Jimmy Fallon talks Late Night

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Getting to the Roots of it all

Fallon had a slew of requests for his new show. In fact, he handed over a three-page wish list and among the things he scored from that list was a massive flat screen monitor for his stage, a spot for real fans to sit behind their fave bands when they guest on the show and the show band of his dreams.

"I got Roots!" he cheers, referring to the legendary Philly hip hop band. "They're the most fantastic live band ever! I don't think there's any band on the planet that can play with Tony Bennett and then play with Jay-Z and have it make sense: They're that good and there's no find another band that's like that."

Roots fans will be glad to hear the guys will still have the opportunity to gig and tour, while the serious musicians are also ready to have some fun on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

"They're game for it," Fallon previews. "They want to do sketches."

Getting gamey with it

Speaking of games, Fallon also reveals that Late Night will be getting a bit more techie now that he's signed on. Case in point, the show has dispensed with "taping" all together.

"We are going tapeless with our show, which is a new thing at NBC where it's all just digital," he explains. "So we're just going to go out and film stuff whenever we can. We have an edit bay in our offices, so we're going to be as topical as possible, edit stuff and then get it out there so we can have bits and sketches and send it."

The show will also follow emerging technology.

"My generation grew up with the computer and the Internet," he says. "It's second nature to us and I'm interested in tech and gadgets. I think we're going to treat a video game premiere almost like a movie premiere and I want people to come on my show, whether it be Bill Gates or the guy who designed the new Palm Pre, to talk about the new inventions. I just want to know what make it's so great."

Coming distractions

If you can't wait till the March 2 premiere of Late Night, Fallon and team have been using the tools of the techy age to let fans get a preview of their new brand of humor.

"Right now, if you go to LateNightWithJimmyFallon.com, we are showing videos daily of what it takes to put together a late-night talk show," Fallon says.

"They're three-to-five-minute videos basically introducing you to the writers, showing you our new offices, me hanging up pictures..."

The 'soft launch' of the blog is already in effect offering behind the scenes footage, reviews of a 'whack' commercial and an introduction to Jon Friedman and Cory Cavin -- the bloggers who will be working the site once it's officially launched.

Fallon's show will be totally web-friendly. "We're going to launch our website with the show almost like we're launching two shows," Fallon explains. "Our website is going to be very interesting. We are going to have full-time bloggers and people that are going create daily content."

Fallon is also quite into twittering away, so you can follow the fun at http://twitter.com/jimmyfallon.

Either way, the March 2 premiere is sure to offer some interesting surprises -- for the audience and newbie Fallon himself!