Jimmy Fallon’s tense Saturday Night Live moment with Amy Poehler exposed

Amid rumours of the host's "toxic" behavior, a tense moment has come to light. Photo / Getty Images

Jimmy Fallon’s staffers aren’t the only people who have experienced a toxic encounter with the Tonight Show host in the past.

It has come to light that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were faced with an uncomfortable moment involving Fallon in the Saturday Night Live writers’ room, which Fey documented in her 2013 autobiography Bossypants.

The excerpt from her memoir, which was posted to X (formerly Twitter), detailed a table read in which the TV host allegedly singled out Poehler - who was a new cast member on SNL at the time.

“Amy Poehler was new to SNL and we were all crowded into the 17th-floor writers’ room, waiting for the Wednesday night read-through to start,” Fey wrote.

“Amy was in the middle of some such nonsense with Seth Meyers across the table, and she did something vulgar as a joke. I can’t remember what it was exactly, except it was dirty and loud and ‘unladylike’.”

She went on, “Jimmy Fallon turned to her and in a faux-squeamish voice said, ‘Stop that! It’s not cute! I don’t like it.’ Amy dropped what she was doing, went black in the eyes for a second, and wheeled around on him. ‘I don’t f***ing care if you like it.”

Tina Fey (left) and Amy Poehler, pictured with Seth Meyers as Doug Stradley during the "Weekend Update" segment on SNL. Photo / Getty Images

Fey said Fallon was “visibly startled” following the tense exchange. Meanwhile, Poehler went “right back to enjoying her ridiculous bit”.

She added, “With that exchange, a cosmic shift took place. Amy made it clear that she wasn’t there to be cute. She wasn’t there to play wives and girlfriends in the boys’ scenes. She was there to do what she wanted to do and she did not f***ing care if you liked it.”

A social media user reposted Fey’s passage on X - formerly Twitter - in light of claims Fallon bullied employees and created a toxic workplace at The Tonight Show.

Rolling Stone wrote a scathing report regarding multiple workers’ claims that Fallon had regularly been intoxicated in the workplace, had scolded employees and had easily lost his temper as a result of being hungover. One ex-staffer revealed that they contemplated taking their own life “all the time” while being employed by the late-night television show.

The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon during the monologue segment on Friday, April 28, 2023. Photo / Getty Images

While Fallon has not yet publicly responded to the accusations, he allegedly held a Zoom meeting with his current workers to say sorry for the “embarrassing” claims. Two employees who were in the meeting told Rolling Stone Fallon insisted that he never meant to “create that type of atmosphere for the show”.

“Sorry if I embarrassed you and your family and friends … I feel so bad I can’t even tell you,” he allegedly said. “I want the show to be fun, [it] should be inclusive to everybody. It should be the best show.”