Late Night gig 'a comedian's dream,' says Fallon

U.S. network NBC confirmed on Monday one of the worst-kept television secrets of the past few weeks: that former Saturday Night Live comedian Jimmy Fallon will take over Conan O'Brien's late-night TV slot next year.

"It's a comedian's dream to get this job," the 33-year-old Fallon said at a news conference in New York Monday.

He  added that, since leaving weekly sketch show SNL for Hollywood in 2006, he has missed performing before a live TV audience.

"There's nothing like it," he said.

Despite it being a new gig, Fallon is getting his old boss back: SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels, whose company also co-produces Late Night.

After building some experience performing in comedy clubs in New York and Los Angeles, Fallon joined Saturday Night Live in 1998. He remained a cast member for six seasons, memorably as co-anchor of the Weekend Update news segment with Tina Fey.

His movie career has been less than stellar, with credits including Taxi and Fever Pitch as well as voice work on the animated films Doogal and Arthur and the Invisibles.

The move is part of a shuffle that will also see the 45-year-old O'Brien take over Jay Leno's longtime gig hosting The Tonight Show. Leno, 58, had announced in 2004 that he would retire next year.

Though the network declined to name an exact start date for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, it is expected to debut in mid-2009 after a renovation of the Rockefeller Center studio where O'Brien now films his show.