Jimmy Fallon is never going to live this one down.
The Tonight Show host, 50, was hilariously reminded of the time he fumbled a date with actress Nicole Kidman during an interview with The Last of Us’ Isabela Merced on the Tuesday, May 20, episode of his late-night talk show.
Fallon said that The Last of Us “was one of the scariest computer games” he’s ever played, prompting Merced, 23, to quip: “Was that the game you were playing when you bombed your date with Nicole Kidman?”
A flabbergasted Fallon then joked, “It’s a pleasure meeting you. We’re out of time.”
“Thanks for bringing it up,” Fallon went on, correcting Merced that he was, in fact, playing Mario Kart on said date.
“My favorite clip on this show!” Merced continued to tease Fallon, who admitted that his date fail was one of the “most embarrassing” moments he’s ever experienced.
As a refresher, back in January 2015, Kidman, 57, appeared on The Tonight Show as a guest and Fallon brought up how they’d met once before years earlier. (Fallon noted that it was around the time Kidman was gearing up to star in 2005’s Bewitched remake.)
“It was really embarrassing,” he reminded Kidman, who said she hadn’t seen Fallon since a mutual friend tried to set them up.
“I just remember that I liked you and he was like, ‘Oh, you can meet [Jimmy],’” Kidman shared her version of events.
“Our mutual friend says, ‘Jimmy wants to meet you. You can go over to his apartment,’” she continued. “I’m single and I’m like, ‘Okay, yeah, cool.’”
Upon hearing Kidman’s admission, Fallon exclaimed, “Wait. What?! What are you talking about? Did I date Nicole Kidman?”
Kidman then recalled that she went over to Fallon’s apartment. “You’re there in a baseball cap and you wouldn’t talk,” she said. “You didn’t say anything. You were like, ‘Hey.’ I’m like, ‘Okay.’ And then you put a video game on or something!”
Kidman continued, “I’m like, ‘This is so bad!’”
“It was so bad,” the Nine Perfect Strangers said, turning to the audience. “After about an hour and a half, I thought, ‘He has no interest. This is so embarrassing,’ and I left and went, ‘Okay, no chemistry.’”
For his part, an embarrassed Fallon admitted that he had “no idea” he was on a date.
Of course, since then, both Kidman and Fallon have found love with singer Keith Urban and film producer Nancy Juvonen, respectively. (Kidman and Urban married in June 2006, while Fallon wed Juvonen in December 2007.)
But alas, to think what could have been…
