Jimmy Fallon hosts "The Tonight Show" on Sept. 24, 2025.
Jimmy Fallon hosts "The Tonight Show" on Sept. 21, 2025.

Jimmy Fallon is keeping his "head down" at "The Tonight Show."

The late-night host spoke with CNBC about the role of politics on his show after the drama surrounding Jimmy Kimmel's controversial suspension at ABC.

"Our show's never really been that political," Fallon said on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." "We hit both sides equally, and we try to make everybody laugh, and that's really the way our show really works. Our monologues are kind of the same that we've been doing since Johnny Carson was doing 'The Tonight Show.'"

The comedian added, "Really, I just keep my head down and make sure the jokes are funny. I have great writers, clever, smart writers. We're just trying to make the best show we possibly can and entertain everybody."

Fallon's comments came in the wake of Kimmel being temporarily suspended after ABC faced pressure from the Federal Communications Commission over remarks he made about the killing of Charlie Kirk. President Donald Trump reacted to Kimmel's suspension by urging NBC to fire Fallon and "Late Night" host Seth Meyers next.

"Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that's possible," Trump wrote in a Sept. 17 post on Truth Social. "That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!"

Trump previously took aim at Fallon after CBS canceled "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" in July.

"The word is, and it's a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, Fallon will be gone," Trump posted on July 22.

Fallon has hosted "The Tonight Show" since 2014 and is generally considered to be the least politically partisan of the major late-night hosts.

In September 2016, he received backlash for an interview with Trump, then the Republican nominee in the presidential election, on "The Tonight Show" where he playfully messed up the candidate's hair. Critics on the left slammed Fallon, arguing he was helping to normalize Trump with the appearance and that the interview was overly favorable to him. Fallon later told The New York Times he was "devastated" by the backlash. "I didn't do it to humanize him," he said, adding, "I was just trying to have fun."

But Fallon also hasn't shied away from making fun of Trump on his show. In his monologue after the president's 2024 election win, he quipped that "America decided to get back with a crazy ex."

Fallon shared support for Kimmel after the ABC host was temporarily suspended for saying that Trump's supporters were trying to characterize the suspect charged with killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk as "anything other than one of them."

In his "Tonight Show" monologue on Sept. 18, Fallon described Kimmel as a "decent, funny, and loving guy," adding, "I hope he comes back." The comedian went on to address concerns that his show would be censored, vowing to continue covering Trump "just like I normally would." This set up a bit where Fallon's comments about Trump were replaced with a voiceover providing the president with over-the-top praise and declaring he is "incredibly handsome."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jimmy Fallon says 'Tonight Show' is not 'that political,' will keep his 'head down'

Reporting by Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect