Jimmy Fallon is still haunted by the most hilariously awkward moment of his love life, when he accidentally blew off Nicole Kidman during what she thought was a date.
And the plot twist? It wasn’t just nerves or bad timing, it was Mario Kart that totally derailed the night.
The late-night host, now 50, shared the now-iconic story once again, thanks to The Last of Us star Isabela Merced bringing it up during her appearance on The Tonight Show. Jimmy was making a casual comment about how scary the video game adaptation is, calling it “one of the scariest computer games” he’s ever played. Isabela didn’t let the moment slide, cheekily asking, “Was that the game you were playing when you bombed your date with Nicole Kidman?”
Jimmy, clearly caught off guard and laughing, tried to deflect with, “It’s a pleasure meeting you. We’re out of time.” But when she pushed further, he admitted it wasn’t The Last of Us he was playing back then, it was Mario Kart. And that was the moment everything went downhill.
To fully appreciate how awkward this was, you’ve got to go back to Nicole Kidman’s now-famous 2015 appearance on The Tonight Show. It was there that Nicole, now 56, casually revealed to Jimmy, and the entire world, that she once had a crush on him and thought they were set up on a date by a mutual friend named Rick. Jimmy had absolutely no idea.
Nicole told him, “I just remember I liked you. So Rick, our mutual friend, says, ‘Oh, you know, Jimmy wants to meet you, and you can go over to his apartment.’ And I’m single, and I’m like, “Okay, yeah, cool’.” So she went over, expecting maybe a little flirting, a spark, something.
But what she walked into wasn’t romantic at all. She said Jimmy answered the door in a baseball cap and barely said anything. “You were there in a baseball cap and like… nothing! And you wouldn’t talk; you didn’t say anything. You were like, ‘Hey,’ and I’m like, ‘Okay, so.’” And then, instead of making conversation or trying to charm her, he fired up a video game.
“It was like a hang; it was meant to just, I don’t know… And then you put a video game on or something, and I’m like, ‘This is so bad,’” Nicole said, clearly still amused by how clueless Jimmy was. “I swear, you didn’t talk at all. And so after about an hour and a half, I thought, ‘He has no interest; this is so embarrassing,’ and I kind of left. And then I was like, ‘Maybe he’s gay.’”
Jimmy Fallon, for his part, was absolutely floored when Nicole Kidman dropped this bombshell on national television. In a later interview with Deadline, he admitted, “Nicole Kidman totally blindsided me on my show. We were just there to talk about one of her movies or something she was going to win an award for. She was great, and she looked amazing, and we were talking, and she goes, “Did you know that we dated’?”
He continued, “It was the most embarrassing thing.” You could literally see him replaying that entire moment in his head in real time during the show.
And it’s not just some funny one-liner or a random memory, they actually did play Mario Kart. During his chat with Isabela Merced, he confirmed it was the game he had on that fateful night. While Nicole was trying to connect, Jimmy was apparently too busy throwing banana peels and dodging red shells.
To make things even more surreal, Nicole went on to marry country music superstar Keith Urban in 2006, and Jimmy tied the knot with Nancy Juvonen, a Hollywood producer, in 2007. So clearly, everything worked out for both of them. But the story lives on, and Jimmy keeps reliving it every time it comes up.
There’s just something universally funny, and painful, about missing a shot with someone because you were too into your video game. Especially when that someone is Nicole Kidman. And especially when she thought it was a romantic setup. Honestly, it might be one of the most relatable celebrity stories out there. Who hasn’t completely misread a vibe before?
Jimmy’s self-deprecating charm is what makes this whole tale even better. He’s not shy about owning it, even if it makes him cringe. And the fact that it keeps resurfacing, on his own show, no less, just adds to the legend.
At the end of the day, it’s a harmless “what if” moment between two very famous people. But it’s also a reminder that even A-list celebrities and late-night hosts can bomb a date in the most hilariously human way possible.
Next time someone’s coming over and there’s even the slightest chance it’s a date? Maybe pause the game. Especially if she’s an Oscar winner.
