Family Man Jimmy Fallon Opens Up About 'Dada'

On Saturday morning, whispers crescendoed to a quiet roar on Sag Harbor’s Main Street as official word spread that comedian Jimmy Fallon had entered Harbor Books.

Mr. Fallon’s newest title, “Your Baby’s First Word Will Be Dada”—published by Feiwel & Friends on June 9—filled the windows of the corner bookstore, its front door blocked by a guard in a crisp white Polo shirt keeping eager readers of all ages at bay. The line wound down the street, where fans of the “The Tonight Show” host, including Joanne Drawberg and her 6-year-old daughter, Shea, waited patiently.

“My husband and I try to watch his show every night, and if we can’t, we always record it,” Ms. Drawberg said, more than an hour into the long haul. “I’ve loved him since his early days on ‘Saturday Night Live’ and, funnily enough, a couple of years into his ‘SNL’ career, I predicted that he’d have a late-night show.”

Shea, who bravely faced the line without bathroom breaks alongside her mother, used the spare time to plan the whole meet-and-greet in her mind. “Do you want to know what I’m going to tell him?” asked Shea, an uninhibited first-grader from Manhattan. “I’m gonna tell him that my first word was ‘dada,’ because that’s what his book is all about.”

Much to the dismay of Mr. Fallon, the first word he heard his 2-year-old daughter, Winnie, say was “mama.” In response to her verbal coup, he penned “Your Baby’s First Word Will Be Dada,” a children’s book that methodically ingrains the word “dada” into the minds of its readers.

It was the surest move he could make to guarantee his second child, Frances, would not repeat Winnie’s mistake.

“It’s basically helping out all the dads, basically just to try to get it out there,” Mr. Fallon said in a back room inside the store, less than 24 hours before Father’s Day. “We didn’t have this book for Winnie—but now we have it for Frances. So, I’m going to keep reading it to Frances, and, hopefully, she’ll say ‘dada.’ Fingers crossed.”

If it doesn’t work out that way, the new father will likely get over it. He said he lives for the mornings with his daughters, when they wake up and greet him groggily with outstretched arms, whether they’re at home in Sagaponack or Manhattan. His day job hosting NBC’s “The Tonight Show” throws a wrench into his family time, he said, and the balancing act can be tricky.

“You just have to do it. Whenever you get time, you’ve got to just spend time with the kids—whatever it is,” he said. “Whether it be reading to them or bath time. And whenever the show ends, I go home as fast as possible, so I can read them a couple of books before they go to bed. Then, I wake up with them in the morning. But weekends are really the time we get together.”

A typical Saturday with the Fallon clan consists of play, all day long, interspersed with mandatory meals, he said, followed by a bath, books and bed. “I mean, it’s hours of stuff,” the 40-year-old said. “I mean, this is really more than a hobby. And then they go to sleep, and usually I catch up on whatever’s on TV, or watch movies for upcoming guests.”

Thanks to his wife, Nancy Juvonen, there is no shortage of guilty pleasures after dark—tabloid magazines and “The Real Housewives,” to name a couple. “I act like she’s making me watch it, but really it’s for me, as well,” Mr. Fallon laughed. “I do the same thing with magazines. She reads all the US Weeklys and then I’m, like, ‘Who’s getting fat?’ Next thing you know, I’m reading the whole thing—eating the whole candy bowl.”

Among the lessons he’s learned as a father, patience is at the top of the list. “I relate to other fathers, you know, parents, because if there’s a kid crying in a restaurant, before I probably would have been, like, ‘You know, can this kid be quiet?’” he said. “Now, I’m, like ‘Oh, I understand. I’m there, I’m with you, I’m one of your brothers. You want me to take your kid? I’ll take him outside.’”

When he speaks, Mr. Fallon can make a complete stranger feel like a close friend, and his welcoming, on-stage demeanor translates off the screen. “I mean, I’m fun [as a dad]—I hope that I am,” he said. “I like to dance, play music for the kids. I think they’re funny. I want them to be funny kids. Already, the 6-month-old is really good at peek-a-boo and she gets, she understands, comedy.”

Winnie and Frances were not among the gaggle of children sitting on the floor of Harbor Books, frantically waving their iPads and iPhones to snap photos of Mr. Fallon as he exited the back room. More than 100 fans crowded into the store to hear the author say a few words and answer some questions—mostly requests by die-hard 10-year-olds for the impressions that made Mr. Fallon famous on “Saturday Night Live.”

As he settled into his seat behind a table inside, ready to greet his first fan, the line outside only continued to grow. Michelle Rollins waited with her 12-year-old twin daughters, Jen and Amanda, who said in unison, “We’re obsessed with Jimmy Fallon!”

“I’ve seen his show three times, and [Jen’s] seen it twice,” Amanda bragged, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder.

Liz Kirshy was casually walking by the store when she heard Mr. Fallon was inside. She wasted no time and immediately jumped in line.

“He is the greatest man that ever lived, the greatest man that ever lived,” the 20-year-old deadpanned, annunciating each word. “He’s smart, funny, sexy, intelligent, charismatic, everything. Every good adjective, he has. It’s surreal.”

For more information on Jimmy Fallon and “Your Baby’s First Word Will Be Dada,” visit mackidsbooks.com/dadabook.