Are Jimmy Fallon and Conan O’Brien Feuding?

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A new tabloid report claims there’s a nasty feud between talk show hosts Jimmy Fallon and Conan O’Brien. Mediaite investigated the supposed late-night battle and we’ve learned there’s likely no truth to it. Fallon’s spokesperson denied the feud outright, while O’Brien’s rep couldn’t be reached for comment, but there’s additional evidence to refute the notion of animosity between the two TV personalities.

According to the National Enquirer, Fallon and O’Brien have been engaged in a behind-the-scenes feud since the former took over as host of The Tonight Show in 2014. O’Brien served as the host of The Tonight Show for just seven months, starting in 2009, before Jay Leno took back the iconic talk show. Fallon had nothing to do with the infamous NBC fiasco, but the Enquirer maintains that O’Brien holds a grudge against him anyway.

An alleged source tells the tabloid that Fallon and O’Brien are “competitive as hell and bad-mouth each other when the cameras are off.” The shows are not in direct time-slot competition, it should be noted. O’Brien’s 30-minute TBS show airs at 11 p.m., while Fallon’s show starts at 11:30 p.m. Crossover fans of the comics can tune into both of their programs on any given night.

For good measure, Late Show host Stephen Colbert is thrown into the mix. “It bothers Jimmy to no end that Conan flaunts his friendship with Colbert while he barely acknowledges the guy who shared the same seat,” says the magazine’s supposed source. “He always thought Conan should offer the benefit of his experience at NBC before palling around with Colbert.” O’Brien and Colbert do seem to be the friendliest amongst the late night competition, but their bromance has no impact on Fallon. By that logic, Jimmy Kimmel, James Corden and Seth Meyers should have issues with O’Brien as well. They don’t.

From there, the unknown source says O’Brien is troubled by the way Fallon allegedly “trots out his family to juice ratings,” as the Conan host would never allow his wife or kids to appear on his TBS show. Once again, there’s a major flaw in logic here. The only time Fallon’s wife and kids appeared on his talk show was when he shot it from home during the quarantine. They haven’t joined the show since Fallon returned to the studio more than a month ago.

It should be noted, O’Brien congratulated Fallon in 2013 when it was announced that he’d be taking over the Tonight Show. The Conan host took time away from his own show to say on air, “I want to congratulate Jimmy, that is a really fun gig. It’s a fun gig and you know what? Jimmy is the perfect guy to do it; he’s going to do a fantastic job. So congratulations Jimmy.” Those hardly sounds like the words of a TV host holding any sort of grudge against his successor. Although O’Brien famously has issues with both Leno and NBC, Fallon had no role in that fallout.

Additionally, Fallon and O’Brien teamed up for a 2018 sketch, along with Colbert. Despite the three appearing on rival networks, they collaborated on a skit mocking President Donald Trump’s comments at a rally in South Carolina. The sketch served as the “cold open” to both Fallon and Colbert’s talk shows, while Conan was on hiatus that week. It’s highly unlikely that O’Brien would team up with a person he considered an arch rival, especially since the collaboration didn’t benefit his own show in any way. There’s clearly camaraderie in late-night TV these days. While Fallon’s rep dismissed the Enquirer’s story as fiction, O’Brien’s team declined to comment, but all talk of a feud between the two seems implausible and irrational.