Jimmy Fallon will make his NBC Olympics commentator debut this summer in Paris as co-host of the network’s 2024 Olympics Closing Ceremony coverage.
NBC Sports lead play-by-play broadcaster Mike Tirico will join Fallon on the telecast as co-host. A trio of veteran NBC Olympics broadcasters will also contribute to the Closing Ceremony telecast: NBC Sports’ Terry Gannon, 1998 Nagano Olympic figure skating gold medalist Tara Lipinski, and two-time Olympian in figure skating, Johnny Weir. Gannon, Lipinski and Weir will be calling their fourth NBC Olympics Closing Ceremony together.
“We are excited for Jimmy to make his official Olympic debut in an iconic setting at the biggest party in the world with Mike, while Terry, Tara, and Johnny return to provide a fashionably fun take on the pageantry and parade of athletes who competed in Paris,” NBC Olympics Production chief Molly Solomon said in a statement.
Fallon’s debut as an NBC Olympics commentator comes 10 years after The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon launched during the second week of the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Fallon has contributed to prior NBC Olympics presentations, beginning in Vancouver in 2010, when he performed at the Whistler Mountain medals plaza.
How did this all come together? Tirico appeared on the March 12, 2024 episode of The Tonight Show, alongside Kelly Clarkson and Peyton Manning, to announce the trio as hosts of the Opening Ceremony. At the end of the segment, Tirico surprised Fallon with an invitation to join him as co-host of the Closing Ceremony, and Fallon accepted.
“Is this real?” Fallon asked Tirico, who assured him that the invite was in fact real. “I’m in! I’m going to do it!,” Fallon responded.
The following day, The Tonight Show host confirmed the news, both on social media and on the broadcast itself. “It’s real. It’s happening. I’m headed to Paris. I’m going to co-host the Olympics Closing Ceremony this summer,” he remarked.
NBC Sports has seen a drop off in Olympics viewership recently, and undoubtedly hopes that appointing Manning, Clarkson, and now Fallon to these high-profile roles will give its broadcasts a jolt. We’ll see if the moves pay off later this summer.
NBC and Peacock will present live coverage of the Closing Ceremony from the Stade de France, the country’s national stadium, on Sunday, August 11, 2024, beginning at 2 p.m. ET. Primetime coverage will begin at 7 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and Peacock.
The Games of the XXXIII Olympiad in Paris kick off on July 26, 2024.
