Comedian and late night talk show host, Jimmy Fallon, will be taking on one of his most daunting tasks yet as he replaces long time host of The Tonight Show, Jay Leno.

It's a tremendous honor, even for someone as successful as Fallon. Over the years Fallon has gone from entering amateur impressionist contests on the radio, to doing stand up, to performing on Saturday Night Live, staring in movies and hosting the Primetime Emmy awards. He went on to secure his own late night talk show, but even that paled in comparison to the position he is in now.

After all, Fallon will be following in the footsteps of some of television's greatest comedic icons. Jay Leno has been highly successful in his twenty two year tenure as host, continuously bringing in the highest ratings in late night programming. Prior to him, the legend Johnny Carson headed the show. He turned The Tonight Show into a television staple, and influenced countless other talk show hosts that followed him.

One of Fallon's biggest inspirations, however, remains the show's original pioneer, Steve Allen. Allen's silliness contributed much to Fallon's comedic style.

"Back then, they did sketches like having Steve Allen in a giant bowl pretending to be a banana split and getting chocolate syrup poured on him," Fallon tells the New York Daily News. "That's so fun to watch, and they were doing that back in 1953. So I'm happy to dress up as a piece of celery and jump into a giant bloody Mary -- that's exactly the kind of thing we should be doing."

Fallon plans to bring that type of silly humor when he makes his Tonight Show debut this Monday, taking it back to its native New York City.  His first guests will be actor Will Smith and rock band U2.