A.D. Miles, head writer for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, who has been with the host since the launch of his late-night show, is stepping down after eight years of working with Fallon.
Miles will be moving back to Los Angeles, along with his wife and two daughters, to pursue other opportunities as an actor and writer for film and the half-hour format, which also includes an animated movie with Jimmy Fallon.
“Riding Jimmy Fallon’s coattails for the past eight years has given me all the confidence I need to strike out on my own and work on a movie with Jimmy Fallon,” Miles said in a statement.
Fallon added: “Miles was there for the launch of Late Night as well as the launch of The Tonight Show. He is one of the funniest, most creative people I’ve ever met and I can’t wait to work on this next project with him. He’s family to us, and we are gonna miss him.”
Miles started as a performer on Late Night, not thinking he would stay this long. He had been thinking about transitioning for a while, adding that the late-night format was very demanding and the workload didn’t allow him to pursue other interests and forms. He will be continuing to work with Jimmy on an animated feature and is still currently working on the show for now. He will transition over the next few weeks.
Prior to working on The Tonight Show, he was the head writer for Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, wrote episodes of Hot Sluts, Horrible People and Comedy Central’s Dog Bites Man. Miles, who also appeared in many of Fallon’s late-night show’s sketches, also acted in Wet Hot American Summer and the Netflix prequel Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, Reno 911!, and Zeke and Luther, among other shows.
The new comes as The Tonight Show’s rating have fallen, due to Stephen Colbert’s Late Show coming out on top with eight consecutive weekly total viewer wins. Though, Fallon nipped at Colbert’s heels, significantly narrowing the total viewers gap to just 30,000 viewers behind Colbert and leading in the key 18-49 age bracket.