The show typically opened with a brief monologue from Fallon, followed by a comedy "desk piece," as well as prerecorded segments and audience competitions.

The next segment was devoted to a celebrity interview, with guests ranging from actors and musicians to media personalities and political figures.

Most of the cast and crew immediately began working on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which premiered on February 17, 2014.

Just before Higgins introduced Fallon, the camera cut to a shot of The Roots, with drummer and bandleader Questlove, rapper and lead vocalist Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter, percussionist Frank Knuckles, guitarist and vocalist Captain Kirk Douglas, bassist Owen Biddle (later Mark Kelley), and sousaphonist Damon "Tuba Gooding Jr." Bryson standing on the ground level, and keyboardists Kamal Gray and James Poyser sitting above them on an iron balcony.

After the desk piece ended and a commercial break followed, typically there was a competition involving players selected from the studio audience.

As credits rolled, Fallon ran up and down the stairs of the studio giving high fives to the audience before exiting backstage.

[citation needed] SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels was the first to suggest to the comedian that he'd be perfect to fill O'Brien's empty seat.

The network had a couple of other candidates in mind to replace Conan, but Michaels insisted he'd only produce the show with Fallon as host.

"[9] (Fallon, in turn, presented the pickle on-air to incoming "Late Night" host Seth Meyers on January 28, 2014.

[10]) In an early sketch about recording promos for the show's debut, Fallon's announcer, Steve Higgins, joked: "You loved him on SNL.

[11] This proved to be false, as O'Brien refused the change, citing a reluctance to infringe upon Late Night, and saying it would be "unfair to Jimmy.

The final episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon aired on February 7, 2014, the day of the start of the NBC coverage of the Winter Olympics.

The show premiered on March 2, 2009, with Robert De Niro, Justin Timberlake, Nick Carter and Van Morrison appearing as Fallon's first guests.

The Hollywood Reporter described the episode: "Fallon opened with a fairly traditional monologue that drew few laughs, followed by a couple of prepared bits that were long on ambition but failed to connect.

The Los Angeles Times, in retrospect, referred to it as "an uneven beginning," recalling: "Fallon booked one of the world's worst interview subjects, Robert De Niro, as his first guest, and the acknowledged irony—De Niro was asked questions he could answer in a single word—did not make the interview any better, or funny.

After a brief retrospective with Higgins about their time on Late Night, the show ended with Fallon playing drums and singing backup to "The Weight" behind an ensemble of Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem and various other Muppets.

On July 28, 2010, former stage manager Paul Tarascio accused Jimmy Fallon and the producers of Late Night of sexually discriminating against him.

"[19] Following the demotion, Tarascio continued to protest the change, including complaints directed to his union representative, and was subsequently fired based on a list of job failures provided by NBC.

[18] The program was taped at NBC Studio 6B in the GE Building at 30 Rockefeller Center in New York City, the original home of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, until August 2013.

Tapings began at 5:30 p.m. for same-day broadcast; audiences arrived as much as 90 minutes in advance, which allowed for warm-up by a staff member ("try to find everything funnier than normal"); in between guests, Fallon recorded custom promotional clips for the NBC affiliates.

[23] We're not trying to ignore the fact that people are in front of a computer at work and surf the Web all day long, or that kids check the Internet when they get home from school.

Fallon devoted considerable time and resources to incorporating digital ideas into his comedy—"he sits at his desk behind a Mac, not a microphone"—focusing especially on social media, which connects the younger audience.

"[30] Some of Late Night's most famous musical moments included Paul McCartney joining Fallon to sing "Scrambled Eggs"—the working title of "Yesterday"—using the original whimsical filler lyrics, as well as President Barack Obama's appearance to "Slow Jam the News.

[29] The show received widespread acclaim for its musical performances, which ranged from superstars such as Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé and Kanye West to up-and-comers such as Lorde, Kendrick Lamar and Ed Sheeran, all of whom made their network TV debuts on Late Night.

Other artists who made their network TV debuts on Late Night include: Frank Ocean, Kacey Musgraves, Florida Georgia Line, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Carly Rae Jepsen, Odd Future, Eric Church, Panda Bear, Gary Clark Jr., Chvrches, Grimes, Sun Kil Moon, Sky Ferreira, Disclosure and Sam Smith, Jake Owen, Of Monsters and Men, The Dismemberment Plan, M83, Ellie Goulding, 2 Chainz, A$AP Rocky, Tame Impala, Beach House, Walk the Moon, The War on Drugs, Phantogram, Savages, Joey Badass, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Parquet Courts, Sharon Van Etten, Courtney Barnett, Pinback, Frightened Rabbit and Passion Pit.

Swedish rock band Refused also made its American TV debut 13 years after its original breakup when it performed in July 2012 on the show.

[34] The show broke ground with thematic music-centric weeks, including tributes to The Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, Pink Floyd and Pearl Jam, during which high-profile contemporary artists covered those bands' songs.

"[35] However, interaction with the show's house band, The Roots, was applauded and it was noted that "a bit in which Fallon sang a "slow jam" version of the news succeeded, in large part, thanks to The Roots' typically taut playing and singer Tariq 'Black Thought' Trotter's impeccable voice and surprisingly good comic timing.

Fallon's total viewer count was 21% higher than Conan O'Brien's 1,991,000 Late Night average that season.

Boosted by the big lead-in, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon had its largest viewership ever with 6 million viewers.