May 23, 2025
Jimmy Fallon has revealed his side of the story regarding his failed date with Nicole Kidman.
The Tonight Show host shared his clarification in the May 20 episode of his show when his guest Isabela Merced teased him about his failed date with Kidman.
“In 2012, we had The Last of Us video game creators on Late Night to preview it a year before it came out,” Fallon began. “That's got to be one of the scariest video games I've ever played in my life, The Last of Us.”
“Was that the game you were playing when you bombed your date with Nicole Kidman?” Merced blurted out, referring to the 2015 confrontation as Kidman about their failed date.
The audience let out a collective “ooh,” while Fallon stared blankly at the laughing actress, 23.
“It's a pleasure meeting you, we're out of time,” he finally replied, holding back his laughter. “We'll be right back. We’ve had a great Tonight Show — one of the best ones we've ever done!”
“So was it?” Merced quipped.
“No, we were playing Mario Kart,” Fallon responded. “But thanks for bringing it up.”
As the actress further joked that the clip of him sharing that story is her "favourite," Fallon covered his face with his hands and declared, “It’s the most embarrassing!”
“63 million people watched that,” she teased before Fallon repeatedly said, "Oh no, no, no."
Fallon first revealed the details of his date with Kidman when she was a guest on a 2015 episode of his late night show.
The segment began with the two having an awkward realisation that they had very different interpretations of the interaction as Kidman believed it to be a date while Fallon thought he was being set up to discuss an upcoming movie role.