According to Page Six, there’s some tension between The Tonight Show’s new showrunner Jim Bell and Lorne Michaels, who spearheaded Jimmy Fallon’s rise from SNL to Late Night and now The Tonight Show.
That seems to be part of the tension, with Page Six being told “an anguished Bell” was “sniping” at Lorne Michaels for being “stuck in the past” when Bell thinks Fallon needs to reinvent himself to compete in the late night ratings.
Bell came to Tonight with Today Show news credentials, reportedly to give the late night show some political news heft.