TCA Press Tour: Jimmy Fallon has a few tricks up his sleeves for the Emmys

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Jennifer Lopez might be in the running for Fox’s “American Idol,” but if that doesn’t pan out for Jenny from the Block, the Peacock network might have a good use for her assets.
“I don’t want to give away things like that because surprise is a nice emotion,” said Jimmy Fallon, host of the upcoming Emmy Awards, which will broadcast Aug. 29. “We’ve booked J.Lo and Steven Tyler.”

Of course Fallon was joking, we think, we hope. But one thing Fallon promises for sure when viewers tune in to watch him take the stage for the first time as Emmy host is that it will be about embracing the season’s biggest hits.

“It’s not ‘Late Night With Jimmy Fallon’ hosting, it’s me hosting. It’s not about me, it’s about celebrating great television,” he said during the press tour. “New shows like ‘Modern Family’ and ‘Glee’ and old shows going away like ’24’ and ‘Lost’ – I’m still trying to figure out what happened [in the finale].”

With Fallon’s trademark off-brand humor, it’s only natural to assume that each Emmy winner would end up licking their statuette for $10. While we’re not sure this is the case, Fallon did assure us that everything he has up his sleeves has gotten NBC’s stamp of approval. He says he’s learned just how far he can go during his “Saturday Night Live” days.

“The academy has been so great with us, almost no notes. I think the only note is we have to give out awards. We wrote up some great stuff,” Fallon said. “We do throw away a lot of jokes sometimes, if they are too mean. But they are funny. I don’t dislike anyone, just a playful jab here and there.”

-- Gerrick D. Kennedy

twitter.com/GerrickKennedy