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Jimmy Fallon on Taking Over Tonight Show: "I'm Freaking Out Right Now"

Jimmy Fallon spent his President's Day a bundle of nerves. "I'm freaking out right now," Fallon told Ryan Seacrest on Seacrest's radio show Monday afternoon, hours before he's set to make his debut as host of The Tonight Show. "It's so exciting. It's crazy."

liz-raftery.jpg
Liz Raftery

Jimmy Fallon spent his President's Day a bundle of nerves.

"I'm freaking out right now," Fallon told Ryan Seacrest on Seacrest's radio show Monday afternoon, hours before he's set to make his debut as host of The Tonight Show. "It's so exciting. It's crazy."

Describing the gig as his "dream job," Fallon said he was still tweaking his opening monologue as ofMonday afternoon — and is also battling a cold, which he blamed on his 7-month-old daughter, Winnie Rose.

VIDEO: Jimmy Fallon says goodbye to Late Night

"When your baby gets a cold, you get a cold," Fallon told Seacrest, but later admitted: "Maybe it's something that happens to me when I get nervous."

Fallon said he became emotional about the new gig after seeing an NBC promo that featured previous hosts Johnny Carson and Jay Leno. "You see all the other hosts that come before and that's when it kind of kicked in," Fallon told Seacrest. "Those guys are legends. Just to be on the list, it doesn't make any sense to me. ... I get goosebumps."

7 things to expect from Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show

Fallon's guests in his first week include Justin TimberlakeU2 and First Lady Michelle Obama. He hinted that the show is planning collaborations between Obama and Will Ferrell and another with Timberlake.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon premieres Monday at 12/11c on NBC. Listen to Fallon's On Air with Ryan Seacrest interview below: