Jimmy Fallon's friends used to get "mad" because he refused to go to parties until Saturday Night Live had finished.

The 51-year-old talk show host - who was a cast member on the show from 1998 to 2004 - was obsessed with SNL in his younger years and insisted on studying every episode on his own, despite the disruption it caused to his social lives.

He admitted to Deadline: "Friends would get mad at me. They'd be like, 'I'll put a TV set in the corner of the room.' I'd go, 'No, I gotta watch it myself, really study it… and then I'll be at the party at one o'clock.'"

Jimmy spoke out amid plans for a UK version of Saturday Night Live - which is set to launch in 2026 - and he urged comics thinking about applying for the show not to view it as a stepping stone but as "the end game".

Asked his advice for would-be stars, he said: "If you get lucky and get cast, I would just focus on the show.

"Don't think about the next move, or if you are going to be a movie star from this. Don't treat it as a launching pad, treat it as the end game. This is the prize: Saturday Night Live UK.

"If you concentrate and make that show the best, and be the best performer on that show, other things will come, but that's a different conversation. Treat it like the destination that it is."

The Tonight Show host also shared some practical advice for those thinking of auditioning.

He said: "Work on impressions, be musical and be up to date."

Earlier this year, Jimmy admitted he once threatened to take his own life if he wasn't cast on Saturday Night Live before he turned 25 but "didn't really mean it" because he was so certain he'd achieve his goals.

He told The Diary of a CEO podcast: "Yeah, I did [make the threat].

"But, again, I knew that I was gonna be on Saturday Night Live' so I guess I didn't really mean it.

"Cause I was gonna be on Saturday Night Live before I was 25. I just, I knew that I was going to be on it, so I knew I wasn't really a threat."

Jimmy made his debut on the iconic sketch show when he was 24 years old.

He recalled: "I became so obsessed in high school that I couldn't really hang out with anyone while I watched the show, because I didn't like it if anyone didn't like the show."