If the half-dozen Twitter messages Jimmy Fallon sends most days aren't enough, the talk show host cemented his geek credibility last week by interviewing a gadget blogger and the creators of a Web-only show most Americans have never heard of.
On Wednesday, Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht, hosts of the techie favorite "Diggnation," bantered with Fallon on the same love seat previously graced by such celebrities as Robert De Niro, Van Morrison and Cameron Diaz.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday, March 18, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 44 words Type of Material: Correction
Jimmy Fallon: An article in Business on Monday about talk show host Jimmy Fallon's tech leanings included a photo of Fallon with guests Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht, hosts of the Web-only show "Diggnation." The caption, however, transposed the identifications of Rose and Albrecht.
Two days earlier, Engadget Editor Joshua Topolsky talked operating systems and accelerometers while he showed off an early version of the hotly anticipated Palm Pre smartphone.
"Geek out, man," Fallon told him after Topolsky looked sheepish for mentioning the term "user interface."
That's what "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" is doing. As he tries to build a loyal audience for his 2-week-old NBC show, Fallon, 34, is embracing gadgets and digital media more than any of his peers.
Before he debuted on March 2 as Conan O'Brien's successor, Fallon practiced his delivery by posting video clips on his website.
"Late Night" gags involve fake Facebook status updates for audience members. He exchanges tweets -- as Twitter messages are known -- daily with the more than 300,000 people following him on the Web service, and he enlisted their help in compiling questions to ask Diaz on the air.
"You can't do a show nowadays that doesn't mention the Internet," said "Late Night" producer Gavin Purcell, who formerly worked for the G4 cable network, which focuses on video game culture. "It's where people spend so much time every day."
But the geek love also may help "Late Night" attract a demographic that advertisers lust after: hip, plugged-in consumers who otherwise don't watch much television.
"It would make sense to use Fallon as the guinea pig," said Ken Wilbur, a marketing professor at USC. "Experimenting with a new show is always less risky than messing with an established formula. Any strategies that work on Fallon's audience could then be ported to Leno and Conan."
Fallon and Purcell say they're merely trying to reflect the growing importance of tech gear and digital communications in society.
The show host often keeps an Apple laptop open on his desk. He says he's a regular reader of Engadget, one of the most popular tech blogs, and Topolsky said he had noticed Fallon commenting on posts.
