During a lively appearance on The Tonight Show on May 20, 2025, The Last of Us star Isabela Merced had the audience in stitches when she playfully roasted host Jimmy Fallon about his infamous failed date with Nicole Kidman. The 23-year-old actress, who plays Dina in the HBO series, didn’t miss a beat, turning a casual chat about video games into a hilarious callback to one of Fallon’s most cringeworthy moments.
The moment came when Fallon, 50, brought up The Last of Us, calling it “one of the scariest video games I’ve ever played in my life.” Quick on her feet, Merced fired back, “Was that the game you were playing when you bombed your date with Nicole Kidman?” The audience erupted with gasps and laughter, and even the band tossed in a cheeky rim-shot. A flustered Fallon, caught off guard, jokingly tried to end the interview, saying, “It’s a pleasure meeting you, we’re out of time,” as Merced cracked up.
Merced wasn’t done. She doubled down, asking if The Last of Us was the game he played during that awkward date. Fallon clarified it was actually Mario Kart, adding, “Thanks for bringing it up!” with a sheepish grin. Merced then teased that her “favorite clip” from the show was Kidman’s 2015 appearance, where the actress recounted the disastrous date, which has racked up over 63 million views online. That moment, where Kidman revealed she’d had a crush on Fallon and thought their hangout was a date, only for him to play video games and barely talk, left Fallon stunned on live TV.
For those who missed the lore, back in 2015, Kidman shared that a mutual friend set them up years earlier, around the time of her 2005 film Bewitched. She arrived at Fallon’s apartment expecting a spark, but found him in a baseball cap, silent, and popping on a video game—Mario Kart, not The Last of Us. After an hour and a half of no chemistry, Kidman left, thinking, “Maybe he’s gay!” Fallon, oblivious that it was a date, called it one of his “most embarrassing” moments.
Merced’s quick wit stole the show, and fans on X loved it. One post gushed, “Isabela Merced just brought up Jimmy Fallon’s biggest fail to his face! Savage!” Her charm and humor shone through, making her late-night debut a hit. She also teased the Season 2 finale of The Last of Us, airing May 26, 2025, hinting that “a lot of pieces of the puzzle are gonna come into place.”
Both Fallon and Kidman have moved on since their Mario Kart mishap—Fallon married producer Nancy Juvonen in 2007, and Kidman wed Keith Urban in 2006. But thanks to Merced, the internet—and the audience—got a fresh laugh at Fallon’s expense. Catch her as Dina in The Last of Us on HBO or Max this Sunday for the finale, and expect more of her star power in Superman this July.