“I GOT OFFERS…”: Jimmy Fallon Could’ve Had a Totally Different Career
In another universe, Jimmy Fallon could’ve been your mailman. That’s right, The Tonight Show Host “aced” the postal exam when he was younger, and was ready to sport the uniform if his accomplished comedy career hadn’t taken off.
Long before Fallon became a cast member on Saturday Night Live and then took over the desk at Late Night and ultimately The Tonight Show, he got to work out his comedy bits with his family as his audience. But considering just how competitive the industry is, Fallon’s parents also encouraged him to have a backup plan. You know, just in case he never made Lorne Michaels laugh during his SNL audition.
If the world never got to watch Fallon break during some of SNL’s iconic sketches like “More Cowbell” and “The Love-Ahs” or co-host “Weekend Update” with Tina Fey, some lucky neighborhood could’ve had him as their mailman all these years.
Jimmy Fallon could have become a mailman if comedy didn’t work out
Jimmy Fallon during “Will’s Final Show” skit on Saturday Night Live on May 18, 2002.
Photo: Mary Ellen Matthews/NBCU Photo Bank
When Fallon was younger, he made extra money perfecting his expert-level knack for impressions. “I used to do jokes around the house,” Fallon shared during a 2021 appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show. “My family, they would give me like 50 cents or a dollar and just be like, ‘Go do Rodney Dangerfield or something.’ And I’d be like, ‘I tell ya, alright, okay. My wife’s cooking is so bad. I mean, uhh, since when does toast have bones?!'”
Fallon told Kelly Clarkson that his mom encouraged him to sign up for an impression contest held by a local radio station when he was in high school. “I ended up winning. I won first place, I won $1,000,” Fallon shared, after impersonating stars including Adam Sandler, John Travolta, and Jerry Seinfeld.
“That’s so cool they were supportive,” Clarkson said, while Fallon added with a laugh that they also wanted him to have a safety net if comedy didn’t work out.
“They were like, ‘Jimmy this is great, I think you should go to college and think about something else. You know, just have a backup,'” he recalled. “They made me take the postal exam. I could’ve worked for the U.S. postal service — easy!”
Jimmy Fallon wasn’t the only person in his family to take the postal exam
Jimmy Fallon during “Thank You Notes” on The Tonight Show Starring Episode 2020 on Thursday, September 12, 2024.
Photo: Todd Owyoung/NBC
Fallon also opened up about his parents’ backup plan for him during the 2018 New Yorker Festival, and shared that taking the postal exam became somewhat of a family event.
“I did the postal exam because my parents had a lot of confidence in my comedy career,” Fallon laughed during the sit-down. “They actually said, ‘Look I think you should have something to fall back on. You should take the postal exam, we’re all gonna take it.’ My dad was like, ‘Maybe I wanna do it.’ They’re just, I don’t know, they’re just odd people.”
“I go, ‘I’ll take it, I love mailmen and I think that’s a great job,'” Fallon added. “I always loved my mailman. I love that they can wear shorts as a part of the uniform, the steering wheel’s on the other side. Like they’re breaking all the rules, man.”
Fallon also shared that he passed the exam with flying colors. “I aced the test,” he said at the festival. “I got offers every week from the U.S. postal service. ‘You wanna come here? Let’s do this, let’s go. How can you organize zip codes?’ I go, ‘Yeah, you know I can, c’mon.'”
Of course, Fallon’s entertainment career has been unstoppable, and he’s set to show off his business acumen in a new competition reality show, On Brand with Jimmy Fallon, premiering on NBC in fall 2025. The unscripted reality series will follow Fallon as he teams up “the most creative, clever, and competitive go-getters he can find” to come up with eye-catching and successful marketing campaigns.
