Jimmy Fallon is fully on board the Taylor Swift hype train this week. The Tonight Show host took a page from Swift’s Life of a Showgirl album reveal to make his own “big announcement”: his latest Fallon Book Club selection.
Swift has dominated the internet this week with the announcement of her twelfth studio album. Appearing on boyfriend Travis Kelce’s podcast New Heights, Swift produced a vinyl record carrying case emblazoned with a glittery orange “T.S,,” from which she pulled out a copy of her album to unveil the artwork.
Mimicking Swift’s move, Fallon revealed his official book club pick by pulling out a briefcase with his own orange “T.S.” across the front. In this case, Fallon noted, the initials stood for “Tonight Show.”
It’s not the only way Fallon has addressed the TS12 album hype this week. Earlier in Wednesday night’s show, he explained the upcoming Trump-Putin summit by naming Taylor Swift’s songs. On Tuesday, The Tonight Show started with a special cold open depicting a CNN report interrupted by an amped-up TMZ-style reaction to Swift’s album news. Fallon then dove into Swiftie conspiracy theories in his monologue.
As for Fallon’s new Book Club pick, inside the briefcase was a copy of Fredrik Backman’s My Friends. The acclaimed new novel was published in May via Atria Books. Backman catapulted to success in 2012 with his New York Times best-selling debut novel A Man Called Ove, which later became the 2022 Tom Hanks film A Man Called Otto. (Another of his works, Anxious People, currently has Angelina Jolie attached to star in a film adaptation.)
To help celebrate, Fallon sent every audience member home with a copy of the book.
Before naming Backman’s book the winner, Fallon shouted out several honorable mentions that apparently made this year’s shortlist: The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett, What Will People Think? by Sara Hamdan, Maggie; or, A Man and a Woman Walk Into A Bar by Katie Yes, and What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown.
Fallon will read My Friends and share his progress on the @FallonBookClub Instagram account. He’s expected to then invite Backman onto The Tonight Show for an interview.
Fallon launched his book club in 2021, often trying out various selection formats like fan votes and tournament brackets. My Friends is already a New York Times #1 best seller, but past Fallon Book Club picks have benefitted from a notable sales bump as a result of being featured on the show.
