] His performance, described as "the real key" to what makes the film work, credits him with using "his usual spell in subtle gradations."^[20] Variety's Todd McCarthy praised his performance, saying he "expressively alternates between enthusiasm and forlorn disappointment in the manner Jack Lemmon could".^[21] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said the movie "hits you like a blast of pure romantic oxygen" and credited both lead actors for playing "it for real, with a grasp of subtlety and feeling that goes beyond the call of breezy duty."^[22] He was subsequently nominated for a Golden Globe Award.^[23]

He later played villain Cobra Commander in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.^[24] On November 21, 2009, he hosted Saturday Night Live.^[25] In 2010, replacing James Franco,^[26] he starred opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Christopher Nolan's science fiction thriller Inception, which received favorable reviews.^[17] He played the role of the "Point Man" Arthur, Dom Cobb's (DiCaprio) partner and the person responsible for researching the team's targets.

He will play the younger version of Bruce Willis's character in the time-traveling thriller Looper.^[27] In 2011, he began filming Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, in which he plays John Blake, "a Gotham City beat cop assigned to special duty under the command of Commissioner Gordon."^[28] Steven Spielberg cast him to play Robert Todd Lincoln in the 2012 film Lincoln.^[29]

Directing and producing[link]

Gordon-Levitt's first film as director, the 24 minute-long Sparks, an adaptation of a short story by Elmore Leonard starring Carla Gugino and Eric Stoltz, was selected for the 2009 Sundance Film Festival as part of a new program for short films.^[30] In 2010, he directed another short film, Morgan and Destiny's Eleventeenth Date: The Zeppelin Zoo.^[31] It premiered at two houses during the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.^[31]

He was one of the many producers of the Broadway show Slava's Snowshow.^[32]

hitRECord[link]

Gordon-Levitt has owned hitRECord.org, an online collaborative production company that shares its profits with contributing artists, since 2004.^[33][34] At its onset, it hosted six videos and short films.^[35]

Beginning in 2009, he opened the website to host films by others. In a 2007 interview in Salon, he described the website as "[an] alternative outlet of where [he] get[s] to be a little less professional and just freak out a little bit."^[36] The site has since expanded with more than 10,000 participants collaborating to make songs, images, stories, and short films. According to a 2010 article in Details magazine, Gordon-Levitt oversees the site from a bank of computers in his home studio.^[8]

RECollection, the first anthology of work from hitRECord, was released in 2011 as a book/CD/DVD package.^[37][38]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Find more about Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Images and media from Commons
	Quotations from Wikiquote

• Joseph Gordon-Levitt at the Internet Movie Database
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt at Rotten Tomatoes

Stephen Merchant
Merchant in 2009
Born	Stephen James Merchant (1974-11-24) 24 November 1974 (age 37) Bristol, England
Occupation	Actor Director Writer Radio presenter Comedian
Years active	1998–present
Height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)

Stephen James Merchant (born 24 November 1974) is an English writer, director, radio presenter, comedian, and actor. He is best known for his collaborations with Ricky Gervais, as the co-writer and co-director of the popular British sitcom The Office, as the co-writer, co-director and a co-star of Extras, and as the co-host of The Ricky Gervais Show in its radio, podcast, audiobook and television-show forms. The Ricky Gervais Show in radio form has won a bronze Sony Award.

Merchant appeared in the BBC TV series Life's Too Short in which he co-wrote and co-directs. He also voiced the character Wheatley in the popular 2011 video game Portal 2, co-developed Sky TV travel series An Idiot Abroad, and performs as a stand-up comedian. He has won three BAFTA Awards, four British Comedy Awards, and an Emmy.

Early life[link]

Merchant was born in Bristol, England, the son of Jane Elaine (née Hibbs), a nursery nurse, and Ronald John Merchant, an insurance representative.^[1] He attended Hanham High School. As he has described in Xfm London shows and podcasts, Merchant was a very shy child, tending to focus more on school work as opposed to sport. His school yearbook predicted that he would enjoy success.

Merchant is a graduate of the University of Warwick, and a former film reviewer on the student radio station, Radio Warwick, where he began his broadcasting career^[2]. The station's 1995/96 yearbook tipped him for great things:

Members of Merchant's "posse" included film critic James King, Dan Warren, Neil the Maskell and Geraint the Welshman. Recently, a number of tapes of "The Steve Show", recorded at the time, have been rediscovered and are being distributed on various Merchant fansites.^[3] He graduated with a 2:1 in Film and Literature in 1996.

Career[link]

Pre-2001[link]

Merchant began his career performing stand-up comedy at Bristol's Comedy Box, where, he recalls, "The first week I did really well ...The second week I died on my arse. I realised that stand-up was not that easy after all." He also appeared as a contestant on a 1997 episode of the TV game show Blockbusters and worked for a short time as a DJ for Radio Caroline.

Merchant met Ricky Gervais for the first time in 1997, when Gervais (then in the position of "Head of Speech" at the London radio station Xfm) hired Merchant as his assistant. (Gervais said later that he had called Merchant for an interview simply because it was the first CV handed to him.) Merchant and Gervais hosted a Saturday afternoon radio show together from January through to August 1998, when both of them left XFM as it was bought by the Capital Radio Group. In the same year, Merchant was a finalist at the Daily Telegraph Open Mic Awards.

Merchant did a total of 7 years on XFM 104.9. The Saturday show never had a large audience; Gervais says "It's a tin pot radio station... It's not even the biggest radio station in the building." Merchant created the features 'Hip Hop Hooray', 'Make Ricky Gervais laugh' and 'Song for the Ladies.'

After leaving XFM, Merchant began a production course at the BBC. As part of his coursework, he enlisted Gervais to perform in a 30-minute short film, "Seedy Boss," which became the earliest inspiration for their sitcom The Office. They collaborated on a sitcom pilot called Golden Years featuring a manager suffering a mid-life crisis; the pilot aired on Channel 4's Comedy Lab series in September 1998, but failed to find further success.

[edit] 2001–03 (The Office and return to XFM)

In mid-2001, BBC Two aired the first series of The Office, co-written and co-directed by Merchant and Gervais and starring the latter as paper sales office manager David Brent; the show initially received low ratings. Beginning in September, Merchant and Gervais returned to Xfm as co-hosts of The Ricky Gervais Show, another Saturday afternoon programme, which led to their fruitful relationship with producer Karl Pilkington.

They took a break from the radio show in mid-2002 in order to film the second series of The Office, which aired that year; in addition to writing and directing the show, Merchant made a cameo performance in the episode "Charity" as a friend of Gareth Keenan's character known by the name Oggy or Oggmonster. (Merchant's father also appears in multiple episodes as an office handyman named Gordon.) Merchant also directed a sitcom pilot called The Last Chancers, which aired on Comedy Lab in November 2002 and became a five-part series broadcast in December on E4.

Merchant and Gervais continued to host The Ricky Gervais Show through 2003, taking another break to film the Office Christmas special, which aired that December. The radio show went off the air indefinitely in January 2004. During 2004, Merchant appeared in a recurring role as a chef on Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and in a cameo on Green Wing, and served as a script associate on the Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker sitcom Nathan Barley. The same year, The Office aired in the U.S to critical acclaim. It went on to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy which both Merchant and Gervais accepted.

This was followed in 2005 by a 4th series of the radio show, consisting of six episodes.

[edit] US series of The Office

In March 2005, the American version of The Office premiered, with Merchant and Gervais credited as executive producers. They would later co-write the third-season episode "The Convict", and Merchant would direct the fifth-season episode "Customer Survey".^[4]

Podcast series[link]

In December 2005, with sponsorship by The Guardian, Merchant, Gervais and Pilkington began recording a weekly podcast (also called The Ricky Gervais Show).^[5] Throughout its first series (through 20 February 2006), the podcast was consistently ranked the most popular in the world, and was certified as the most-downloaded of all time by Guinness World Records. Two more series and three special instalments (the "Podfather Trilogy") were recorded in 2006, with the final episode released on Christmas Eve. In late 2008, they recorded four more podcasts and began a series of audiobooks examining Pilkington's perspective on various subjects.

[edit] Extras

In July 2005, following a brief return of the XFM radio show (filling in for Adam and Joe), Gervais and Merchant's new sitcom Extras premiered on BBC2. The series features Merchant in a supporting role as Darren Lamb, the incompetent agent to struggling actor Andy Millman, played by Gervais. Series 2 of Extras aired in late 2006, followed by a Christmas special in December 2007; all three instalments aired on HBO in the United States. Merchant won a 2006 British Comedy Award for Best TV Actor for his performance as Lamb.^[6]

[edit] The Steve Show

Merchant in January 2011

In January 2007, Merchant began hosting his own radio show on BBC 6 Music, airing weekly on Sunday afternoons.^[7] Instead of comedy, The Steve Show focused on music and particularly "new music," defined by Merchant as "music you've not heard before." Many of the songs on the show were suggested by listeners or co-presenters. In addition to Merchant, the show featured several of his friends, including his housemate Dan, his childhood friend Harry, and actor Rufus Gerrard-Wright (who also appeared in an episode of Extras). A spring search for a "she-J" resulted in the addition of former Byker Grove actor Sammy T. Dobson^[8] joining the ensemble. "The Steve Show" aired for four seasons and concluded in May 2009.

Stand-up[link]

Merchant began performing stand-up comedy in the late 1990s to critical success, though he decided to focus more on his work with writing partner Ricky Gervais after the success of The Office. Merchant returned to stand-up with a nationwide tour of the United Kingdom in September 2011, under the title Hello Ladies.^[9] The tour was later released on DVD.

Other work[link]

Merchant has played small roles in the films Hot Fuzz (2007), Run Fatboy Run (2007), and The Invention of Lying (2009), the latter starring Ricky Gervais. He has a supporting role in the 2009 film Tooth Fairy. On television, Merchant made a cameo appearance in a non-speaking role on the sixth season premiere of 24; he also starred as a sports commentator in the unaired pilot No Skillz. Additionally, Merchant has provided the voice-over since 2009 of advertisements for Barclays and Waterstone's.

In 2009, Merchant and Gervais collaborated on the film Cemetery Junction, set in working-class England in the 1970s. The film was released in April 2010 to generally mixed to positive reviews.

In September 2010, Merchant produced a television show alongside Ricky Gervais starring Karl Pilkington called An Idiot Abroad.

In July 2010, filming finished for the pilot of Life's Too Short, written by Ricky Gervais and Merchant, who will both cameo alongside the show's star, Warwick Davis.^[10] In 2011, he lent his voice to the CGI film Gnomeo and Juliet, and had a role in the Farrelly brothers' comedy Hall Pass.

In January 2011, Merchant appeared at the 'Free Fringe Benefit' at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London. A show of stand-up to benefit the Free Fringe at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival, alongside comedians Jeremy Hardy, Michael Legge, Robin Ince, Mitch Benn, Isy Suttie, Bennett Arron, Andy Zaltzman and founder Peter Buckley Hill. He also stated on the recent free podcast The Ricky Gervais Guide to...Comic Relief that he will be touring his first solo stand up tour later in the year.

On Film 2011's Questionnaire feature, broadcast on 2 March 2011, Merchant described his favourite film as The Apartment (1960), his guilty pleasure as Con Air (1997), the film he cried at as The Bridges of Madison County, and the film he didn't get as The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.^[11]

Merchant provides the voice of Wheatley in Valve's 2011 video game Portal 2,^[12] a role which earned him widespread acclaim among reviewers.^[13] While he states his work on the project as "exhausting", Merchant is also "very pleased by the response people have had to it. What I was really pleased by how people seemed to respond to it in the way they do with a movie they've enjoyed, or a TV show they've enjoyed."^[14]

Filmography[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

Video games[link]

Awards[link]

Personal life[link]

Merchant dated digital advertising producer Claire Jones for two years, although their relationship reportedly ended in 2009.^[15] Merchant is an atheist.^[16] He is the cousin of Sara Dallin of Bananarama.

Appearance[link]

Merchant's considerable height (6ft 7in; 2.01 m)^[17] has been a source of humour and teasing throughout his life. He made a cameo appearance in The Office, playing a character nicknamed the Ogg-Monster, whom David Brent called "a big lanky goggle-eyed freak".^[18] His height, and also dance moves, have attracted comments from several sources. The Daily Mail newspaper described him as a "giant albatross hopping on stilts"^[19] as he danced in a London pub (although Merchant denied this during an episode of the Ricky Gervais Show, stating that he did not take to the dance floor on that occasion).

While discussing what the Daily Mail had said on the show, friend and collaborator Ricky Gervais has likened him to an "upright lizard being given electro-shock treatment"^[20] and a "stick insect with glasses"^[20] or Beaker from The Muppet Show.^[21] Radio producer and co-host of Merchant, Karl Pilkington, has described his moves as a "bit of weird art"^[22] in the past, while British comic and broadcaster Russell Brand has likened him to a "graceful grasshopper".^[23] Merchant has commented that he prefers to liken himself to fellow tall man and English football player, Peter Crouch^[24] who is also six foot seven inches. Merchant impersonated Crouch in a BBC sketch broadcast as part of the pre-match build-up to England's opening game at the 2006 World Cup.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Stephen Merchant

• Official website
• Stephen Merchant at the Internet Movie Database
• Interviewed on BBC Radio Five Live
• Xfm: Biography
• Tall man, taller success story – interview in The Telegraph – 8 August 2005
• Interview with Barbara Ellen in The Observer Magazine – 5 November 2006
• An Englishman abroad
• Stephen Merchant interview
• Stephen Merchant interviewed by Sophie Elmhirst on New Statesman.

Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Fallon, 2010
Birth name	James Thomas Fallon, Jr.
Born	(1974-09-19) September 19, 1974 (age 37) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, music, television, film
Nationality	American
Years active	1990–present
Genres	Satire/political satire/news satire, observational comedy, musical comedy, surreal humor, awkward
Subject(s)	American culture, American politics, pop culture, current events, mass media/news media
Influences	Dana Carvey, Robin Williams
Spouse	Nancy Juvonen (2007–present)
Notable works and roles	Saturday Night Live Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (host, 2009–present)

James Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon, Jr. (born September 19, 1974) is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician and television host. He currently hosts Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a late-night talk show that airs Monday through Friday on NBC. Prior to that he appeared in several films, and was best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2004.

Early life[link]

James Thomas Fallon, Jr., was born in Brooklyn, New York. Jimmy is the son of Gloria and James Fallon, Sr.,^[1] who is a Vietnam War veteran.^[2] His family later settled in Saugerties, New York, while his father worked at IBM in nearby Kingston, New York. He is of Irish descent.^[3] As a child, he and his older sister, Gloria, would reenact the “clean parts” of Saturday Night Live that his parents had taped for him.^[4] Fallon was such a fan of Saturday Night Live that he made a weekly event of watching it in his dormitory during college. In his teens, he impressed his parents with different impersonations, the first being of James Cagney.^[5][6] He was also musically inclined, and started playing guitar at age 13. He would go on to mix comedy and music in contests and shows.^[6]

Education[link]

Fallon attended St. Mary of the Snow, a Roman Catholic parochial school, and Saugerties High School, from which he graduated in 1992. He attended The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York. He was a Computer Science major, but switched to Communications in his senior year, dropping out a semester shy of a degree.^[7][8] "I was a Computer Science major. I got out once it got really hard. I made it up to C++. Then I couldn't do the math – it got really confusing. I switched to Communications, which is a ridiculous major – let's be honest," he recalls.^[9] On May 9, 2009, Fallon received a B.A. in Communications and^[10] an honorary doctorate degree from The College of Saint Rose after presenting college officials with his portfolio, which satisfied all requisites for his degree.^[7] In addition to receiving a BA, Fallon spoke at the school's 86th commencement. That night, on Saturday Night Live, he held up his diploma during the closing of the show. Additionally, he showed excerpts from the ceremony on his late night show May 11, 2009.

Career[link]

Stand-up[link]

Fallon gives credit to troll dolls for his big break. He was given a troll doll with a graduation cap in his senior year of high school. His mother heard about an impression contest at Bananas Comedy Club in Poughkeepsie, NY. Fallon came up with a stand-up routine that was a commercial for troll dolls. He would impersonate various celebrities auditioning to be the spokesperson. He won the contest and after college he began to do stand-up tours across the country. When he was in Los Angeles, he took improv classes with The Groundlings.^[5]

Early work[link]

Fallon appeared in the feature film The Scheme (originally entitled The Entrepreneurs). His one line in Father's Day was cut but he can still be seen in the background. In 1998 Fallon appeared briefly on the show Spin City in the second season as a man selling photographs. By late 1998, Fallon was studying at the Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles, making $7.50 a set at The Improv Theater, when he was summoned to New York to audition for the long-running late night sketch comedy show, Saturday Night Live. Fallon did his impersonations of Jerry Seinfeld,^[11] French Stewart, Pat O'Brien, Chris Rock, Hilary Swank, Gilbert Gottfried, Enrique Iglesias, Adam Sandler, Jeff Foxworthy, Eddie Murphy, Larry the Cable Guy, many of which drew laughter from producer Lorne Michaels, which is generally unheard of. Fallon also did musical impersonations of Bono of U2, Adam Duritz of Counting Crows, Alanis Morissette, and Robert Smith of The Cure.^[4]

[edit] Saturday Night Live

Fallon's impersonations helped land him on Saturday Night Live as a featured player in the 1998–1999 season,^[12] and he was promoted to full cast member in the summer of 1999.^[4] Among his signature bits were his song parodies, which he performed when Colin Quinn was doing Update and continued to showcase on special occasions after he had replaced him. He became co-anchor of Weekend Update with Tina Fey with the October 7, 2000 season premiere.^[13] Fallon left SNL in 2004 and began pursuing a film career.

Fallon returned to SNL, hosting the December 17, 2011 episode, having made several cameos in episodes in the years since his departure.^[14]

Recurring characters[link]

• Dave, a young man in the Will Ferrell/Rachel Dratch recurring sketch, "The Lovers", often used as a pawn in Roger and Virginia's matchmaking.
• Jarret (from Jarret's Room), a stoner who hosts his own Internet webcam show.
• Jeffrey's clerk, one of the clerks (the other being a male host for the show) of an upscale department store.
• Joey Mack, an obnoxious radio DJ who mocks his celebrity guests.
• Kip Bloder, brother to Chris Parnell's Wade Bloder.
• The Leather Man, an intense man who owns a shop filled with leather clothes.
• Nick Burns, a sarcastic tech support representative who helps office workers with computer problems (and is almost always exposed as not knowing as much as he should by one of the workers). He frequently used the catchphrase "Moooooove!" when ousting people from their desk so he could fix the problem.
• Pat Sullivan, nicknamed "Sully", one of the Boston Teens, boyfriend of Rachel Dratch's Denise character.
• Patrick Fitzwilliam, a surly Irishman who hosts a show called Top O' The Morning with his friend, William Fitzpatrick (played by Seth Meyers)
• Randy Goldman, from "Wake Up Wakefield", Megan's (Maya Rudolph) crush who does not know she exists.
• Rodney "The Zipper" Calzoun, the MC at the Rialto Grande
• Señor Guadalupe Ramirez, one of the guitar players on the recurring sketch, "The 'How Do You Say, Ah, Yes' Show"
• Wade, one of the members of the boy band 7 Degrees Celsius
• Barry Gibb, in the skit called "The Barry Gibb Talk Show", he hosts along with his brother Robin Gibb (played by Justin Timberlake).
• Carson Daly, whom he impersonated with the catch phrase "I am a massive tool."^[15]
• Pat O'Brien, who "doesn't breathe through his nose ever!"

[edit] Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Fallon succeeded fellow Saturday Night Live alumnus Conan O'Brien as the host of NBC's Late Night after O'Brien left the show to prepare to take over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno in 2009.^[16] The deal for the long-expected succession was confirmed April 24, 2008, with an official announcement made on May 12, 2008 at NBC's upfront presentation.^[17][18] The official press conference was released on Hulu.com.^[19]

The show, titled Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, first aired on March 2, 2009 with guests Robert De Niro, Justin Timberlake, Nick Carter, and musical guest Van Morrison. Guests on the show's first week included Tina Fey, Jon Bon Jovi, Cameron Diaz, Donald Trump, and Drew Barrymore.

"Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" sometimes features parodies by Fallon impersonating various musicians, and he has been praised for his ability to pull off spot-on impressions. Fallon often changes the lyrics to honour a recent event in popular culture and videos of these performances tend to go viral. In one segment, on May 26, 2011, Fallon impersonated Neil Young, singing along with guests Graham Nash and David Crosby, of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Recent victims include Fallon making parodies of Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam performing "Jeremy (Lin)" in light of the hysteria surrounding New York Knicks shocking standout Jeremy Lin, the Doors singing the theme song to the PBS children's show "Reading Rainbow", Neil Young's version of the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" theme song, and David Bowie's "Space Oddity" with inspiration by Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. First appearing in January 2012, and dubbing himself as "Tebowie", Fallon's impersonation of the famously-religious quarterback went viral. Due to overwhelmingly positive acclaim from the public, Fallon revived the act on March 20, 2012 after the Denver Broncos acquired superstar and future hall of fame quarterback Peyton Manning, and revealed their intentions to trade Tebow. Fallon continues to do impersonations, in some of the show's comedy segments, especially impersonations of famous singers.

To celebrate the second anniversary on March 2, 2011, Ben & Jerry's launched a personalized "Late Night Snack" ice cream. This was immediately parodied on The Colbert Report the next day and the two show hosts engaged in a brief ice cream personality war. Colbert used numerous "fecal matter" jokes to describe the flavor of the ice cream named after Jimmy Fallon.^[20]

On November 21, 2011 U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann, who was active in the Republican Presidential Primaries at the time, appeared as a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. As she walked onto the stage, the band played a funk song titled "Lyin' Ass Bitch," without any lyrics. Hours earlier, the band's drummer Questlove had sent a tweet about the song choice: “late night walkon song devotees: you love it when we snark: this next one takes the cake. ask around cause i aint tweeting title.” After a prominent Democratic Congress woman complained, Fallon made a general apology by tweet.^[21] Fallon began his tweet with the words: "I'm honored that @michelebachmann was on our show yesterday and I'm so sorry about the intro mess."^[22] Fallon also used his Twitter account to tease his Roots bandleader Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson that he was "grounded".^[22]

Fallon in April 2007

Fallon has appeared in Taxi, Anything Else, Almost Famous, Fever Pitch, Band of Brothers, Doogal, Factory Girl and Whip It. He occasionally does stand up comedy at the Comedy Club in New York City and has also performed at the House of Blues in Boston, Massachusetts on occasions.

In 2002, Fallon released the comedy album The Bathroom Wall. In a mixed review, Rolling Stone praised the album's songs, calling the album the "second-best Prince parody ever, after Beck's 'Debra'." However the magazine panned the album's comedy routines, ultimately giving it two-out-of-five stars.^[23] The album was nominated for a Grammy in 2003 for Best Spoken Comedy Album. Fallon co-hosted the 2001 MTV Movie Awards with Kirsten Dunst on June 7, 2001.^[24] Fallon has played Neo in Sex and the Matrix, a comedic two-in-one parody of Sex and the City and The Matrix.^[25] He hosted the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards alone that year.^[26] His opening number included parodies of videos by Eminem, Avril Lavigne, Nelly, The White Stripes, Dave Matthews and Enrique Iglesias.

Also in 2002, Fallon appeared in The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch as the son of Melvin Hall, and constantly pesters his father, often stealing his mike, claiming that the film is "his documentary."^[27]

Fallon also hosted the 2005 MTV Movie Awards and played Anakin Skywalker in comedic parody of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith's Mustafar scene, in which Anakin and Padme have their last conversation. Fallon was named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in 2002, an honor Fallon found embarrassing.^[28]

Following the Boston Red Sox's World Series clinching game over the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004, Fallon ran onto the field at Busch Stadium with Drew Barrymore to film a scene for their movie Fever Pitch.

In 2006, Fallon starred in "Spontaneous Combustion", a Traktor-directed Pepsi television commercial with actress Parker Posey. In the ad, Fallon and Posey can be seen dancing and jumping around to the song Streamline by Newton. In October of that year, Fallon appeared on stage in The Secret Policeman's Ball, a charity gig filmed to raise awareness of Amnesty International at the Royal Albert Hall. Fallon made three appearances during the show, the first in a sketch in which he performed impressions of people such as David Bowie, Jerry Seinfeld and David Blaine in order to get past a doorman (Shaun Williamson) who claims Fallon is not on the list. The doorman finally recognizes him for his role in Taxi, but still will not let him in. He later masqueraded as Russell Brand before being led off by Williamson, and made one final appearance in a cameo role as the front of a pantomime horse in the Al Murray "pub landlord" routine. He also provided the voice of Dylan in Doogal.

In 2007, Fallon wrote the song "Car Wash for Peace" and donated all proceeds to charity. He performed the song on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The View and dedicated a MySpace page to the cause. Around the same time, a video circulated on various Internet sites called lonelyfallon32, in which Fallon parodied YouTube celebrity Jessica Rose (a.k.a. lonelygirl15) and later performed the song.

Fallon, along with his sister Gloria, wrote I Hate This Place: The Pessimist's Guide to Life for TV Books in 1999. A second book is anticipated but has not yet been released, to be titled "I Hate This Place 2: Tokyo Drift."^[4] Fallon has also written a children's book, illustrated by Adam Stower, entitled Snowball Fight.

Fallon also appeared on Diggnation's 185th show.^[29]

On May 4, 2010, NBC announced that Fallon would host the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards.^[30] With Fallon as host, viewership of the 2010 Emmy Awards increased by over 200,000 viewers from the year before.^[31]

On April 24, 2012, Jimmy Fallon filmed his live show in Chapel Hill, NC on the campus of the University of North Carolina. His guest was President Barack Obama, who spoke primarily about Congress potentially doubling the interest rates of student loans. His musical guest was Dave Matthews.

Personal life[link]

Fallon married Nancy Juvonen on December 22, 2007.^[32] Juvonen and Drew Barrymore own the production company Flower Films.

On February 22, 2011, Fallon was on The Dr. Oz Show. He had a mole removed from his left hand in front of a live studio audience by visiting cosmetic surgeon Arthur Perry.^[33][34]

Television[link]

• Saturday Night Live (1998–2004)
• Spin City (1998)
• Band of Brothers as 2nd Lt. George C. Rice in "Crossroads"(2001)
• 30 Rock (2009)
• Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (2009–present)
• The Electric Company (2009)
• Family Guy (2009)
• Saturday Night Live (December 17, 2011)
• Silent Library (2011)
• 30 Rock (2012) - Young Jack
• iCarly (2012) - As Himself

Filmography[link]

• Almost Famous (2000)
• The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch (2002)
• Anything Else (2003)
• The Entrepreneurs a.k.a. The $cheme (filmed in 1998, released in 2003)
• Taxi (2004)
• Fever Pitch (2005)
• The Magic Roundabout (2006) (voice)
• Arthur and the Invisibles (2006) (voice)
• Factory Girl (2006)
• The Year of Getting to Know Us (2008)
• Whip It (2009)
• Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• The Bathroom Wall (2002)
• Blow Your Pants Off (2012)

Singles[link]

• "Idiot Boyfriend" (2002)
• "Car Wash for Peace" (2008)
• "Drunk On Christmas (feat. John Rich)" (2010)

Further reading[link]

• Baldwin, Kristen (2002-05-10), "Update with Destiny". Entertainment Weekly. (653):26
• Thank You Notes (Jan 2012)

References[link]