Jimmy Fallon in Jane Magazine

Jimmy Fallon has boundless enthusiasm
for his job on Saturday Night Live. Crusty
old pessimist Christina Kelly hopes some
of his joie de vivre will wear off on her.


Jimmy Fallon's dream came true when he was cast on Saturday Night Live after three years of studying with the Groundlings in Los Angeles. We love the 24-year-old cutie's impersonations, especially the ones he does of rock stars while strumming his guitar. In fact, they make us hysterical with laughter. We also love his innocent, old-fashioned, psyched attitude. So do all those girls who have formed Web-site tributes to the fledgling comedian. We just hope and pray that fame doesn't ruin him.

Christina: So who's the funniest person in the world?
Jimmy: Steve Martin is awesome. I love everything he does. Christopher Guest, you know, from Spinal Tap and Waiting for Guffman. He and Bill Murray also had this thing called National Lampoon Radio Hour. Funniest thing you'll ever listen to in your life. [Adam] Sandler I think is great. Dana Carvey I love. Everyone on SNL has really influenced me a lot. This is my first big magazine, like real-deal thing. So if I'm doing anything wrong, let me know.

You're doing fine! I liked your imitation of Alanic Morissette.
She was there the week I did that. She was like, "I think that's so funny." I couldn't believe it.

I was wondering what people that you've impersonated think.
Sandler went on Rosie and said he thought it was cool. I got that on tape. [Jerry] Seinfeld was awesome. Here's a cool story: It was my first time warming up the crowd for a show. Colin Quinn brought me out to do some impressions. He's like, "Do Jerry Seinfeld." So I did. I'm like, "It's Saturday, it's live, it's a show. Saturday Night, come on." Seinfeld stands up; he's in the crowd. He's like, "Get off, you're doin' me." I'm like, "I'm doin' me, you're doin' you." We had this whole back-and-forth for like, 30 seconds. He didn't have to do that. It was so nice.

So how did you get cast in the show?
Well, it's a really weird fairy-tale story. Ever since I was 8, I used to do King Tut and the Wild and Crazy Guys. And then I started doing impressions, hard-core. I had a great Pee-wee Herman. My senior year in high school, I entered this impresson contest in Poughkeepsie, and I closed with Pee-wee. And I won the contest. Then I went to college, and I added a guitar where I did songs and stuff about this troll doll. My senior year in college, I dropped out and went to L.A. I took acting lessons, and I studied with the Groundlings-all with the goal of getting on SNL. SNL said, "Let's take a look at him," you know? And I did this show at the Comic Strip, and I bombed. I felt so depressed. So I went back to the Groundlings for a year, struggled, and I was totally broke. And they said, "We'll look at Jimmy again." So they flew me to New York. Lorne Michaels was in the crowd, and they said, "Lorne's not gonna laugh, so don't expect him to." I did Sandler, and he started laughing. I was like, "I can't believe I made Lorne Michaels laugh in the place where Adam Sandler started."

You're from Saugerties, N.Y.?
Yeah, it's by Woodstock?

Did you come into the city at all when you were a teenager?
Yeah, I was born in Brooklyn originally, so all my relatives are still there. I left when I was 2 years old. My parents wanted to give us a safe upbringing, a better life or whatever for me and my sister.

What does your sister do?
She's in marketing or something at a financial magazine. We got a book coming out in September. It's called I Hate This Place: A Pessimist's Guide to Life. It's really dark. We were e-mailing each other goofy things, like how we hate standing next to people on subways. It just kept growing. We're flipping out. We're gonna do the whole book tour.

So it sounds like you guys are pretty close.
Yeah, we're really good friends. My parents were really overprotective, so we kinda had to stay in the house. We were forced to hang out with each other. She's 25; I'm 24. We're a year apart. Yeah, Irish twins. I went to England two summers ago with her. You start talking English. I was there a week, and at the end I was sounding like, "Oh, cheers." My sister was like, "What's wrong with you?" Everybody thought we were boyfriend and girlfriend, so neither of us hooked up with anybody. It kinda sucked.

Are you planning on doing any movies when the show is off?
I'm not in any real rush to do movies, but I might be doing two this summer. I'm attached to Cameron Crowe's new one. He's my favorite of all time.

Have you seen your fan tributes on the Web? It's mostly young girls.
Yeah. My sister said something like there was a rumor I was getting married in Vegas or something.

I know. They were all pretty devastated at the prospect. Do you have a
girlfriend?
No.

I typed this out myself, so if you're gonna take it, ask first!