Late Night

Jimmy Fallon's spinning quite the story about the creator of the Timothée Chalamet puppet he uses on the 'Tonight Show' ... at least according to the guy, who says he had nothing to do with shutting down one of Jimmy's skits.

Here's the deal ...  Jimmy told the tale on his new podcast, "Strike Force Five" -- which he launched with fellow late-night talk show hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver.

In the pod's premiere episode, Jimmy said Timothée wasn't a fan of the look-alike doll, and the plan was to have the actor destroy the puppet during a 'Tonight Show' appearance ... that is until Chris Alan, the puppet creator, chimed in and said he was offended. According to Jimmy, the whole bit was then scrapped.

Chris tells us he was shocked when he heard Jimmy on the podcast because according to him, it's 100% false. He says no one reached out to him about killing the puppet ... and, if they had, he wouldn't care, because the 'Tonight Show' bought it from him.

Now, he does say he had a convo with Timothée's team when the "Dune" star was going to be a 'Tonight Show' guest in 2019. Chris says they planned to flip the script on the host with a Fallon puppet.

Chris whipped one up in just 3 weeks time, but at the last minute Timothée's team scrapped the whole idea.

Obviously, we're not talking capital crimes here, but in fairness to Chris ... he feels like Jimmy's podcast tale is painting him as a villain.

The titans of late night are teaming up to talk shop on a new podcast -- all in an effort to support their striking employees -- and at least one union is totally cool with that plan ... on certain conditions.

A rep for SAG-AFTRA tells TMZ ... the just-launched "Strike Force Five" show -- featuring Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers and John Oliver -- is all good in their book ... assuming they stay within guidelines set forth by strike regulators.

This is how a SAG spokesperson put it ... "As long as the podcast does not promote struck work, it appears to be in adherence with the SAG-AFTRA TV/Theatrical/Streaming strike rules. Given that it falls within the strike rules, it is fine for them to produce this podcast during the strike."

In other words, it sounds like the hosts have their blessing to proceed ... but they should probably steer clear of certain topics if they wanna stay in the actors union's good graces. Obviously, the podcast itself isn't a straight-up promo of anything, but the challenge will be not sounding promo-ish if they discuss a certain movie or show that's in the zeitgeist.

Considering that's what they do as part of their normal jobs -- talk about certain films/projects -- it might seem like it will be tough to stay in SAG's good graces ... but, remember, the pod isn't live. They can always edit if the convo strays into promo land.

The podcast is a good thing, big picture -- any money earned is being donated directly to the late-night hosts' own writers ... who, of course, haven't been working since May.

Harry Styles has been on tour for, like, ever now, it seems -- but the journey's finally wrapping in Europe ... and his #1 fan was there in person to send him off in epic fashion.

Of course, we're talking about James Corden ... the now-former late night talk show host, who's a bona fide Harry stan -- and who actually showed up in the flesh on Saturday to help HS cap off his long-running "Love on Tour" at the RCF Arena in Reggio Emilia, Italy.

The comedian was actually among just a handful of famous faces on hand to watch Harry perform -- although he was certainly the most recognizable. Others included Rob Stringer, Kid Harpoon, Ben Winston, and additional members of Harry's close circle of friends and family.

Now, as for whether James just looked on from the VIP area ... well, not exactly. There's video of the dude getting right in the mix among HS' many fans -- dancing his face off.

Indeed ... the guy was absolutely living it up/singing along to Harry's set -- again proving he's crazy about the guy's music, which he's made very clear over the years in sit-down interviews with the singer ... or even in "Carpool Karaoke." Corden loves him some Styles.

As you know, Harry's been touring for almost 2 years straight now ... having traveled the world and packing out stadiums and venues all over, just about everywhere he's performed.

His time on the road has been memorable. In addition to his many eccentric outfits -- and, at times, wardrobe malfunctions -- he's also ... had lots of crap thrown at him onstage (some of which has made contact), helped fans do baby gender reveals, trotted out tons of big-name guest acts to sing with him, gotten quite sick, won Grammys ... and, of course, spurred many people -- including security guards -- to boogie down on the floor.

Offstage, he's made headlines as well ... including his relationship with Olivia Wilde -- which proved dramatic. And yes, his other romantic interests since have also turned heads as well.

Bethenny Frankel is weighing in on the whole Jonah Hill controversy with his ex  ... and she seems to be in Jonah's corner on one major point, despite having a horrible run-in with him.

"The Real Housewives of New York" alum posted a TikTok video Monday explaining she once met Hill on the set of Jay Leno's "The Tonight Show" years ago and he acted like a "low-grade d**k" to her.

Frankel said, "He was put upon and kind of treated me like he was very better than [me]. I felt like a loser and the nobody that I was."

But Frankel didn't let her personal feelings toward the actor cloud her judgment about Hill's current drama with his former girlfriend Sarah Brady -- on whether the story should have been made public in the first place.

As you know, Brady released on social media a bunch of text messages between her and Hill she claims prove he's a "misogynist narcissist." Brady also accused Hill of being abusive, manipulative and controlling.

Frankel called the Hill/Brady texts "crazy," but she, too, admitted to having similar back-and-forth messaging with people, which in a vacuum can look nuts. She then questioned whether Brady should have published the texts, since Brady was in a romantic relationship with Hill.

Bethenny continued, "I don’t know the whole story, I only read the snippets of headlines, but if you're in a relationship with someone for one year, are texts fair game?"

She ended by saying the notion of publicly sharing texts from exes seems like a "frightening 2023 for me." But Bethenny also mentioned it's not okay to be "emotionally harmful" to your partner, which Brady contended Hill was toward her.

Before this sun-kissed kid floating through life turned into a notable comedian and a talk show host, he was just splashing away the summer break, riding bikes with his sis and growing up in Saugerties, New York.

If you didn't watch him on "Saturday Night Live," you may have seen him in films like "Taxi" with Queen Latifah or "Fever Pitch" with Drew Barrymore. He's also one of the most popular late-night talk show hosts out there!

Need one more hint? He filmed a cameo for the movie "Almost Famous" back in 2000.

Turns out, the picket lines full of WGA members aren't exactly such a bad place to be, as protesters are getting treated to live music and tons of free grub ... thanks to some pretty big names.

Friday marks the 4th day since the union voted to suspend all work, with members -- and even pre-WGA folks -- striking outside Disney, Paramount, Warner Brothers, Netflix, and other major studios.

One of the many celebs showing their support was 'SNL' alum Pete Davidson ... who pulled up to a strike in New York with boxes of pizza -- a sweet essential for those marching for hours on end.

On the West Coast, peeps striking outside Paramount and Netflix were greeted by a waffle food truck -- courtesy of the 'Late-Night' gang ... AKA Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver. Best part? The food was free!

Turns out, Kimmel's assistant put in the call on behalf of his talk show brothers, ordering food for 600 people ... the truck owner says he even gave them a discount to rent it out!

Netflix even had a live mariachi band out front, too ... pretty rad!

Writer, actress, and producer Mindy Kaling was also at the Paramount lot, joining those asking execs to give a fair, living wage to the thousands that believe they've been cheated in the era of streaming and AI.

Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers' late night talk employees won't be left high and dry during the writers' strike -- as one of Jimmy's staffers claimed -- as the network will cover their pay ... for the time being, at least.

NBC will now be paying staffers through the end of next week -- 1 more than originally reported. Both talk show hosts will be footing the bill one week further, too.

Employees for both shows will also reportedly have their healthcare benefits extended through September ... and the additional payout from Seth and Jimmy is similar to what they did for their workers during the pandemic. Deadline first reported the big development at NBC.

As we reported, Jimmy caught some flak Tuesday after tweets from 'Tonight Show' staffer Sarah Kobos went viral ... as she claimed Jimmy "wasn't even at the meeting this morning to tell us we won't get paid after this week."

Sarah said she was irked by a Met Gala interview where Jimmy said he fully supported his striking writers.

Jimmy Fallon says he wouldn't have a late-night show without his writers, and he supports them in their strike, but a 'Tonight Show' staffer begs to differ ... claiming Jimmy's all talk.

Sarah Kobos, a senior photo research coordinator on Jimmy's talk show, ripped him Tuesday on social media as the writers' strike began, saying ... "He wasn't even at the meeting this morning to tell us we won't get paid after this week."

Sarah tagged Jimmy in her tweet, adding ... "@jimmyfallon please support your staff. Had fun bowling with ya last week, but a fun party won't pay my rent."

Jimmy, like all other late-night hosts, is scrambling to figure out how to handle personnel matters during the writer's strike, which will affect all employees -- including non-writers -- because all the network talk shows are shutting down.

Monday at the Met Gala, Jimmy was asked about the strike and told Variety, "I wouldn’t have a show if it wasn't for my writers, I support them all the way."

In follow-up tweets, Sarah says she's not a striking worker because she isn't a member of the Writers Guild of America, but again ... with all the shows airing reruns, her livelihood will be impacted nonetheless.

She adds 'Tonight Show' employees were told "NBC decided to stop paying us after this week and end our health insurance after this month if the strike is ongoing. They won't even tell us if we will technically be furloughed. Just active employees who aren't paid."

Fairly or not, Sarah also openly compared Jimmy to Seth Meyers, who hosts 'Late Night' on NBC ... saying she was told Seth was on a Zoom meeting telling his staff and crew he would try to take care of them financially "after NBC stops paying."

James Corden's run on the 'Late Late Show' has officially come to an end, after a week of special moments and tributes to the show's 8-year run on CBS.

An emotional Corden teared up Thursday night as he signed off for the final time from behind a piano, a fitting end as music was such an integral part of his show for so many years -- from "Carpool Karaoke" to surprise musical guests.

Speaking of surprise guests -- President Biden made an appearance on the show with a special message to the host congratulating him on an incredible run.

Will Ferrell was there too, providing some hilarious comedic relief when he took a sledgehammer to Corden's desk ... smashing it to pieces as James and Harry Styles looked on from only feet away.

Ferrell and Styles also played the show's last round of the popular segment "Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts" -- with foods like bull penis and salmon, clam juice and wasabi.

As for Styles, One Direction fans were likely glad to hear him talk a bit about his former boy band during the segment. When asked about a possible reunion, Styles told the host, "I think I would never say never to that. If there was a time when we wanted to do it, I don’t see why we wouldn’t.”

First released earlier this week, James also played his final "Carpool Karaoke" segment with Adele.

While it may be the end of an era for Corden and late-night TV, there's plenty of buzz he'll be just fine moving forward.

Jeremy Renner says it was pure luck that he made it out alive from his now-famous snowplow accident after shattering 35 bones in his body.

Using a cane, the actor hobbled into his Jimmy Kimmel appearance Monday to discuss the harrowing incident, and he seemed to be in great spirits despite his horrible injuries from which he's still recovering four months later.

As you know, Renner was almost killed on New Year's Day when he tried to stop a snow-removal tractor from hitting his nephew and was crushed under the weight of the machine.

Renner described to Kimmel his good fortune after getting hit by the snowcat. He said, "It's like a giant metal-like cookie roller, right? And it just missed every vertebra, did not hit any organs, membrane did not swell - my eye did pop out, that's weird. But I got pretty lucky that none of the organs got messed up."

Renner said his first thought was to protect his nephew, Alex, as the snowplow started rolling down the hill. After he was critically injured, Renner said he was concerned about how his nephew was dealing with the trauma of seeing his uncle torn apart. "I did not see any of this stuff, but the blood and the thing and the eye, and all that stuff right? I had to see what [Alex's] perspective was.'"

Renner also said he remembered everything after the accident for 45 minutes, but then his memory went blank once he was transported to the first of two hospitals. He said doctors jammed an "emergency knife" into his chest and "I was like, "I got to go to sleep."

Renner went on to say he personally knew the first responders, all of whom seemed to think he was going to die. But, Renner told them, "No, man. I'm trying to get out of the hospital as soon as I was in it." I'm like, "I'm out of here."

At one point during the interview, Kimmel produced a photo of Renner in the hospital after the accident. Renner said his mom probably shot the image and then thanked his family -- who was in the audience -- for all of their support.

He also vowed to return to the first hospital -- from which he got booted -- to apologize for his erratic behavior while on heavy medications.

Jeremy Renner continues to make a miraculous recovery from his near-death snowplow accident -- he strolled into Jimmy Kimmel's studio, fully on his own power.

The 'Avengers' star was using only a cane Monday in Hollywood, as he headed into the studio to shoot his appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

It's pretty incredible to see Jeremy using his legs like this ... remember he's only a little over 3 months removed from being completely crushed by a snowplow on New Year's Day at his Nevada home.

Jeremy's injuries included more than 30 broken bones, plus a collapsed lung and punctured lung ... just to name a few.

When he took his family to Six Flags on Good Friday, he needed a motorized scooter to get around the amusement park ... and we've previously seen him using an anti-gravity treadmill to strengthen his legs and get those muscles working again.

Jeremy's continuing his media blitz now that he's recovering at his L.A. home.

Before going on Kimmel, he described the enormity of his injuries and pain during a special interview with Diane Sawyer, which included a bone-chilling animation showing how he was hurt.

Ben Affleck is clearing the air on what he says is a widely held misconception -- that he's totally miserable most of the time ... even when he's pretty damn happy.

Ben was on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Tuesday to promote his new movie "Air," and the guys chatted about a number of things, including Ben's RBF ... y'know the thing he went viral for at this year's Grammys. You'll recall, he looked very unamused as his wife Jennifer Lopez danced alongside him.

Now, Ben cleaned it up a bit for Kimmel, instead of "resting bitch face" ... he said, "I have a very unhappy-looking resting face."

The guys joked Ben's face played a key role during a Christmas party Ben and Jen threw. They'd invited Jimmy and his wife, but as JK put it, "It did seem like you weren't quite as psyched about the party as everybody else".

Ben then tried to address the issue once and for all ... by showing a range of emotions on his face.

Amused and content looks a lot more like pissed off and I'd rather die than be here.

Hey, he's admitting it, but BA says don't blame him ... "That's how God made me, you don't have to punish me for it!"

Of course, Ben and JLo recently attended the "Air" premiere ... and the two looked happy as ever together, as they locked lips and took photos.

Travis Kelce proved yet again to be a genius on the microphone -- belting out a rendition of "Fight For Your Right" in a karaoke sesh with Jimmy Fallon on Thursday ... and it was, as it always is, EPIC.

The Super Bowl champ was Fallon's guest on "The Tonight Show" -- and after the two talked about the Big Game, Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs, the Kelce family and the post-win celebration ... Jimmy asked if the star tight end would hop on a mic with him.

Never one to turn down the spotlight, Kelce obliged ... and it was awesome.

For 90-or-so seconds, they sang the Beastie Boys' 1986 classic -- and the crowd ate it up!!!

Of course, Kelce's had a ton of practice with the tune the past few weeks, particularly the song's chorus, as he's been yelling it into postgame mics throughout K.C.'s playoff run.

It might not be the last time we hear him sing it this winter, either ... Kelce revealed to Fallon he's going to host "Saturday Night Live" on March 4 -- and it seems to be a good bet there will be a musical bit or two then.

Chelsea Handler isn't afraid to let Prince Harry know how she feels about all the intimate details he's been sharing ... as she made his royal family jewels the butt of some icy jokes at the Critics Choice Awards.

The comedian took the stage Sunday night in L.A., and during her opening monologue she took some jabs at a ton of folks ... including Harry and his recently released memoir, "Spare."

Chelsea was talking about Niecy Nash-Betts' nomination for the Netflix series "Dahmer", but deftly segued to poke fun at the Duke of Sussex.

She said, "Dahmer became the third highest viewed show on Netflix with a combined watch time of 1 billion hours, which apparently is the same amount of time we're going to have to listen to Prince Harry talk about his frostbitten penis. It's enough, already".

And, it seemed to go over well with a lot of the audience ... cause she got laughs all around the room.

Of course, she was referring to details from Harry's book, where he shares his John Thomas got frostbitten back in 2011 during a charity trek to the North Pole.

Prince Harry wasn't the only one to catch some strays from Chelsea ... she also made fun of James Corden and his restaurant debacle.

David Letterman sat down with Volodymyr Zelensky for his Netflix show -- and the interview comes on the heels of a big honor for the Ukrainian Prez.

The ex-'Late Show' host traveled to the European country in October to meet face-to-face with Zelensky ... where they engaged in conversation in front of a live audience, in a secure underground area within the beleaguered nation -- as seen in the just-released trailer for the new episode of 'My Next Guest.'

You see DL making the voyage to Ukraine, and he notes that Russian attacks are still underway as the war rages on ... so, pretty dangerous territory to say the least.

Zelensky shakes hands with Letterman, and they eventually have a seat as Dave is about to dive into some questions. The trailer cuts off before we can hear where he's going to start, but it's sure to be a fascinating chat considering everything that's happened over the past year ... including Zelensky and his military being able to turn the tables on Russia.

It's exactly because of this -- among other notable reasons, like Zelensky's persistence and bravery -- that Zelensky was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year, gracing the cover of their end-of-year issue.

Jay Leno has been released from the hospital after suffering severe burns following a gasoline garage accident -- and you can already tell how badly he was hurt.

The "You Bet Your Life" host posed for a photo taken and posted by the Grossman Burn Center, where JL has been receiving treatment for the past nine days. In it, he seems to be in good spirits alongside the facility staff ... but there's noticeable scarring on his face and hands.

Still, he's well enough to have been discharged ... and GBC says they're encouraged by his recovery. In a statement, the burn center says Jay will receive follow-up care at their outpatient facility, this after receiving burns throughout his upper, including on his chest.

They add, "Jay would like to let everyone know how thankful he is for the care he received, and is very appreciative of all of the well wishes. He is looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with his family and friends and wishes everyone a wonderful holiday."

In addition to being placed in a hyperbaric chamber, JL is said to have undergone surgical excision and skin grafting ... removing unhealthy tissue and allowing the wounds to heal.

Remember ... this is all started while Jay was working on one of his vehicles in his Burbank garage. While trying to unclog a fuel line on a 1907 White Steam Car, he was sprayed with gasoline which erupted into flames. Jay's friend, who was present, saved his life.