Jimmy Fallon’s first post-football Sunday show of the season didn’t begin until 12:56 a.m. ET.
A marathon Los Angeles Rams–Denver Broncos game pushed NBC’s Sunday Night Football broadcast 51 minutes past its scheduled end time Sunday. A frantic fourth quarter, multiple reviews and penalties, and a finish that went down to the final play kept the game—and NBC’s late-night lineup—running deep into the night.
Sunday Night Football finally signed off at 12:21 a.m. ET. After local news, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon followed 35 minutes later.
That made it the latest start yet for one of Fallon’s post-Sunday Night Football episodes, surpassing all ten of the show’s previous Sunday night editions in 2019, 2024, and 2025.
Sunday’s Tonight Show had already been slated to start at 12:05 a.m.—30 minutes later than Fallon’s usual weeknight airtime. The football overrun pushed it another 51 minutes.
Whether the unusually late start takes a bite out of Fallon’s ratings remains to be seen. Historically, the NFL has provided The Tonight Show with some of its strongest audiences.
All four of Fallon’s post-Sunday Night Football episodes last season ranked among the show’s ten highest-rated telecasts of the season.
Sunday’s episode featured Sylvester Stallone and Luke Bryan and was the first of four special Sunday editions NBC has scheduled for The Tonight Show this NFL season. Additional post-football shows are set for November 8, November 15, and January 10.
Sunday marked the second night in a row that live sports threw NBC’s late-night shows off course.
On Saturday, NBC’s extended coverage of the college football matchup between USC and Oregon ran 16 minutes past its scheduled end time, leading many NBC affiliates around the country to delay Saturday Night Live until approximately 11:47 p.m. ET.
SNL still streamed live on Peacock, while NBC’s New York flagship WNBC also aired the show at its usual airtime by cutting its late local newscast to less than 15 minutes.
And with football season now in full swing, NBC’s late-night shows aren’t the only ones having to work around the NFL. ABC’s Monday Night Football broadcast is already set to push the first night of Jimmy Kimmel Live!’s Brooklyn week tonight to an 11:50 p.m. ET start.
