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Jimmy Fallon Loves Real Housewives of NYC

Jimmy Fallon Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

Sure, Jimmy Fallon's been watching a lot of talks shows to prepare for his March 2 debut as host of NBC's Late Night.

But the former Saturday Night Live star player is also hooked on reality television. Among his favorites are Survivor, Amazing Race and...The Real Housewives of New York City.

"They are phenomenal," he told me earlier today during a lunch break at his Rockefeller Center studio. "The best! Dude, that show is fantastic. I love seeing crazy people being filmed. I just think it's fantastic."

So fantastic that the newest NYC housewife, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, was a guest yesterday during his second Late Night test run.

"I got some scoop," Fallon bragged. "She won't say anything bad about people but I got her to say that she fights Bethenny! I was like, 'Either you get in a fight or you make out with one of them in a hot tub, because that's basically all that happens on these reality shows.' So she was like, 'There was an incident.' I was like, 'Tell me. Who was it? Was it Jill?' And then I said, 'It was Bethenny, wasn't it?' And she goes, 'Maybe it was Bethenny.' "

Fallon said he's likely to have Kelly and the other Housewives on the show when he's doing it for real, but his very first guest will be Robert De Niro.

"He was my No. 1 choice," Fallon said. "I just think he represents New York to me. He's cool, a celebrity and a great actor. I just love him."

But they don't know each other too well. "We did some bits on Saturday Night Live together a long time ago, and I've seen him at the Tribeca Film Festival," Fallon said. "So we'll see what happens. It's going to be a challenge. I hear from a lot of people that he's a tough guest."

Another guest lined up for his first week is Drew Barrymore. Not only is Fallon in Barrymore's upcoming directorial debut about a young woman who joins a roller derby, Whip It!, but his wife, Nancy Juvonen, is her longtime producing partner.

"We probably won't have a Whip It! Week, unless they want to," he says with laugh. "I could go skating with Drew. That would be fun."

Fallon says Whip It! is his last movie. "I got my chance. I did two movies [Taxi and Fever Pitch] that didn't work out great," he admits. "On the second movie I met my wife, so something went right with that, but that's enough of the movies for me now. I just have to concentrate on this and make it work...My goal is to keep Conan's ratings and, hopefully, keep this job for 15 years. That's possible, maybe?"