How Jimmy Fallon helped his guest Anne Hathaway avoid an embarrassing moment on air

Being a talk show host is a no tricky matter as they often have to show off their charming aura and navigate awkward situations frequently. It usually happens when celebrities come in and create scenarios where hosts have to jump in to save them a lot of embarrassment. It is exactly what famed TV host Jimmy Fallon did for actress Anne Hathaway when she appeared on the show recently and talked about her most recent film, "The Idea of You," which people can check out on Prime Video. 

The plot revolves around Solène, a single mom in her 40s, played by Hathaway, getting into a relationship with 24-year-old British boy band artist Hayes Campbell, played by Nicholas Galitzine. Many people were very critical of the book, and one user, @sageyoungest, on X even made a post where she accused it of being "One Direction fan fiction." The interview's short clip was posted on YouTube, garnering over 762K views and 10K likes.

Fallon warmly welcomes Hathaway and the duo compliments each other on how good they are at playing "Reverse Charades." They converse a bit about what it is like being competitive at games before the actress begins discussing a work she wants to block from her mind. Hathaway discusses how people often go up to her and quote dialogues from her popular movie, "The Princess Diaries" but she has no idea what they are talking about because she has never seen it.

They continue talking for some time before Fallon finally says he wants to talk about her movie "The Idea of You." He says, "Oh my gosh, buddy. The trailer alone has gotten over 125 million views." Fallon highlights how it is the highest-watched trailer of any streaming movie in history. Hathaway then goes on to briefly outline the basic premise of the film. The actress began talking about her co-actor Galitzine, stating she "burst out laughing" when he came in for an audition. At this point, Hathaway asks the audience, "Has anybody here read the book?" There is absolutely no response from the audience, and the actress immediately becomes embarrassed, putting her hand up to her face.

Fallon does not waste much time and immediately turns the situation around by hilariously stating, "No, we don't read," which gets everybody laughing. He continues, "This is 'The Tonight Show.' You want to go to Stephen Colbert if you want to get people that read books." Hathaway still feels awkward, continuing to hide her face in her hands, but the talk show host calmly diffuses the situation by laughing it off as a joke. The actress also decides to jump in by remarking, "Well, the book does have a fan following somewhere."

She comments about how Galitzine's character is written beautifully in the book and the short video comes to a close with a movie's small preview. The moment has gone viral on X, posted by @finelytaylored. Many people commended Fallon for handling the situation like a pro. @MikeRose said, "Fallon fully understanding his role in the moment and bailing out Anne Hathaway from the silence while gassing up Stephen Colbert is beautiful." Another individual, @bonyunicorn, highlighted, "'You wanna go to Stephen Colbert' is a very smart joke right off the cuff." Hathaway also put up a post on Instagram calling Fallon a "legend" in the caption.