The Tonight Show
Late Night
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The following is a list of recurring games, sketches, and other comedy routines from the NBC late-night talk show The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and its predecessor, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The sketches feature host Jimmy Fallon, house band The Roots, announcer/sidekick Steve Higgins, the show's writers, celebrity guests, and audience members. Most of the skits below appeared only on Late Night, while some have carried over to The Tonight Show.
Nearly every Thursday (formerly Wednesday) on the show, Jimmy reads off viewer comments from a topic for discussion he started the night or the week before on Twitter. Topics have included "#MyParentsAreWeird", "#WhyDontTheyMakeThat", "#BeachFail", and "#MakesMeMad". As Jimmy frequently announces before he reads his favorite comments, each hashtag would usually become a trending topic on Twitter in the United States within a few minutes after its posting.
Jimmy previously created a spin-off named "Late Night Instagrams". On March 22, 2019, Jimmy unveiled a similar spin-off segment called "Tonight Show Grams", instead of the usual "#Hashtags", in which he would send out a hashtag for discussion and showcase videos and photos that viewers have posted for the show on Instagram.
Nearly every Friday on the show, Jimmy writes thank you notes. He claims that Friday is the day he catches up on "personal stuff" like checking his inbox, returning e-mails, and writing his weekly thank you notes. He explains that he is running behind and asks the audience if they would not mind if he took time out of the show to write them, and asks James Poyser to play some accompanying music (a sped-up version of U2's "October"). During the segment, Jimmy often tries to get James to laugh while James tries to maintain a straight face. The notes are sarcastic in tone and involve current events, people in the news, or things that annoy Jimmy (e.g. "Thank you, pony tails, for turning the backs of girls' heads into horses' butts").
The sketch airs on Thursday during the week of Thanksgiving, in deference to the holiday. The sketch aired on Thursday, March 28, 2013, because the show was off for Good Friday that year. It also aired on Thursday, February 5, 2015, during the Tonight Show's week in Los Angeles (the show did not air on Friday that week). During the period of the COVID-19 quarantine when the show taped at 30 Rock without a live audience, the sketch aired on Thursdays because the show only taped four days a week, taking Fridays off.
In Jimmy's at home COVID-19 quarantine episodes in most of 2020 and early 2021, a recording of the music was played on an iPad by Jimmy's daughters while he did the skit.
Jimmy also wrote out a special Winter Olympics-themed set of thank you notes during NBC's prime-time Olympic coverage on February 26, 2010 (a Friday); anchor Bob Costas "played" the usual thank you note-writing music (by pretending to play along on a keyboard while a pre-recorded track of the music played in the background). Costas and Jimmy reprised the bit with a Summer Olympics-themed set on August 10, 2012 (also a Friday).
Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined Jimmy behind the desk to write out some thank you notes of his own on Friday, December 13, 2013.
Regis Philbin joined Jimmy with a little help to write out some thank you notes of his own on Friday, June 19, 2015.
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly wrote the first thank you note in space, during his year-long mission to the International Space Station.
President Barack Obama joined Jimmy in writing out some thank you notes on Thursday, June 9, 2016.
Jimmy Kimmel, the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, wrote thank you notes on April 1, 2022, while replacing Fallon as a host.
Shawn Mendes joined Fallon in writing thank you notes on Friday, April 29, 2022.
It was announced on January 31, 2011, that Fallon had signed a book deal to publish entries from the series as two books, the first of which, Thank You Notes, was released May 23, 2011.[1][2] The sequel, Thank You Notes 2, was released on May 22, 2012.[3] The new book also has a limited edition which has a sound chip that plays the "Thank You Notes" theme music (to which Jimmy replies "We don't even need James Poyser any more", then the camera cuts to Poyser looking depressed).
In the theme park attraction Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, Jimmy Fallon, along with the audience, are shot to the moon, where he writes a thank-you note addressed to the moon.
Nearly every Tuesday, Jimmy showed five different posts and asked the audience to respond to them, whether they like it or not, along with Jimmy himself, Higgins and The Roots. The post gathering the most likes, and, in case of a draw, least dislikes, is posted on X (formerly Twitter) during the show’s commercial break. The results are seen live, and, prior to revealing them, Fallon and Tariq give their opinions and predictions on the post.
Every Tuesday on the show, Jimmy weighed the pros and cons of a topic that's currently in the news, with the pros being the setups and the cons being the punchlines. (e.g. Pro: With Tiger competing, this year's Masters promises to be the most exciting golf tournament ever. Con: That being said, it's still golf.) Special editions of the sketch included: "The reissue of the Rolling Stones' album Exile on Main St.", in which Jimmy was joined via satellite by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts; one in which the topic was "The New NFL Season", where Jimmy was joined by Justin Tuck of the New York Giants; and "The NFL Playoffs" with New York Jets placekicker Nick Folk. The segment was initially retired in 2018, but revived in 2021. In May 2022, the segment was dropped and replaced with WeTweet.
Also on Fridays (until 2018), Jimmy shows a mash-up of news anchors reading the week's biggest headlines, as well as notable clips from the week, edited together, remixed, and set to music. The segment was briefly revived in 2020, but then retired.
Done on Thursdays (until 2018), Jimmy and Tariq would perform a hip-hop song, recapping current events in the news and using Donald Trump's tweets on Twitter as lyrics, with Jimmy reading them in his usual Trump impression.[4]
Citing Donald Trump's distrust of mainstream news, Jimmy appears as the President on "Trump News Network" (a knock-off of CNN) in which he unsuccessfully spins negative stories about him to portray him in a more positive light, instead having the reverse effect.
From July 19 to August 14, 2018, the sketch became a weekly routine on Tuesdays, with Jimmy as Trump giving his takes on recent news, including ones about him, as well as doing stunts related to news about him.
Done on Tuesdays for "At Home Edition", Jimmy and his wife Nancy Juvonen take a stroll outside and answer fan-submitted questions on Twitter about their lives (e.g. "How did [Nancy] meet Drew Barrymore?")[5]
Done on Wednesdays for "At Home Edition", Jimmy shows viral videos that he finds funny and uplifting.[6]
7th Floor West is a parody of the MTV series The Hills, documenting Jimmy's arrival to Late Night and his initial struggles in the beginning of the show, such as whether to wear a red tie or a blue tie on his premiere episode.[7] Season 1 of the series dealt with Jimmy's passive-aggressive power struggle with A. D. Miles, Late Night's head writer. Future Saturday Night Live cast member Jenny Slate appeared as Jimmy's assistant who betrayed his trust by collaborating with Miles. New installments premiered every Monday during the summer of 2009, and have a storyline focused on continuity, much as The Hills does.
Season two finds Miles, having moved to the costume department in the season one finale, unhappy with his new role and wishing he was back among the writing staff. As revenge, he dresses Jimmy in ridiculous clothes in order to make Jimmy look like an idiot. During the season, Jimmy and Miles both run for the position of fire warden of the floor. In the series finale, Jimmy and Miles decide to end their silly feud and be friends again, Jimmy gives Miles his job in the writing department back, and they appointed fire-safety enthusiast Questlove to be fire warden.
Real Housewives of Late Night is a recurring parody of the various The Real Housewives of... reality shows with five cast members playing the roles of their fictional "wives". The cast includes Late Night host Jimmy Fallon as power-mad Denise, announcer Steve Higgins as gravel-voiced chain smoker Lydia, Roots bassist Owen Biddle as alcoholic Renee, head writer A. D. Miles as uptight Dale (who is usually accompanied by her son Caleb, who is allergic to all food other than a special paste), and 'director' (in reality, writer) Bashir Salahuddin as compulsive eater Yvonne. Each segment continues from the last in an overarching story similar to 7th Floor West. The plot revolves around alliances and over-the-top rivalries between the characters resulting in exaggerated responses by the characters.[8] Today Show's Fourth Hour hosts Kathy Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb appeared on the set of their show during one episode.
When the show was in Indianapolis for Super Bowl XLVI, the housewives met up with some of the "wives" of the Indianapolis Colts players (actually the players themselves in drag), including Dallas Clark's wife Sherry, Pierre Garçon's wife Noelle, Antoine Bethea's wife Daris, Robert Mathis's wife Shay-Shay, and Dan Orlovsky's wife Marianne. During the episode, Denise inadvertently started a fight with the Colts wives when she mistakenly congratulated the Colts on making the Super Bowl (thinking the game was played at one of the teams' home stadium), and was informed they were actually the league's worst team that season, with their 2-14 record. This caused Denise and Yvonne to quickly resolve their differences and unite against the Colts wives, causing the Late Night wives to win the brawl.
Named after Late Night's location at 30 Rock, Studio 6B, 6-Bee is a parody of the Fox series Glee. After Jimmy goes to an NBC accountant (played by Fred Armisen) to request money for cue cards, he is turned down because the $375 they would cost is too expensive. However, Jimmy discovers that the first place prize money for glee club sectionals (a flyer for which is conveniently posted in the hallway outside Studio 6B across from a row of lockers) is $380, so he decides to gather the Late Night crew – including A. D. Miles, Paula Pell, Bashir Salahuddin, and Abby Elliott from SNL – together to compete. As practice, they sing the Bon Jovi song "Livin' on a Prayer".
Later, Jimmy and the Late Night squad discover that the cast of the NBC show Parks and Recreation (including Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, and Chris Pratt) will also be competing in sectionals – and Parks & Rec has recruited The Roots to be in their squad. Jimmy is so frustrated by the Roots' defection that he sings the Twisted Sister song "We're Not Gonna Take It" (which, eventually, both squads join in on).
Episode two of 6-Bee won an Emmy in the category "Outstanding Short Form Picture Editing" at the 2010 Primetime Creative Arts Emmys.[9][10]
Late is a parody of the ABC series Lost. It deals with the twelve survivors of an elevator crash on the day of the very first show of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. After the crash, the twelve are trapped on a mysterious abandoned floor in the 30 Rock building.
| Late character | Played by | Lost analogue |
|---|---|---|
| Jimmy Fallon | Jimmy Fallon | Jack |
| Gorgon Fallon | Jimmy Fallon | ? |
| Future Jimmy | Jimmy Fallon | ? |
| Higgins | Steve Higgins | ? |
| Ron Dempsey | Anthony Jeselnik | Sawyer |
| Gerard | Gerard Bradford | Locke |
| Bashir | Bashir Salahuddin | Michael |
| Chip (with pet goldfish Carlton) | Jahquan Wynder | Walt (with pet dog Vincent) |
| Arthur | Arthur Meyer | Hurley |
| Jane | Cody Lindquist | Kate |
| Eric | Eric Ledgin | ? |
| Miles | A. D. Miles | Ethan / Ben |
| Carlton the Bathroom Attendant | ? | Jacob / Man in Black |
| Higgins' Father | Questlove | Bernard |
| ? | ? | Rose |
| ? | Mick Jagger | Desmond |
| Arsenio Hall | Arsenio Hall | ? |
On November 8, 2010, Suckers was a musical parody of several vampire shows and movies (the Twilight films, The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, etc.). In the first episode, a new writer at Late Night, Angelique (Kate Simses), discovers that several of the show's writers, including Jimmy, Bashir Salahuddin, and Morgan Murphy, are secretly vampires, and is herself "turned" by Miles.
Jersey Floor is a parody of the MTV series Jersey Shore. It takes place on a floor in the 30 Rock building that, in addition to being a regular office floor, has a social scene filled with hot tubs, tanning, gyms and lots of partying. The floor is accessed by a special elevator that "Jersey-fies" its riders when the "Jersey Floor" button is pressed. It features Jimmy "J-Bro" Fallon, Steve "The Inflation" Higgins, Josh "DJ Josh" Meyers, Abby "Lovebug" Elliott, A. D. "Miles" Miles, Bashir "B-Hole" Salahuddin, and Rachel "Drootchie" Dratch. Episode 2 featured guest stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Episode 3 featured cameos from many members of the Jersey Shore cast, including Snooki, JWoww, Sammi Sweetheart, Deena Nicole, Ronnie, and Vinny, who were de-Jerseyfied (appearing in more conservative clothes and hairstyles) when they went back to the regular floor with their analogues, then decided they didn't like it and went back to the Jersey Floor.
Downton Sixbey is a parody of the ITV/PBS series Downton Abbey. When the Earl of Downton Sixbey (Jimmy) receives word that the current heir to Downton Sixbey, Carson Daly is missing following a hot-air ballooning accident, a distant nephew (Questlove) receives word that he is to become the new heir. However, in the second episode, Daly appears at Downton Sixbey, alive and well (only to seemingly perish before the third episode, in another hot-air ballooning accident, along with Usher and Shakira).
| Downton Sixbey character | Played by | Downton Abbey analogue |
|---|---|---|
| The Earl of Downton Sixbey | Jimmy Fallon | Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) |
| Lady Nora | Brooke Shields | Lady Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) |
| Lady Hedith | Fred Armisen | Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) |
| Mr. Higgins | Steve Higgins | Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) / Mr. Bates (Brendan Coyle) |
| Dowager Countess | A. D. Miles | Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith) |
| Lady Kathryn | Beth Nicely | Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) |
| Lady Amber | Scarlet Benchley | Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay) |
| Thompson the Cue Card Valet | Gerard Bradford | Thomas Barrow (Rob James-Collier) |
| O'Flannigan | Miriam Tolan | Sarah O'Brien (Siobhan Finneran) |
| Mr. Farouk | Diallo Riddle | Kumal Pamuk (Theo James) |
| The Nephew | Ahmir ?uestlove Thompson | Mr. Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) |
| Lady Whoopi | Whoopi Goldberg | Mrs. Isobel Crawley (Penelope Wilton) |
| Carson Daly | Carson Daly | Patrick |
| Lawrence | Bashir Salahuddin | ? |
| Jokeman/Footman | John Haskell | ? |
On October 9, 2012, Jimmy, as Mitt Romney, did a parody of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood called Mister Romney's Neighborhood. Barack Obama (Dion Flynn) also appeared as the mailman (a parody of Mr. McFeely). Later, he visited the Neighborhood of Make-Believe ("where me and Paul Ryan get most of our facts from") and outed Henrietta Pussycat as a puppet operated by a union worker. This sketch was in response to the real Romney's claim that he will discontinue federal PBS funding if he is elected president.
In a parody of children's shows like Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Blue's Clues, and Elmo's World in 2013, Jimmy puts on a cardigan and hosts a children's program, but everything is a little off.
Game of Desks is a parody of Game of Thrones. The premiere, on May 24, 2013, had A. D. Miles overthrowing Jimmy and appointing himself host, and sentencing Jimmy to death by beheading. When the executioner failed by missing the chopping block entirely and Jimmy lived, Seth Meyers was appointed Jimmy's successor (as he already has been in real life).
On September 11, 2013, Joking Bad was a parody of the AMC series Breaking Bad. When the Jimmy learns that he has only six months left as host of Late Night, he teams up with low-level street joke dealer Higgins to sell top quality jokes on the black market. However, after head writer Miles becomes suspicious after seeing video of Colin Quinn with one of the illicit jokes, Jimmy turns to black-market joke wholesaler Gus (Dion Flynn) to move his supply.
Bob Odenkirk appeared in a cameo in character as Saul Goodman, while Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul appeared in cameos ostensibly as themselves.
| Joking Bad character | Played by | Breaking Bad analogue |
|---|---|---|
| Jimmy Fallon | Jimmy Fallon | Walter White (Bryan Cranston) |
| Higgins | Steve Higgins | Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) |
| Miles | A. D. Miles | Hank Schrader (Dean Norris) |
| Gus | Dion Flynn | Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) |
| Jay Leno | Jay Leno | Hector Salamanca (Mark Margolis) |
| Colin Quinn | Colin Quinn |
On August 12, 2014, House of Cue Cards was a parody of the Netflix series House of Cards. The skit featured Jimmy, channeling Frank Underwood with Ellen Barkin and Jay Leno appeared as Jimmy's wife, a parody of Claire Underwood and himself, respectively. A. D. Miles appeared as Jimmy's aide Miles and Steve Higgins appeared as "Red" from Orange is the New Black.[11]
On September 22, 2015, Jimpire was a parody of Empire. This skit sees Jimmy trying to decide who should be his successor as host of the show if he were to die from his finger injury. Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson appeared as their characters on the real show: Howard calmly told Jimmy to stop imitating Lucious Lyon, while Henson got in a fist fight with her analog Steve Higgins (saying she's the one and only Cookie Lyon). Questlove and Black Thought of The Roots appeared as rappers who first perform solo but then decide to team up as a duo.
On December 12, 2017, a parody of both The CW television series Riverdale and the Peanuts specials as Peanuts aired. The skit had the gang's reactions to Linus' death in the pumpkin patch while waiting for the Great Pumpkin. The skit ended with a cameo appearance from the Riverdale cast in a hallway reacting to the Peanuts cast at a school dance.
On January 18, 2019, there was a parody of the Netflix interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. This skit featured Jimmy and Higgins at a meeting with the viewer choosing bizarre actions for them to do like "Hula Hoop While Clapping" or "Slap Each Other in the Face".[12]
The Longest Days of our Lives is a parody of the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives based on the COVID-19 pandemic. It follows Winston (Jimmy), his long-lost brother Fontaine (Will Ferrell), and their mutual lover Vanessa (Kristen Wiig). The plot points get more absurd by the moment (e.g. Vanessa getting pregnant on Zoom). The skits usually end with a series of exaggerated gasps by the cast.
On December 1, 2020, there was a parody of the Disney+ documentary Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions. This skit sees Jimmy performing a never-before-released album with Questlove and Black Thought. Chris Martin appears, singing a duet of "Fuzzy Wuzzy" with Jimmy.[17]
On March 3, 2021, a parody of the Disney+ television series WandaVision as FallonVision aired. The skit had Jimmy conduct an interview with Elizabeth Olsen over decades of late-night talk shows, including his tenure on Late Night and The Tonight Show. The skit ended with a cameo appearance by Kathryn Hahn in a parody of "Agatha All Along".[18]
The show's longest-running musical sketch, Jimmy joins his house band, The Roots, to serenade the audience on a topic of current newsworthy significance in the style of a slow jam. For years, whenever the sketch aired, former NBC Nightly News host Brian Williams (or, as Jimmy calls him, "Brilliams" or "Bri Will" or "Bri Will.I.Ams") joined Jimmy in slow jams. The following have been topics of a Slow Jam:
Jimmy and men from the show's staff plus one of the guests from that night's episode will perform the Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? theme as Rockapella, except they will only sing rhythm and not vocals.
Jimmy is the frontman of a punk band similar to the Ramones called The Vanilla Wombats. Each of the band members dresses in black, with a black cape, dark sunglasses, and a platinum blonde wig. Their songs include "My Upstairs Neighbors Are Having Sex (And Listening To The Black Eyed Peas)" and "I've Finally Accepted The Fact That I Wear Size 36 Jeans".
Blow Your Pants Off, a CD and vinyl LP of the show's greatest hits, was released on June 12, 2012. The album cover shows a bottomless Jimmy lying down on his stomach, but he says a "stunt butt" was used. It won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.
Jimmy has performed original songs such as "I'm Gettin' Drunk on Christmas", "I'm Goin' Huntin' for Cougars", one about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill called "[Tar] Balls in Your Mouth" (which Jimmy later revealed on the October 31, 2011 episode of Conan was his first choice for the name of his Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor "Late Night Snack"), "The Ballad of Steven Slater", "Gonna Eat That Talkin' Sandwich: The Sarah Palin Song", "The Ballad of Anthony Weiner" (which repeatedly used the term "sucks, Weiner"), and "Walk of Shame" (accompanied by Dave Matthews). While Jimmy is singing, often some people wearing yellow tracksuits and sunglasses (usually including Seth Herzog and Mike Dicenzo, one of them without pants), as well as the Product Placement Preacher start dancing behind him. Jake Gyllenhaal joined in once as one of the Banana Boyz.
In 2010, country singer John Rich joined Jimmy for a duet of "I'm Gettin' Drunk on Christmas" which was later released on iTunes and became one of their most popular Christmas songs of the year.
On September 8, 2011, Eddie Vedder joined Jimmy for a duet of "Balls in Your Mouth".
Jimmy has solicited song titles from the audience, asking them to send him titles of songs for him to sing via Twitter; he picks the one he likes the best (e.g. "Black Thought's Favorite Dinosaurs" and "I Love Your Elbows") and performs a song with that title on the next night's show.
Jimmy impersonates singer Neil Young and sings a song. To date, he has sung the theme song to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, "Pants on the Ground" by "General" Larry Platt, an original song based on the "Double Rainbow" Internet meme, Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair" and LMFAO's "Sexy and I Know It" (duets with Bruce Springsteen), Miley Cyrus's "Party in the U.S.A." (with David Crosby and Graham Nash, in a partial "reunion" of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) and Iggy Azalea's "Fancy" (with Crosby, Stills & Nash).
During Jimmy's week in Los Angeles in 2015, he performed a duet of "Old Man" alongside the real Neil Young.
When Paul McCartney was a guest on the show, he confirmed that the working title of The Beatles song "Yesterday" was in fact "Scrambled Eggs". He and Jimmy went on to do a duet of the never-before-heard "original version",[when?] which was instead about their favorite food items.
Jimmy, Higgins, Tariq and Seth Herzog appeared as a boy band called The Miner 69ers,[when?] whose members were some of the rescued Chilean miners, and performed a song called "There's Nothing Finer Than Sex With a Miner".
On little celebrated holidays such as Election Day and Groundhog Day, The Roots' Captain Kirk Douglas performs a sex ballad called "I'm Gonna Make Sweet, Sweet Love to You Woman on (holiday here)", filled with double entendres and sexual innuendos.
Jimmy performed the Charles in Charge theme song as Bob Dylan. In 2018, Jimmy performed "The Times They Are a-Changin'" with updated lyrics on a live post-Super Bowl episode. Both segments were shown in black and white as a parody of I'm Not There.
After a cloud of smoke obscures the camera, Jimmy, the Roots, and some of the show's African-American writers (including Bashir Salahuddin) don dashikis and sing about snack foods (such as Hot Pockets or Ben & Jerry's) in the style of African choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. They once sang about Six Flags amusement parks as "Ladysmith Theme Park Mombazo".
The Ben & Jerry's version of the sketch began the show's relationship with that company, which ultimately led to the release of the show's official flavor, "Late Night Snack".[23]
Jimmy as Eddie Vedder performed a parody of the Pearl Jam song "Jeremy" about basketball phenom Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks.[when?]
Jimmy dresses in an amalgam of Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie's costume, the face makeup from the cover of the Bowie album Aladdin Sane, and NFL quarterback Tim Tebow's uniform and sings a song about events in Tebow's life to the tune of a Bowie song.
The first song (titled "Tebowie") was released as a 7" vinyl record as a 2012 Record Store Day exclusive. (The B side was a cover of the Reading Rainbow theme song sung in the style of The Doors.)
Jimmy, Blake Shelton, Nick Offerman, and writer Chris Tartaro dressed up in chicken suits and sang The Lumineers' "Ho Hey", but replaced all the lyrics with chicken clucks, singing as the band "The Chickeneers" on a show before Easter in 2013.
In April 2013, Jimmy, Tartaro, Amy Poehler, and Michael Bublé formed the band "cluck." and sang "Some Nights" by fun.
On November 4, 2015, Jimmy and Tartaro were joined by Meghan Trainor and Alanis Morissette to perform Morissette's "Ironic".
Numerous clips of Brian Williams from NBC Nightly News broadcasts are edited together to make it look like Williams is rapping classic songs. So far the songs have been Snoop Dogg's part of "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang", Warren G's "Regulate", Ice Cube's part of "Straight Outta Compton", Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch's "Good Vibrations", The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" (which featured a verse by Lester Holt), Young MC's "Bust a Move", Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice", and Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back".
The sketch has not been performed since Williams' suspension from NBC News in February 2015.
Jimmy with the Roots join a musical celebrity to perform one of their hits on classroom instruments. These have included:
Jimmy and the Roots also did a classroom instruments version of "Somebody Come and Play" with the Sesame Street cast at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and performed a classroom instruments version of Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams' "Get Lucky" for the YouTube Rewind 2013.
While Jimmy is interviewing Paul Rudd, he mentions an old 1980s music video they were both in. After Jimmy claims not to remember, he shows a clip (a shot-for-shot recreation performed by Jimmy, Rudd, and the show's writers). These have included:
Jimmy and three other performers (and sometimes a fifth celebrity guest) sing a modern popular song in the style of a barbershop quartet combined with reggae music.
The Ragtime Gals are featured in the theme park attraction Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando. Live performers play the namesake group, as a quintet, onstage on the second floor section of the queue of the attraction, sometimes performing with classroom instruments or trying torture Hashtag the Panda into dancing. In the ride experience itself, the Ragtime Gals seen on television make an appearance in the New York City Subway Times Square–42nd Street station.
Portraying their original performers on a documentary program reminiscent of Behind the Music, Jimmy and Kevin Bacon perform a parody of a classic song under the guise of it being an early draft of the actual lyrics. The new lyrics inevitably rely on repetitive stanzas, such as Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'" (which is devoted almost entirely to a woman from the original lyrics who is described as liking horses),[25] The Beach Boys' "Surfin' U.S.A." (where most of its lyrics are centered upon a hamburger stand, and eventually consist entirely of the word "hamburger"),[26][27] The Guess Who's "American Woman" (which had stanzas about an "Australian Lawyer" and "Canadian Dentist"),[28] ZZ Top's "Legs" (which had stanzas regarding other body parts and also featured an appearance by Chris Stapleton),[29] and The Kinks' "Lola" (which contains repeated references to other words that sound like or rhyme with "Lola", and Fallon—portraying Ray Davies—repeatedly misspelling the word "doughnut").[30]
A program allegedly aired by NBC's "sister channel" Steel Channel (a parody of Spike), in which competitors in wide mustache costumes compete in a "Stache Bash" in an octagonal cage similar to UFC events. Jimmy and Steve Higgins play the commentators, Brock Leonard and "The Professor" Barry Star, while competitors included Wilford Brimley, Geraldo Rivera, Gene Shalit, John Stossel, Carlos Santana, "'80s Larry Bird", "'70s Burt Reynolds", "'80s Tom Selleck", "'80s John Oates", Dr. Phil McGraw, Albert Einstein, Lionel Richie, Herman Cain and Super Mario (with run-ins by "'70s David Crosby"—covered in a white powder), what was originally thought to be Charlie Chaplin's mustache that turned out to actually be the mustache of Adolf Hitler, "'80s Dr. J", and "The Masked Mustache" (wearing a luchador-style mask).
The fight is inevitably interrupted by a promo for another program on Steel Channel, usually Detective Jam Face (played by A.D. Miles), but also once Mustaches on Ice (a Christmas figure skating special featuring the UMF competitors). By the time the program returns, the fight had already ended—with Brock and Barry often hailing the unseen finish as being a historic UMF moment.
Another program on the Steel Channel ("from the creators of Ultimate Mustache Fighter") is Kicking Stuff, where a man named Jonathan (Bobby Tisdale) takes ordinary objects, places them on top of an overturned orange bucket, and then kicks them off. After kicking the object, he points at the camera and yells "Kicking stuff!"
After showing some footage from the show, Jimmy brings out Jonathan and has him kick something live in studio.
The Steel Channel's sports report, somewhat of a parody of SportsCenter. Jimmy and Higgins play "extreme" anchors Cory van Funk and Bert Donovan, respectively. The report consists of a few segments: "Check Out This Dude", where they make fun of pictures of athletes; "Point / Counterpunch", where one anchor (usually Donovan) makes an argument and the other (usually van Funk) responds by punching him in the face; and "Making Terrible Things Happen With Our Minds", where video clips are intercut with close-ups of the anchors' faces concentrating, and then the person in the clip has an accident. In a recent version, Chris Kattan appeared as a depressed skateboarding teenager who reviews monster truck shows; when the hosts got him to open up about what was bothering him (beliefs he is unloved by his father), they cut him off and finished the sketch. The sketch ends with the anchors blowing on an animal horn to summon the "T-shirt yeti", who comes out and throws T-shirts into the audience.
Jimmy opens this sketch by saying, "We're always striving to get better here at The Tonight Show." This is followed by him and The Roots imitating a bar from Daft Punk's Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, which punctuates the camera zooming in on Jimmy four times. Suggestions ranging from the mundane ("book Sandra Bullock soon" or "more audience member close-ups") to the silly (such as "have a stuntman dressed as Abraham Lincoln fall down the stairs" or "recreate the cover of Nirvana's Nevermind with a grown man instead of a baby") are supposedly contributed by audience members. A frequent "suggestion" is to have Black Simon & Garfunkel (actually The Roots' Captain Kirk and Questlove, complete with an album cover parodying Bookends) perform a current pop song in the style of a Simon & Garfunkel song (always ending with the "lie-la-lie" chorus from the song "The Boxer").
Sort of an updated version of Jay Leno's "Headlines", Fallon shows viewer-submitted screen shots from various media (phones, Internet, television, etc.) that contain typos or similar accidentally funny errors, using an iPad (Apple Inc. is one of the show's main sponsors). The final selection is always a picture of a man who the viewer claims looks like Jimmy, who will then put on a costume to match.
In this segment, Jimmy presents videos from a website <http://RobertIsBothered.com> that Robert Pattinson has set up to discuss things that bother him. Jimmy stars as Pattinson in character as Edward Cullen from the Twilight films, but with his actual British accent. Throughout the segment he sits in a tree and talks about what bothers him, all from the perspective of Pattinson. Also making an appearance is a blow-up doll representing Kristen Stewart. Things bothering Robert include Daniel Radcliffe (a competing video shows Radcliffe as Harry Potter – also played by Fallon – is bothered by Pattinson), Shark Week, Snickers ads in magazines, Halloween costumes and candy, the novel New Moon and vampires in general, Valentine's Day, the iPad, the World Cup, and Thanksgiving. On March 1, 2010, celebrating Jimmy's first year of hosting, the real Pattinson came on to promote the film Remember Me. During the sketch, he interrupted Jimmy, saying "I don't talk like that!" Jimmy then asked Robert how that made him feel, eventually getting him to say "bothered!"
Jimmy as Justin Bieber will sit by a reflecting pool and discuss topics that are on his mind. He will begin by talking about his own life (his appearance on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, his new position as host of Punk'd), but then start rambling on about more serious topics, such as John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories, the subprime mortgage crisis, his fears that China's economy will overtake that of the United States, and the ethics of human cloning. It also shows him dancing, eating snacks, and receiving phone calls from other celebrities such as President Obama, Chuck Norris, and Alan Greenspan. (The real Bieber joined Jimmy-as-Bieber during the dance segments on the installment which aired the day before the release of Bieber's movie Justin Bieber: Never Say Never.) At the end the segment, Bieber leaves in a magical fashion, such as walking on water, opening a wormhole, or transforming himself into golden retriever puppy Gary Frick from the "If Puppies Could Vote" sketch.
After the November 2011 paternity rumors involving Bieber, Jimmy-as-Bieber came on the show and performed his new song, "(It's Not My) Baby".
Jimmy introduces a segment which will supposedly present images of two celebrities whose heads have been swapped through digital photo manipulation. A "Head Swap" song plays, ostensibly a short introductory jingle using sing-a-long lyrics and illustrated by a series of still photos. However, the song becomes an extended narrative set in the offices of Late Night, depicting Jimmy asking a member of the show's graphics department to create "Head Swap" images. In each instance of the sketch, a different set of bizarre complications ensue, involving Jimmy in outlandish situations (such as the accidental death of a co-worker and their attempts to hide the body because the graphic artist is on parole didn't want to go back to prison for her murder; although at the end she was only unconscious) which push the actual "Head Swap" to a secondary issue. The conflict is eventually resolved, and only one image of a "Head Swap" is shown as the song ends.
Various members of the show's crew, and often one of the guests, read letters they have written to their parents in the manner of children at a summer camp. While they are reading, an overlay of the actual letter slowly comes into view. Lastly, Jimmy takes out some parchment, an ink well, and a large quill and proceeds to write his letter, in calligraphy, in Victorian era-style language with a voice to match.
During the Christmas season, the letters are written to Santa Claus instead. In honor of the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, the sketch aired with letters written to Oprah Winfrey.
A yearly Christmas tradition on the show (according to Jimmy) is bringing out a large board (the Countdown to Christmas Cabinet) with 12 numbered doors in the manner of an Advent calendar. The number of the door opened corresponds to the number of days left before the show's holiday break. Behind each door is a sweater. Jimmy picks a seat number out of a Santa hat, and whoever in the audience has that number wins that day's sweater.
In 2013, an abbreviated version of the series ("The 5 Days of Christmas Sweaters") aired because Jimmy hosted Saturday Night Live during what normally would be the second week of the segment.
In a manner reminiscent of Oprah on her talk show, Jimmy gives a gift to the entire audience each day during the last week before the show's holiday break.
Jimmy plugs in his iPhone to a monitor to show off some new applications he's discovered. One of these apps always deals with a picture of the head of comedian Paul Reiser (such as "ReiserTris", a Tetris-like game with Reiser heads instead of the regular Tetris blocks). On one version, Jimmy used an app designed to locate Reiser, and it displayed "I am 8 feet behind you", then Reiser did a cameo. Another recurring app is "Axl Rose Relaxation Tapes", with the Guns N' Roses frontman (actually Jimmy) singing over relaxing sounds such as wolves howling or thunderstorms, usually ending with him yelling "Take a nap!"
The official Late Night with Jimmy Fallon iPhone app, released November 10, 2010, has a feature called "Jimmy's Phone", which allows users to use some of the apps featured in the sketch, including "Axl Rose Relaxation Tapes", "Moldova Y/N" (which uses your phone's GPS to tell you whether or not you're currently in that eastern European nation), "iBanana" (which allows the user to virtually peel and eat a banana), "Lint Brush" (allowing users to virtually clean lint off themselves), "Wet Cement" (allowing users to virtually draw in wet cement), and "Bieber yourself" (allowing users to photoshop Justin Bieber's hair on to pictures of themselves).[31]
After Jimmy briefly mentions three trivial celebrity news items, he declares that the stories should be placed into the "Who Cares Hindenburg." Steve Higgins provides new narration to the classic newsreel footage of the destruction of the zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg (imitating Herbert Morrison's "Oh, the humanity" radio narration). The newsreel footage has had a news crawl featuring the three news items superimposed over the zeppelin to make it look like a modern blimp. The new narration always ends with the exclamation "Who cares?" A frequent target is Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz.
We listen in on Roots drummer ?uestlove as he thinks some quasi-intellectual thoughts such as "what do you do when the fire escape catches on fire?" or "how do you throw out a trash can?" (he cocks his head and looks off into the distance, nodding occasionally, as we listen to his pre-recorded narration).
In "Post-Apocalypse Andy Rooney", Jimmy plays former 60 Minutes commentator Andy Rooney as he gives his thoughts about life in a world after a nuclear war and zombie uprising.
After Rooney's retirement, the sketch became "What is Andy Rooney doing now?", showing how Rooney is spending his free time, (i.e. calling everyone in the phone book and ranting to anyone that will listen).
Jimmy stopped doing Rooney impressions after the real Rooney's death in late 2011.
Jimmy, claiming to be an expert on facial expressions, explains the meanings behind numerous expressions made by U.S. President Barack Obama. The expressions are usually explained by a short phrase (such as "determined yet hopeful"), until the end of the segment, which features pictures from President Obama's February 2009 meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper; at this point the phrases become overly long drivel about 1980s or 1990s youth popular culture (often food and sitcoms), reminiscing over minute details about the subject. Jimmy once did this segment with photos of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in place of Obama.
Somewhat similar to "Obama Expressions", Jimmy shows a series of photos, each showing a man and a woman. Jimmy then explains what the people in the photos are thinking. The first person's thought is somewhat regular (e.g. "I'm feeding him! This is so romantic!" for a picture of a wife feeding her husband) while their partner's thought is a humorous rejoinder (e.g. "She's feeding me! This is so humiliating!").
Similar to "He Said, She Said", photos of people with their pets are shown, with the pets' thoughts being the punchlines.
Jimmy reads off some famous quotes that he found on Facebook, along with some other quotes allegedly by the same person, but of dubious provenance. (E.g. Lance Armstrong: "I'll spend the rest of my life trying to earn back trust and apologize to people for the rest of my life." Also from Armstrong: "Are there any drugs that can help me do that?")
Often after a speech by President Obama, Jimmy will give a timeline of events, starting with actual statements from the speech. The bit will eventually introduce Vice President Joe Biden, who will interrupt Obama in the manner of a spoiled child.
While cleaning his office, Jimmy claims to have found some VHS cassettes from a 1980s production company named Video Vision. The videos are usually short instructional pieces (such as "Dealing with Sexual Harassment in the Workplace"), or holiday guides with bizarre factual errors such as "Christmas was founded in Downtown Europe". They are hosted by Jimmy (as James Fallon) with a spiked haircut, thick glasses, cheesy sweater and faded jeans, and have many of the hallmarks of video production of the mid-1980s, including low video quality, awkward scene transitions, choppy edits, low-quality special effects, and cheesy graphics which include typos and spelling errors. Portions of the video tape may have been "accidentally" taped over with 1980's sitcoms.
Jimmy finds some old tapes of men from a 1980s video dating service that used to tape in Studio 6-B called "Cupid's Arrow". The videos are low quality (possibly because they were produced by Video Vision). The men featured are unattractive losers, and Jimmy stated that most of them were probably still available.
The sketch was later made into a Dating Game-style TV show hosted by Tony Sanders (played by Higgins) with three of the men: Chester Mann (played by Salahuddin), a perverted part-time shoe salesman and freeloader; James Spadge (played by Miles), a nerd with unusual medical conditions who lives with his mother; and Jose (played by Jimmy), a flamboyant musician who joined the service to prove to his friends he isn't gay; and a female audience member as the contestant, with the video quality downgraded to look like it was from the 1980s. Jose is always the winner.
To get the audience excited about the show's sponsors, a fake gospel preacher named Rev. Daryl Bivens (played by Bashir Salahuddin) preaches about the products. Products have included the Big Philly Cheesesteak from Subway, Previlosec heartburn medication, and Toby's Rock Salt.
After Jimmy gives a shout-out to someone, Questlove asks Jimmy if he can give a shout-out to someone as well. After doing so, other members of the cast and crew (usually including Kamal Gray, writer Morgan Murphy, director Dave Diomedi (always to his wife and about their sex life), Tariq Trotter (usually about some sort of craft or cooking project; Trotter wears a blondish-red wig while demonstrating it), or a character played by Bashir Salahuddin) interrupt and ask for shout-outs to people or things of their own. At the end, Jimmy quickly recaps each of the shout-outs.
Jimmy shows a series of velvet Elvises (or "velvet Elvii" as Jimmy claims they are also called) showing Presley in contemporary situations, such as listening to an iPod, skydiving, or appearing alongside people like Neytiri from the movie Avatar, Fox News commentator Glenn Beck, or the cast of The Big Bang Theory. One of the velvet Elvises will usually include a pull-string activated "voice box" (Jimmy pulls the string and holds the painting in front of his mouth so the audience cannot see him providing the voice).
The last painting is often of Elvis in a beige jumpsuit performing a particularly boring activity (e.g. taking a nap after doing a crossword puzzle, sitting on a park bench feeding birds). After Jimmy comments on just how boring the activity is, a Boring Elvis impersonator comes out and sings a song about the activity.
Jimmy claims to have had a character left out of various movies and video games, such as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. He shows us a series of outtakes of him spouting bad attempts at catchphrases. Jimmy will also sometimes enlist actors promoting new movies to be in outtakes from those movies with him (including Jude Law for Sherlock Holmes and Kim Cattrall for Sex and the City 2).
After Jimmy passingly mentions the Hubble Space Telescope, a man in the audience dressed head to toe in New York Yankees apparel named Milky J (Bashir Salahuddin) enthusiastically begins listing and showing photos of astronomical features photographed by the telescope, each one punctuated by him yelling "Hubble gotchu!" He also sang a song about it, and later showed a rap video he made. This sketch's timing may be based on the song "Rock You" by The Roots.
He appeared in a recent shout-outs sketch, sending shout-outs to molecular models. Jimmy said he recognized him and Milky J explained that since Hubble is being phased out and replaced by the James Webb Space Telescope, he'd found a new interest. Jimmy then convinced him that Hubble is still something to get excited about, which made him go back into his old shtick.
Later, Jimmy mentioned a new planet, and Milky J showed up and went into his routine, but Jimmy once again mentioned how Hubble is being replaced by the James Webb telescope. Milky J then did a rap video about his trip to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland to try to convince them to stop the new telescope from being launched.
Milky J recently appeared in another shoutouts sketch, this time giving a shoutout to gravity: breaking his unfaithful wife's valuables by dropping them and saying "gravity got it".
Jimmy begins telling a story, but a man in the crowd wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a New York Mets bucket hat (Mike Dicenzo) interrupts, linking the beginning of Jimmy's story to Late Night via an extended word association, after which he says "how you like me now?". After he does it twice, Jimmy does one as well, causing the man to declare Jimmy the superior player and leave the studio in shame, despite Jimmy's repeated attempts to make him stay.
During the sketch that aired March 11, 2013, as Bucket Hat guy went to leave, Laina the Overly Attached Girlfriend appeared near the exit, wearing an identical Hawaiian shirt and bucket hat. Despite Jimmy's attempts to get the two of them together, Bucket Hat Guy retreated from the exit to the safety of Jimmy's guest chair.
Jimmy shows a clip from a late-night Tennis Channel show starring Roger Federer (played by Jimmy) called At the Bar with Roger Federer, where the tennis star hangs out in a bar and does strange things, including performing yo-yo tricks, identifying objects (incorrectly) by smell, and discussing his love/hate relationship with his good friend but fierce competitor Rafael Nadal. The sketch only airs during Grand Slam Tennis Tournaments, the current one of which Federer discusses during "The Sports" segment. The most recent edition of this sketch involved Federer buying "a round of drinks on the Federer," then serving a tennis ball between his legs so it causes John McEnroe's drink to spill, which in turn provokes McEnroe to stand up angrily and yell, "Come on, Roger! God! You cannot be serious!" The camera then cuts back to Federer, who casually says "That one's on me," as if nothing happened.
Less a full sketch and more a recurring bit, Jimmy will look directly into the camera and jets of fire of will emanate from his eyeballs. Sometimes, he will instead shoot laser beams. Less frequently, gobs of cooked spaghetti will come out. Jimmy will also have Steve Higgins, Questlove, and his celebrity guests play along with the gag as well. Jimmy claims the ability to do these things is a side effect of his LASIK surgery.
When Jimmy has a professional wrestler as a guest, they will usually enter the studio through a cloud of smoke via a trap door in one of the aisles of the audience area.
Jimmy will read a pamphlet from an upcoming small town festival for that weekend. It is only done in the summer.
Jimmy tells a news story where a person/place/thing is compared to something/one else. He then compares the two usually ending in a punchline joke. In the July 21, 2014 episode he compared Toronto mayor, Rob Ford, with a horse.
Jimmy demonstrates how a common piece of advice, like "let it flow" can take on a very different meaning depending on who you are (e.g. "Fight fire with fire." Good advice: "If you're trying to get back at your enemy." Bad advice: "If you're trying to put out a fire.")[32]
Jimmy reviews several terrible (real) albums and songs (such as Scooter's How Much Is the Fish?, Michael Henderson's Slingshot, Hulk Hogan's Hulk Rules, two tracks off of Music To Eat Oscar Mayer Weiners By (Motown style and Bossa Nova style), and A Taste of Dick Black). Questlove, an avid music collector, always states he thinks the songs and artists are fake since he's never heard of them.
Jimmy reviews several terrible (real) books (such as How to Avoid Huge Ships: Second Edition, Castration: The Advantages and the Disadvantages, Cooking With [Winnie the] Pooh, and Knitting With Dog Hair) and suggests people not read them.
Together with the guys from the Found Footage Festival, Jimmy presents selections from old low-quality instructional VHS videos and suggests the audience avoid them (such as the owner's video for the Rejuvenique face mask, Superchops 4 Bass with Beaver Felton, and Fun with Ventriloquism).
During the show's Video Game Week in 2013, Jimmy showcased some terrible video games, such as Hooters Road Trip for the PlayStation, Captain Novolin for the Super NES, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600.
On October 7, 2014, a similar segment was done with terrible board games, such as The Sinking of the Titanic Game, Big Foot: The Giant Snow Monster Game, and the Vanilla Ice Electronic Rap Game.[33]
In the wake of Charlie Sheen's post-rehab media blitz, Jimmy appeared as Sheen in two commercials: one selling his cologne "Winning", and the other selling a Time Life collection of CDs containing outrageous quotes by him. Later, in response to the news that Ashton Kutcher would replace Sheen on Two and a Half Men, Jimmy as Sheen made a new version of Kutcher's old show Punk'd called Sheen'd in which he goes around acting obnoxious and bothering people at their jobs. The real Sheen (who also promoted his new show Anger Management) later appeared alongside Jimmy-as-Sheen in an ad for "Clone" cologne.
Jimmy plays British TV show host Peggy Hess, who presents a series of clips of celebrities making small-talk at functions where they are not hooked up to microphones. Whispering voices are added to the soundtrack to show what the celebrities are saying, such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie discussing putting Cool Runnings in their Netflix queue, Pope Benedict XVI showing Barack Obama his fan art of Garfield, and Gary Busey explaining to John C. McGinley how he punched a mountain lion in the face and then became best friends with it.
Jimmy sent a correspondent to the streets of New York to ask people their thoughts on different topics in the news while dancing their answers.
A series of animated shorts featuring a father (voiced by Jimmy) giving advice to his (silent) preteen son. This segment only airs on the Friday before Father's Day.
Jimmy showcases some items that he has found on sale at various stores. The price-reduction stickers have been strategically placed so that their names are more suggestive, turning a copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar into The Very Hung Caterpillar or a DVD of the show Picket Fences into Picket Feces. A bath toy called "Rub-A-Dub Work & Squirt" was left alone.
Jimmy showcases some interesting electronic greeting cards he's discovered, with the insides being insulting to the receiver.
Jimmy talks about going onto a website that does computer text-to-speech conversions, and then mentions that the computer voice is based on that of a nerdy man named Walter Kump (John Haskell). He then brings out Kump for an interview, which shows off some of the comical mispronunciations, improper enunciation and misuse of punctuation (i.e. saying the word "slash" when a "/" appears in the script) that are prominent of computer-generated voices.
Kump later announced he has chosen a second career as a rapper and has recorded a music video, which Jimmy let him play on the show.
Kump also appeared after his girlfriend (who speaks in a female robot voice) made a video of him falling while he was rollerblading that went viral.
Kump's latest appearance had him announcing he played the hero in an action movie, co-starring Kyle MacLachlan as the villain, and had Jimmy play a climactic scene from it.
Jimmy reads a somewhat depressing story from the news and then gives the silver lining. (Example: There are growing concerns about the level of privacy on Facebook. On the bright side, there's a way to post all of your information online without anyone ever seeing it – join Myspace.)
A parody of nightly news programs. It usually includes inane graphs; short, nonsensical weather reports; depressed sports anchors, and manipulated footage of celebrities where their faces are turned upside-down.
British comedian Russell Brand (Jimmy) comments on articles in the latest issue of Us Weekly. Some episodes have Brand reading Star instead. When the real Brand was on in February 2013, he appeared and said Jimmy's impression was terrible and read the magazine himself.
On August 9, 2012, Jimmy joined anchor Bob Costas in studio at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, and showed a version of the sketch with Brand reading the special Olympics edition of the magazine.
Jimmy boils down a week's worth of a TV show to one sentence to allow his viewers to more quickly catch up on them. The result is a humorous but still appropriate sentence, like Rachel Maddow from The Rachel Maddow Show being edited to say "Newt Gingrich had an ultrasound, and it revealed a small horse inside his stomach." The title of the sketch is a take-off of the Ronco Showtime Rotisserie Grill's slogan "set it and forget it".
Jimmy as Mitt Romney attempts to reach younger voters with a video blog, however he proves he is out of touch with them instead.
Jimmy as Mitt Romney and Dion Flynn as President Obama have one-on-one private conversations about their presidential debates. Both candidates criticize themselves and each other.
After President Obama was re-elected on November 6, 2012, they re-enacted Romney's concession call to President Obama, with them reminiscing about the election, then performing a duet of Paula Cole's "I Don't Want to Wait".
On March 19, 2014, a similar sketch with Flynn reprising his role as Obama and Jimmy as President of Russia Vladimir Putin was done.
During the 2016 United States presidential election, similar sketches with Jimmy as Donald Trump talking to candidates and characters, including Flynn as Obama, Hillary Clinton as herself, Ted Cruz as himself, and Tyler Perry as Madea, were done, with Trump and each person having a one-on-one private conversation over the phone and both criticizing themselves.
Jimmy will mention celebrity rumors (the setups) then tell the truth behind them (the punchlines).
Jimmy shows some celebrity Twitter replies to (fake) fan questions, and then reveals the original question. (e.g. Dalai Lama's reply: "Bountiful, rich, and abundant." Follower's question: "Describe your ideal guacamole.") The sketch is also similar in spirit to Johnny Carson's "Carnac the Magnificent" bits on The Tonight Show.
Similar to a high school yearbook, Jimmy shows pictures of NFL players and says what "Most likely to..." awards they received, to promote the players on the teams of that week's episode of NBC Sunday Night Football, which are simply based on what they look like. He also does it for random celebrities (including the cast of the new season of The Bachelorette), as well as NHL and NBA players, whose playoffs also air on NBC. For the final version of the skit on Late Night, NFL players listed the awards for the show's writers, before dousing Jimmy with Gatorade. After the skit, Jimmy then gave away tickets to go see that year's Super Bowl to a lucky audience member.
Jimmy has Questlove and Black Thought re-enact a notable scene from The Bachelor for audiences that missed it. Other installments have recreated scenes from its spin-offs The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise.
Jimmy shows original and creative inventions made by kids. The segment usually ends with Jimmy granting them $5,000 from General Electric to continue their work.
Jimmy shows some celebrity Instagram posts with a common saying, then reveals the photos they posted. (e.g. "On sale now for only 150 dollars!" Target's reply: A printer. Whole Foods' reply: An apple.)[34]
In an attempt to counter all the bad news stories, Jimmy has real-life NBC news anchors read (fake) stories that are overly-positive.[35]
Jimmy claims Facebook started their own newspaper and reads headlines from it, which are usually about the people on it (e.g. "Lonely Stay-at-Home Mom Won't Stop Posting About How Hot Adam Levine Is".[36]
Jimmy reads letters submitted from kid viewers, and even replies to suggestions.[37]
Around the release of a highly anticipated movie or TV program, Jimmy would send a correspondent down to get people's thoughts and opinions and see if they notice that he is mispronouncing the title while asking them questions (e.g. This Is Us becomes Miss the Bus). The segment is somewhat similar to "Lie Witness News" on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
Usually around holidays, a correspondent would ask an intentionally long question, often filled with facts, ending with him asking a simple question such as "How are you?"
Jimmy shows viewer-submitted pictures of real signs that contain typos or similar accidentally funny errors, using an iPad (Apple Inc. is one of the show's main sponsors).
Jimmy shows an existing brand name and explains when it can be used as a good name or a bad name (e.g. "Oops!... I Did It Again" Good name: A pop song. Bad name: Trump's re-election slogan. Great Name: An adult diaper.)[38]
Jimmy reads polls with the last response usually being obscure (e.g. "What's your favorite finger food?" 50%: Chicken fingers. 49%: Fish fingers. Joe Biden: Lady fingers.)[39]
Jimmy recaps the week through memes with funny sayings based on what the pictures look like.
Jimmy reviews (fake) obscure, lesser-known podcasts with celebrities, like Shaq Loves Poems and Celebrity Quiet Game.[40]
Jimmy showcases new robots and technologies from around the world, including Sophia the Robot.[41]
Jimmy shows pictures from current news and makes up headlines based on how it looks.[42]
Jimmy invites independent expert Andrew Karn (played by writer Arthur Meyer) to give tips on what's appropriate to wear during the holidays. Much to Jimmy's chagrin, Andrew usually shows pictures of a formal outfit and a sexual outfit as examples.[43]
Jimmy shows GIFs and adds quotes to them based on what they look like.
Jimmy would send a correspondent down to get people's thoughts about current events while being given a deep massage.
Jimmy takes three news headlines and blends them together to create one bizarre headline.
Jimmy reads headlines from lighter news stories to the tune of "Roses are red, violets are blue."
In a parody of Goodnight Moon, Jimmy gets interrupted by a baby's cry during the monologue. He would claim it's the news and that it's been so worked up lately that it must still be awake. He would then ask the audience if he can take a moment so he can put the news to bed. Jimmy would then sit next to a rolled newspaper with eyes, and read from the book. Jokes would be based on current news and rhyme (e.g. "Good night woman who gave birth at Taco Bell, your baby's first words will be 'Hard or soft shell?'").
Jimmy shows a poll which would turn into an argument between a husband named Carl and his nagging wife Jodie.
A tradition on the show done the week before the Kentucky Derby, similar to the popular "12 Days of Christmas Sweaters". Jimmy brings out a large board in the style of a cabinet with 4 numbered "hidden compartments" in the manner of an Advent calendar. The number of the door opened corresponds to the number of days left before the Derby. Behind each door is a stereotypical fancy hat like the ones spectators wear to the event. Jimmy picks a number and whoever in the audience has that number wins that day's hat (along with a mint julep offered by Jimmy).
Jimmy covers multiple news stories at once, quickly transitioning back and forth between them.[44]
Jimmy, donning long hair and a tunic, reads inspirational quotes from Instagram and adds funny quotes to them.[45]
Tariq tells Jimmy about things that annoy him, like getting old and wearing shoes at home.[46]
Jimmy dons a cowboy hat and flannel shirt, chews on a piece of straw, and in an old west-style accent criticizes and tells things he dislikes to "go on, git!"[47] Although usually done solo at his desk, Jimmy has occasionally teamed with a guest on the segment (e.g. Steve Carell in June 2022) as they sit in rocking chairs on a set resembling a rustic country porch.[48]
Close to the 2020 United States presidential election, Jimmy shows a usually funny clip of President Trump that sums up why he deserves a second term.[49]
Jimmy comes out with an idea of improved maths, where, instead of numbers, the equations are composed of various objects, emotions, activities, TV shows, etc. and a trending topic is shown as a result (Example: Streaming service + Gone in 60 Seconds = CNN+, referring to its quick closure). At first, the equations included substractions and multiplications, but, in later versions of the sketch, only addition was left as an option.
Jimmy shows a clip of former president Donald Trump at one of his speeches, but instead of presenting the headlines of it, it resembles over a weird behaviour of him at the speech, like unexplainable gestures or an odd citation of it.
When Jimmy talks about a recently finished episode of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, while describing an emotional scene, he rolls the clip of it, but the characters are voiced with Apple’s Siri.
When Jimmy tells a joke in the monologue that he thinks is particularly cheesy, he will apologize then give away its cue cards to members of the audience.
Jimmy often refers to fictional men as Gary, who are usually unintelligent or acting obnoxious and people are letting him know this. He also refers to fictional misbehaving boys as Garrison (who hates that name and wishes his parents would call him Gary).
Jimmy and the gang take turns miming the saxophone solo of "Old Time Rock and Roll" while a recording of it is played.
Whenever a story about Dunkin Donuts is mentioned, Jimmy says, "Or as I call it, 'Funkin Gonuts'", the Roots then play some funky music, which Jimmy dances to. After it ends, Higgins says, "Donuts!"
Following a story in his April 23, 2014 monologue about a depressed panda in China, named Seesha, Fallon mentioned that scientists had put a TV in the cage to cheer up the panda. Fallon then told a couple panda jokes for Seesha, and after each joke, a man in a panda suit would cut in front of the screen and do a short dance. Eventually, he worked his way into the hallway where he kept dancing as the Roots continued to play his song. The panda returned the next night, and Fallon sent out a hashtag called #FallonPanda to gather name suggestions. The next night, it was announced the panda's name was "Hashtag." The panda who was in his teenage years now frequently returns in monologues following a series of jokes, dancing all the way into the hall to the Roots' music. It was later revealed that Ben Stiller was the man in the Hashtag costume, although when Stiller returned as a guest, Chris Rock had taken over mascot duties. On May 17, 2017, as part of a promotion for her upcoming single, for The Voice coach Miley Cyrus took a turn inside the suit. During the show's first trip to Universal Orlando Resort in 2014, Hashtag was part of a dance-off against Stuff the Magic Dragon, the mascot of the Orlando Magic, which ended in a tie. Hashtag the Panda can be seen in the queue of the theme park attraction Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando for meet-and-greets and also appears in the ride experience, where Hashtag is on top of the Empire State Building, trying to flick off planes. For the Kids Tonight Show, a character named Little Hashtag was created especially for the show centered on family friendliness and is apparently Hashtag’s son implying that he is now fully grown up and a loving father.
When the announcer Steve Higgins says a joke that is both very funny and very cheesy, he will "retire" by waving to the crowd and walking off the stage. He will then come back, appearing exhausted, then explaining something crazy that happened to him that caused him to come back.
On other occasions, Fallon will "retire." When either man "retires," the Roots play blues music.
Whenever his predecessor Jay Leno is a guest, Jimmy will feign an injury during the monologue (in the form of allegedly pulling a muscle) and Leno will have to "tag in" and take his spot for a few minutes while he recovers.
In this conceit, Fallon sets up the premise that he had found an angry man ranting on the street and wants to give the man an opportunity to vent and get his complaints off his chest. Leno then comes in and gives his monologue in the form of a rant, finishing by storming off the set in a rage, sometimes knocking down a staffer on his way out the door.
One occasion had Jimmy supposedly got a tickle in his throat while telling Hillary Clinton jokes. Billy Crystal took over for the remainder of the monologues.
A segment introduced on the show's first episode, in which Jimmy invites audience members to come on stage and lick objects, such as a lawn mower or a bowling ball, for ten dollars. Drew Barrymore and Kelly Ripa have played the game as celebrities.
Introduced in the show's second week, this segment features a game with loosely defined rules and bizarre scoring whose theme song is an off-key version of "The Final Countdown". Three audience members are chosen to spin a wheel containing various carpet samples. The wheel includes a "mystery sample", which is revealed by the announcer to both the audience and the contestants prior to game play. Each contestant spins the wheel just once and is awarded a seemingly arbitrary point value (Jimmy tells the second contestant that the point value the first contestant scored is the maximum number of points a contestant can possibly get, and then asks if the second player can beat it). Each game contains the speed round with a "carpet sample fun fact": a piece of trivia, and the "lightning round" in which the contestant must "name as many things as possible" in three seconds (after which Jimmy names a thing that is none of the things the contestant mentioned), and a "carpet sample cartoon break", which is followed by a "the making of" featurette, then a "the making of the making of" featurette, then an epilogue of the makers of them. If a contestant lands on a piece that has already been won, Jimmy turns the wheel back five spaces. A seemingly arbitrary winner, chosen by Higgins (who wasn't paying attention because he was arguing with his wife on the phone), wins the sample of carpet on which the wheel stopped during their spin. The other two contestants each receive a consolation prize that turns out to be much more valuable than the winning contestant's prize, usually a $300 gift card to the Apple Store (the winning contestant is ultimately awarded the consolation prize as well).
Jimmy picks three random audience members to come down. They are shown a table covered in various "prizes", including a large-screen plasma TV (or a MacBook, or other similarly desirable popular item), tickets to a cleaning products convention, a used trumpet, lingerie, recorded VHS tapes, donuts for the entire audience, a box of rocks, a coffee mug, a year's worth of back issues of Orthopedics magazine, a pipe carved into Jimmy's likeness, a 15-second rave, and other similar kitschy items. A Sharp 108 shows a rapid-fire series of images of the objects available to be won, with each image only visible for 1/6 of a second. When Jimmy gives the cue, the contestants must snap a picture with their cellphone of whatever item is on the screen. The contestant wins whatever item of which they have taken a picture. One unlucky female contestant's phone was so slow to take a picture that all she photographed was the game's logo after the prizes had stopped flashing. As a consolation prize, she was awarded "donuts for the entire audience". A frequent prize is "The Call of the Wolf Waker": a man (Mike Dicenzo) covered head to toe in furs performs a wolf call using his cupped hands; while he is performing the call, footage of sleeping wolves waking up is shown. Another grand prize was 15 seconds in the VIP room with two Victoria's Secret models.
In a parody of Dance Your Ass Off, Jimmy invites three audience members on stage and challenges them to put on a neon yellow wool knit cap and yellow rubber gloves and try to get them off only by whipping their body parts around. Jimmy warns that "smurfing" (wearing one's cap loosely and high on the head in the manner of a Smurf) is not allowed. Two points are awarded for removing a hat, with one point each for the gloves; ties are broken based on audience applause. The winner receives $300 in one dollar bills, although the bills are presented in strange ways, such as wadded up and stuffed in a plastic bag, stuffed into the hollow handle of a snow shovel, or taped end-to-end in a long chain. Losers receive a T-shirt. Jimmy closes the segment by reciting a rhyming verse, which in some instances of the sketch becomes absurdly long and about an embarrassing health problem Jimmy has such as genital warts.
Jimmy challenges three audience members to a karaoke contest where they sing quotes from a celebrity, including Nicole Polizzi, John Madden and Mel Gibson; most installments use quotes from American conservative politicians and commentators, including South Carolina governor Mark Sanford; Tea Party convention speakers Tom Tancredo, Joseph Farah, and Sarah Palin; Fox News hosts Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity; and, most frequently, Rush Limbaugh. One version featured quotes from the erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey. Another featured quotes from recent Celebrity Apprentice bootee Gary Busey. (This installment had only two audience members, with Busey himself also competing; Busey was named the winner, but Jimmy revealed that "friends, family, and the actual Gary Busey" were not eligible to receive prizes.) The most recent installment featured quotes from the cast of Duck Dynasty. The winner, determined by audience applause, receives a karaoke machine, and losers receive T-shirts or hoodies.
Jimmy invites three guests on stage, and they must attempt to throw the most hot dogs through holes carved in the mouths of large (about 6 feet tall) celebrity faces. The celebrities are usually related somehow, such as the cast of New Moon, the three men from the TV show Full House, hosts on Fox News Channel, or politicians. (An installment of the game after the House vote on the 2010 health care legislation featured Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA); the Congressman's face had a smaller-than-usual mouth hole but added cutouts for his nostrils.) In the case of a tie, contestants participate in a sudden-death toss-off. The winner receives a hot dog toaster, and the losers receive a package of hot dogs.
Three audience members play air drums (similar to air guitar) along to a short drum-heavy instrumental track played by The Roots. The winner is selected by audience applause, who receives a drum kit donated by Yamaha and Zildjian. The two losers receive drumheads autographed by The Roots.
Three audience members are each shown three close-up photos of different man boobs, and are asked to pick which one belongs to a particular celebrity. The three photos are given punny names such as "Areola 51" or "Yo Flabba-Flabba". Winners receive a man boobs-themed wall calendar, and losers receive a "Man Boobs" T-shirt.
Two pairs of audience members compete. One member of each pair rolls a specially marked die to determine whether they will be spitting or receiving. The spitter takes a sip of water, and then the receiver recites the punch line to a provided joke (usually in the form of "[Normal phrase]? I thought you said [similar-sounding sexual phrase]!"), at which the spitter performs their best spit-take. Audience applause determines the winning team. Sometimes, Jimmy will have the spitter and receiver switch positions if their first spit-take is particularly good or they have extra time. The winning team receives a pair of hand towels embroidered with the "Competitive Spit-Takes" logo, while the losing team receives a pair of moist towelettes.
Three audience members select styles of dance (e.g. Irish stepdance, ballet, or disco) out of Jimmy's "Velvety Dance Bag", and then attempt to perform that dance style after being hung by a harness ten feet in the air. The winner is selected by audience applause. The winner receives a dancing-themed prize, such as Nintendo Wii and a dancing game or Arthur Murray dancing lessons, while the losers receive T-shirts.
Before the show, Jimmy selects members of the audience who are musicians but do not otherwise know each other. They are split into two "instant bands" and are given about half an hour to come up with a band name, design an album cover, and write a song to perform. Winners are determined by audience applause. Winners receive the instruments they played and a $300 gift certificate to Guitar Center, while the losers receive T-shirts.
On the June 15, 2011 show, Jimmy hosted the finalists in Rolling Stone and Garnier Fructis' "Choose the Cover" contest (Lelia Broussard from Los Angeles, California, and The Sheepdogs from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan). Prior to the show, a member of the audience (Terry Patterson from the San Francisco area) was selected and both bands had to write a song about her. Each member of both bands received a Late Night T-shirt, and the winning band (The Sheepdogs) received 20 pints of Jimmy's Ben & Jerry's flavor, "Late Night Snack".[50]
Similar to Battle of the Instant Bands, Jimmy assembles two dance crews from the audience and has them each choreograph a dance routine in under an hour. The winners each receive $300 gift cards from J.Crew, while the losers win $100 gift cards.
Similar to Battle of the Instant Bands, Jimmy selects three singer/songwriters from the audience and has them write a short song based on a different nonsensical phrase like "turtle sunrise" or "clouds are people too". The winner receives a $300 gift card to Guitar Center, while the losers receive $100 gift cards.
Two audience members are given a scene to perform with Jimmy in reverse (walking backward, etc.). After they complete the scene, the footage is then shown reversed so that it looks normal. The winner is determined by audience applause, who receives a piece of reversible clothing (such as a jacket or a jersey), while the loser receives a t-shirt with a reversed Late Night logo.
Two teams of three male audience members race in a relay to pass a Spanx body-shaping undergarment over their bodies as fast as possible. After taking the garment off of a mannequin, the first person steps into it and then pulls the garment over his head. The next team member then pulls the garment over his head and off over his feet. The third team member reverses direction once again and pulls the garment on feet-first. After pulling the garment over his head, the third team member then races to deposit the garment in a basket (the "Spanx Bank"). The other team members may assist in the passing of the garment, but cannot bunch it up or fold it onto itself. The winning team wins Late Night compression T-shirts and a pair of Spanx, and the losers receive regular Late Night T-shirts..
Three audience members "try to decipher the garbled-mouth ramblings of Rickie Johnston, a pig farmer with a real anger-management problem," according to Jimmy. Johnston (played by Bobby Tisdale) is a stereotypical redneck, dressed in a pair of overalls, a trucker's hat, and no shirt, in addition to a huge mouthful of chewing tobacco and an exaggerated Southern accent. The game has three rounds, worth 10, 100, and 1000 points. The first two rounds vary, but the third round is always "What's On Rickie's Mini-Dish Tonight?", which involves Johnston acting out a scene from a movie and the contestants must guess its title. The winner of the first installment of the game had the choice between a chocolate-covered horseshoe and a "beer-amid" (a pyramid made from cement-filled beer cans) as a prize and chose the beer-amid. The second installment of the game had as its prize a package of paper plates. The third installment awarded a watch made from a can of chewing tobacco. The losers receive a bag of frozen tater tots, with Jimmy giving Rickie a bag as well (they're his favorite).
Three audience members are shown pictures of non-celebrities and each must guess the first and last name of the person shown. The images of non-famous men flashes quickly with one of a famous man second to last (usually 1990s sitcom stars). The first two contestants get a single guy to name, but the last contestant plays the "lightning round", where they try to name eight guys in 20 seconds. They show's grand prize, $15,000, has never been won, but the losers (all contestants are invariably losers) receive a T-shirt with their person's name on it (Higgins encourages all contestants to "wear your shame in style"). The spirit of the game is similar to "Wheel of Carpet Samples". Due to "lack of budget", the segment uses scene transition graphics from Home Improvement between contestants. It also features "Name That Guy Fun Facts" like "[non-famous man]" was born in Cincinnati, Ohio".
Actor Charlie Day played the game's lightning round on the July 11, 2013 episode.
Jimmy claims this is "the game that everyone is talking about." This is followed by five brief video clips of five different people (Oprah Winfrey, Chris Rock, Hillary Clinton, Brian Williams, and Glenn Beck) strung together so it sounds like they are saying the sentence, "I love Models and Buckets." The twelve models are brought out and Jimmy will ask them an open ended question, such as "How was your weekend?", with each giving a different answer simultaneously. Jimmy then brings in two male audience members who singularly select alternately a bucket held by each model (similar to Deal or No Deal) that is filled with an item such as food (e.g. orange soda, baked beans, or chocolate syrup), confetti, or packing peanuts to be tipped over the contestant's head by that model. The hope is to find the bucket that contains fake $1 bills. The losing contestant receives a Late Night bucket hat (Jimmy and The Roots then begin a rap interlude about the bucket hat). The initial installment of the game used 16 buckets instead of 12. When only six buckets remain, the game enters the "double trouble" phase, where each contestant selects a bucket to be tipped simultaneously. If a contestant wins early in the game, Jimmy will have the models reset with new buckets and the contestants play a second game for another $100. In one installment, both contestants won $100, and the bucket hat was not awarded. Contestants also a receive new clean clothing backstage afterwards.
Jimmy had audience members roll a twenty-sided die with a letter on each face (likely taken from the game Scattergories) and say as many words that start with that letter, with rules such as no proper nouns, no long pauses between words, etc. Contestants win $10 cash for each correct word.
While two audience members are blindfolded and wear noise-canceling headphones on stage, Jimmy selects another audience member to come down and photocopy their face; after doing so, that person returns to their seat. Singularly each of two contestants are given the photocopy and the task to run into the audience to find the photocopied person. While they are searching, the Roots play music whose tempo slows or fastens depending on how "hot" or "cold" the contestant is in their search. The contestant that finds the photocopied person fastest is declared the winner and receives a desktop printer/fax/scanner/copier, while both the loser and the photocopied person receive a ream of copy paper.
Three blindfolded audience members attempt to break ball-shaped piñatas with smiley faces on them (which "bear a striking resemblance to celebrities in the news") rotating around them using only karate kicks. Ties are broken by "kicking awesomeness" (as voted on by the audience). The winner receives $300 worth of Old El Paso boxed taco kits (brought out by Gwar and Dwar), while the losers receive Late Night black belts.
Five audience members each donate one of their possessions to a communal "jackpot". Jimmy spices it up by adding the contents of a wallet in his pocket, including $500 (sometimes in cash, sometimes as a gift card to the Apple Store).
Each of the five audience members has their name on a tile in a bucket. Jimmy singularly pulls a tile from the bucket to eliminate contestants until only one contestant is left, who wins everything in the jackpot. The other four contestants receive Late Night T-shirts or sweatshirts.
Three audience members are singularly shown a collectible doll for five seconds, and then have thirty seconds to assume the pose of the doll as closely as possible using a box of props and costumes. Contestants that have yet to play are placed beneath large blue sensory-deprivation "domes of silence". The winner is chosen by audience applause; in the first installment, the winner received a three-foot-tall Barbie doll, but in later installments the prize was $100 and the doll the contestants were imitating. Losers receive doll-sized Late Night T-shirts.
A series of stunts, each with an associated point value, cycles rapid-fire on the "Dartboard of Insanity" (the Sharp 108). Three audience members singularly shoot a Nerf dart gun at the Dartboard, stopping the cycle on a particular stunt. Whichever contestant completes the stunt with the highest point value is declared the winner. All three contestants receive $100 and either a T-shirt or a "beer koozie sweatshirt" (a sweatshirt with a pocket for a beer bottle on the front), although only the winner receives his $100 in the form of a giant check.
Only a few of the "available" games are ever played. Some of the games are highlighted by Jimmy before the game; some are named and also described – these are usually over the top. Still others only ever appear in the rotation. The last game to be played is always "Dude Spoon". (Some contestants land on "Dude Spoon," but are given the option to spin again; they then land on "Double Dude Spoon", where they have to spoon with two dudes instead of just one.) The point value of games can vary from episode to episode.
Available games include:
In the rotation only: Beat Your Meat (3 points), Believe it or Snot (6 points), Bride of Spanxenstein (5/6 points), Emission Possible (3 points), Fish Sandwich (3 points), Germs of Endearment (6 points), Hog-Tied and Lovin' It! (6 points), Honey Nut Pantyhose (6 points), Melt Your Face Off (15 points), Nip R.I.P. (12 points), Peanut Butter Pickle Face (3/5/6 points), Pickle Tickle (3/6 points), Purple Nurple (12 points), Sausage-Link Jump Rope (6 points), Veggie Wedgie (3 points), and Whack-A-Sack (3 points)
Described: Cat Nips (10 points – the contestant is strapped down and catnip is sprinkled on their nipples, and 12 cats are let loose to "go to town" on them), Expired Milkshake of Pain (12 points – the contestant must think about an expired milkshake while being shocked with a cattle prod), Fondles the Clown (3/10/12 points – a guy is taken off the street, dressed up like a clown, and tickles the contestant in his "swimsuit area"), Goblet of Shame (12 points – involves a medieval goblet and full frontal nudity), Hula Hoop of Horror (12 points – the contestant hula hoops while 15 strangers wearing hoods shock him with cattle prods), Jelly Sock of Death (3/10 points – the contestant is hit with a sock filled with jelly), Rabbit Punch (12 points – the contestant names a number from 1 to 12, and then a guy dressed in a rabbit costume punches them in the back as hard as he can), and Stank Hose (12 points – the contestant is whipped with a smelly garden hose)
Played: Blindfold Balloon Pop (5 points – a blindfolded contestant must pop 3 balloons by stomping on them), Dude Spoon (10/15 points – the contestant must spoon with a guy named Sebastian (Seth Herzog)), Egg Head (5 points – the contestant must put a large Easter egg on his head and dance the "ancient mystical dance of the egg-head"), Grab the Balls in Your Nutsack (10 points – while blindfolded, the contestant must determine how many blue balls are in a large sack filled with circus peanuts), Guac Head (3/4 points – the contestant has guacamole smeared into his hair), "Late Night Snack" Slip 'n Slide (5 points – the contestant traverses a Slip 'n Slide lubricated with melted ice cream), Hot Dog in a Hole (5/10 points – a solo version of the regular game; the contestant tries to score 7 hits), Look at Yourself (12 points – the contestant must look at themselves in a mirror for 30 seconds without laughing while Jimmy goads them), Nutsack Attack!! (10 points – the contestant must search through a large sack of peanuts for the "money nut" [a red walnut]), Pumpkin Head (5 points – the contestant must put a hollowed-out pumpkin on his head and dance the "ancient mystical dance of the pumpkin-head"), Puppy Chow (5/10 points – the contestant has a can of dog food eaten off his stomach by puppies), Shake Your Balls Off! (5/10 points – the contestant wears a Velcro diaper covered with balls and must shake them all off without using his hands), Syrup Hat (6 points – the contestant must reach into a large jar filled with warm maple syrup, retrieve a baseball cap, and put it on), and Yuck Uggs (3/5 points – the contestant must put on a pair of Ugg boots [one filled with chocolate pudding and the other with tapioca] and dance for 10 seconds)
Two audience members compete, at least one male. One of the contestants tries to answer trivia questions; each correct answer earns the team $100, but for each incorrect answer, the non-answerer has a portion of his chest hair removed with hot wax. Unfortunately, all of the questions are in obscure Jeopardy!-like categories such as "Latvian Prime Ministers", "13th-Century South American Architecture", and "Much Ado About 'Quantum Mechanics'" ("you'll notice 'quantum mechanics' is in quotes", says Jimmy). The last regular question is played in the "double trouble" format, where two portions of hair are at stake. The question is usually in the category "Numbers", and the question is usually "I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 1000 – what is it?" (After the contestant gives his guess, Jimmy offers him the chance to change his guess. After doing so, Jimmy reveals the correct number was actually their first guess.) The "lightning round" features categories flashing by quickly, with easy categories like music, TV, and movies being skipped over for another difficult category at the end. As a consolation prize, the contestants are given "Ed Zeppelin" T-shirts (also a prize in the "Wheel of Game Shows" game) and a 24-pack of Nad's body hair removal strips. To date, no one has answered a single question correctly.
The person being waxed in the installment that aired May 15, 2011, was New York Jets center Nick Mangold.
Another surreal game in the spirit of "Wheel of Carpet Samples". Three audience members play mini-games selected by pressing the "game pud" (a buzzer) as the options rotate on the Sharp 108 (similar to the game show Press Your Luck). If a player lands on a picture of actor Steve Guttenberg, however, they lose their turn and owe the show $75 (similar to Press Your Luck's "Whammy"). To this end, Jimmy urges the contestants to shout "No Guttenbergs!" as the monitor rotates.
Games available include: "Animal Farm", "Brownie Points", "Dance Dance Dance", "Drawing Board", "Find the Red Tissue", "Grab the Cupcake", "Grocery List", "Guess the Card", "Hands in Your Pants", "Harry Potter Trivia vs. the Roots", "Heads or Tails?", "Hide the Shoe", "iCarly Trivia vs. the Roots", "Jellybean Jar", "Magnet Scramble", "Number Jumbler", "Number Scramble", "Picture Puzzle", "Remember That Episode of Full House", "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Nuclear Warhead", "Snap Judgment", "Tarantula Bonanza", "True or False", "Wet Nap Face Slap", "What's In The Box?", "What's the Difference?", "Where Did You Get That Shirt?", "Word of the Day", "Yes or No", and "You Can't Possibly Win!".
After all contestants inevitably tie at zero points since Jimmy doesn't tell them how to play the games, even after a "tiebreaker" (such as "Brownie Points", "Shut Your Pie Hole", or "Egg On Your Face"), they all receive copies of the Saturday Night Live board game (with three pieces missing) and Led Zeppelin T-shirts where the first "L" has fallen off so that they read "Ed Zeppelin". (Later installments of the game substitute a copy of Jimmy's CD Blow Your Pants Off for the SNL board game.)
Two audience members compete. Each is blindfolded and fed a cracker with three different foods on top (such as pepperoni, peanut butter, and Swedish fish). They must try to name as many of the ingredients as they can. The winner receives a $300 gift certificate to Whole Foods, while the loser gets to interact with a celebrity impersonator (such as Abraham Lincoln or young Santa Claus) (and is also given a $150 gift certificate to Whole Foods).
Three audience members compete. They are each given three nouns (an object, a place, and a name - e.g. Barbie Doll, France, and Charlie Sheen) they must work into a 30-second freestyle rap. The nouns are generated by "Rhyme Wave", a "robot" (played by Tariq Trotter) with a computerized voice that appears on the Sharp 108. The winner is determined by audience applause. The winner receives a TASCAM pocket studio digital recorder, while the runners-up receive Late Night T-shirts, notepads, and pens to write down their own raps.
Two audience members compete. Each is played a new song by the Roots that they must memorize and then immediately perform. The contestant that has yet to play is placed beneath a large blue sensory-deprivation "dome of silence". The winner is determined by audience applause, who is given a $100 bill and a burned CD with their song rendition on it, while the loser receives a Late Night T-shirt.
Three audience members compete. Each is given a topic by Jimmy and is given 10 seconds to give as many words as possible relating to that topic. After time is up, they are given a score by the "Brainmaster" (Mike Dicenzo, wearing a brown robe, turban, and a large, light-up brain). The winner is given a special prize in an ornate wooden chest (selected by the Brainmaster). The two losers receive cans of Turtle Wax. (The winner's prize, coincidentally, is also Turtle Wax.) (In one playing, the contestants received giftcards to Subway, and the winner also received a bag of potato chips autographed by Tony Danza.)
Three audience members compete. They are each given a song to sing karaoke-style – with the catch that they will be wearing noise-canceling headphones so they cannot hear themselves sing. Also, cowboy DJ Munson Rawlings (Gerard Bradford) will be manipulating the pitch of the song, which they must match. The winner is determined by audience applause, who wins a pair of noise-canceling headphones, while the losers receive Late Night hoodies.
On May 15, 2013, Jimmy invented a new game. Two audience members, a young man and a young woman, were invited to the stage for a dancing competition. Jimmy placed them on either side of a small barrier (so that they could not see each other), then he called out the names of made-up dances which they performed for a few moments, while the Roots played music. The dances Jimmy announced were "The Bro-Bot," "The Freaky Frog," "The Elevator," "The Disco Dentist," "Hand Dancin'," "The Sexy Sway," and "The Flying Tornado." To choose a winner, Jimmy proposed a "Blank-Off" and pressed the "Button of Boogie." A prepared slot machine gave each contestant three "random" words for a final dance: the young woman was given "Pogo Stick Paperboy" and the young man received "The Glowing Thong." The contestants performed their interpretations of these last dances, as before, and then received prizes.[51]
Jimmy selects three audience members and asks how they think the President will mispronounce a single word. Once selected, he gives them a T-shirt with the mispronounced word on it as a prize for participating.[52]
Jimmy would claim that Mattel created a new toy called "The Trump Magic 8-Ball" and that he actually has one. He would then select three audience members to ask the ball a yes-or-no question. Once asked, Jimmy would repeat the question to the ball, shake, and flip it over to reveal a small clip of President Trump played inside of it "answering" the question.[53]
Introduced in the third week of the show, this segment consists of the audience and show members participating in an experience together. In the first show, these experiences were to eat a Warhead sour candy, wear a Snuggy, and make a bird call. Other "Shared Experiences" have involved playing with an inflated beach ball and shooting Nerf guns at A.D. Miles while he quietly played Jenga by himself.
During the show's first week, on March 5, 2009, Jimmy picked three random audience members and elected one of them to be president of the audience for the night. Later that night, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow appeared in a breaking news segment and reported that his approval ratings were dropping. Attack ads from his opponent were also shown, accusing the president of being a flip flopper when it came to liking Jimmy's jokes. The old president was later "impeached" on April 17, 2009, and a new president was appointed. On March 10, 2010, after Jimmy complained that neither of the previous presidents ever showed up to work, he "elected" a new president by picking one audience member at random. Jimmy gave the new president a "presidential starter kit", including a copy of the Late Night by-laws, a quill pen, a carton of cigarettes, a stapler, and a first lady with "shapely arms". After an attack ad on behalf of another audience member, NBC Nightly News weekend anchor Lester Holt gave a news report about the president's short term thus far.
A recurring sketch in which audience members are called upon to stand in for celebrities who are having public feuds and come to a mutual understanding. Segments have included two men as Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston, two white women as 50 Cent and Rick Ross, Perez Hilton and Carrie Prejean, Adam Lambert and Clay Aiken, and Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann. One sketch involved four audience members reenacting the feud between Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell, and Ryan Seacrest regarding the new contract offered to Mr. Seacrest as the host of American Idol and the fact that she wasn't made a similar offer by the show's producers (she would eventually announce that she was not returning to the show).
Jimmy asks audience members random questions. House band The Roots then makes up a song about them on the spot using that information in a music style of Jimmy's choosing (reggae, '80s pop, doo-wop, etc.). When Ringo Starr was a guest on the show, there was an all-Beatles version; during "Rolling Stones Week", there was an all-Stones version. While the show was in Indianapolis for Super Bowl XLVI, the Roots were joined in freestylin' by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
On the September 11, 2012 episode, one of the audience members selected was Andy Murray; The Roots did a song about him winning the 2012 US Open in the style of Scottish band The Proclaimers. On the October 2, 2012 episode, Alec Baldwin was selected; his song was about the seventh and final season premiere of 30 Rock.
The camera isolates on random audience members and a Facebook status for them appears which says an intimate personal thought about them.
Same aspect of What's on Your Facebook?, the camera isolates on random audience members and a graphic of an iPod appears showing what songs the person has on theirs, which is usually something extremely personal or obscene.
Three audience members are hooked up to the "Think-O-Sync-ometer" (a box with a red button, later renamed the "Intel Think-O-Sync-ometer 8500") by wearing a "wireless Think-O-Read-ometer headband" (an elastic headband with a suction cup), making sure that the "cerebral cortex nipple" is facing out. They are then asked to concentrate for 15 seconds on a particular subject provided by Jimmy. Then, after pressing the button on the Think-O-Sync-ometer, Jimmy "pokes" each contestant's cerebral cortex nipple, allowing the Think-O-Sync-ometer to "project" the audience member's thoughts.
Jimmy selects members of the audience and puts their cellphones into the "Hacker 9000" (which Jimmy claims is top-secret technology that only he and Rupert Murdoch know about), which scans the phone and plays the last received voicemail, which is usually something embarrassing (like a bookstore calling to let them know the Justin Bieber books they ordered have come in, or a gay strip club offering a man a job, or a man's college roommate reminiscing about drunken pranks).
Jimmy provides the audience with paper and packs of markers and asks them to draw whatever they want. He then goes into the audience and reads off some audience members' names and has them show off their drawings.
Every night during the week of February 7 to 11, 2011, the Late Night crew choose one male audience member with straight hair and gave him a perm. He was interviewed with friends before the procedure, then the perm was revealed during the show. Jimmy wore a perm wig during the sketches. Late Night Perm Week returned May 21 to 25, 2012, as well as July 15 to 19, 2013.
Perm Week was revived on The Tonight Show the week of February 13, 2023.
Jimmy showcases children with weird talents like reciting 86 digits of π or contorting their body into the shape of a pretzel while eating a soft pretzel. Jimmy then gives each child a Hawaiian shirt and a metal detector (an homage to his own childhood pastime of searching for buried treasure in his backyard).
An homage to America's Got Talent, Jimmy selects members of the audience and has them demonstrate a talent or perform a trick.
An interactive portion of the monologue, in which Jimmy shows the audience two news stories: one serious and political, the other obscure and local. Based on what the audience calls it, Jimmy would proceed to tell a joke based on one of the news stories.
Jimmy selects three or four virtual audience members to demonstrate their own unique talents based on fan submissions.[54]
Jimmy and a celebrity guest each pair with an audience member to play charades. Jimmy has played with Cameron Diaz, Amy Poehler, and teamed up with Poehler to take on the then-husband/wife team of Fred Armisen and Elisabeth Moss. He also teamed up with his former SNL Weekend Update partner Tina Fey to play against their successors as Weekend Update anchors, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers. Jimmy teamed up with Nene Leakes to take on the team of Donald Trump and Lil Jon after Trump announced Leakes and Lil Jon as cast members for The Celebrity Apprentice on that night's episode. Most lately, Charades are played with various actors, such as Benedict Cumberbatch, Cara Delevigne and Gaten Matarazzo. Usually, only two guests are invited, one of them joining Jimmy, and another joining one of The Roots (usually Tariq or Questlove).
Jimmy and a celebrity guest each pair with an audience member, or with two other celebrities, to play a version of the board game Pictionary. Guest players have included Tina Fey (October, 2012),[55] Jennifer Aniston, Melissa McCarthy,[56] Lenny Kravitz, CeeLo Green, Katie Couric,[57] and many others.
After showing a brief clip of the original black-and-white Password from the 1960s (originally hosted by Allen Ludden, Betty White's husband), Jimmy played Betty (along with two audience members) in a game of Password hosted by Higgins on a recreation of the original Password set. Jimmy later teamed up with Robert De Niro to play against Bradley Cooper and an audience member.
Since then, Password became a regular game within the show. Usually, the celebrities team up with Fallon on one side or Tariq/Questlove on another, with Higgins being the host of the game. Four rounds are played with a possible fifth round, depending on the score and the pace of the game. Notable celebrities joined include Hugh Jackman, Ellen DeGeneres, Steve Harvey, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin (as the cast of Grace and Frankie and, most lately, Keke Palmer.
One of the common gags said while playing nearly every interpretation of the game is Higgins saying to Fallon "This is not Charades, so don’t cheat", referring to no-gesture rules of Password.
Since July 9, 2022, Fallon started releasing volumes of previous games of Password on his shows (both Late Night and The Tonight Show), which are dedicated to the release of the reboot of the original game, Password.
Jimmy and one of The Roots or a celebrity guest each pair with another guest to play Catch Phrase. As with Password, Pictionary and Charades, one of the competitors is usually Questlove or Tariq. The game became common in 2021, and since then, it is played nearly every month. Notable competitors joining the game include Seth Meyers and Cobie Smulders (October 2021), Will Smith (December 2015), Evan Rachel Wood (June 2022) and John Krasinski (July 2022).
Jimmy and a celebrity guest take turns picking from nine numbered boxes, which contain an obscure object (e.g. a Rubik's cube in a piece of gelatin.) They would then have to either lie or tell the truth about the object's description, while the other has to guess which is which. New interpretations of the game always use more complex objects in the boxes than the previous ones.
Notable guests playing Box of Lies include Millie Bobby Brown (June 2022), Taylor Swift (November 2021), Adele (November 2015) Matt Damon (July 2016) and Jennifer Lawrence (May 2014). Jimmy Kimmel also played Box of Lies with Hugh Jackman, while switching places with Fallon on April 1, 2022.
Jimmy plays the popular drinking game beer pong with a celebrity guest, those including Serena Williams, Ivanka Trump, Betty White, and John McEnroe. They play the paddle-less version ("Beirut"). The first player to sink two balls wins (increased to three balls when Jimmy played McEnroe). When Jimmy played Kathie Lee Gifford, they played the "classier" version "wine pong" using glasses filled with chardonnay. When Jimmy played Gina Gershon, they drank tequila shots instead of beer. When Jimmy played with Mariah Carey, they played "champagne pong" using glasses filled with Dom Pérignon rosé.
Current standings:
| Contestant | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Jimmy Fallon | 18 | 15 |
| Ivanka Trump | 2 | 0 |
| Candice Bergen | 1 | 0 |
| Mariah Carey | 1 | 0 |
| Jennifer Garner | 1 | 0 |
| Angie Harmon | 1 | 0 |
| Gina Gershon | 1 | 0 |
| Anna Kournikova | 1 | 0 |
| John McEnroe | 1 | 0 |
| Charlize Theron | 1 | 0 |
| Naomi Watts | 1 | 0 |
| Sigourney Weaver | 1 | 0 |
| Serena Williams | 1 | 0 |
| Chris Evans | 1 | 1 |
| Kathie Lee Gifford | 1 | 1 |
| Jessica Alba | 0 | 1 |
| Kate Bosworth | 0 | 1 |
| Salma Hayek Pinault | 0 | 1 |
| Kate Hudson | 0 | 1 |
| Lucy Liu | 0 | 1 |
| Helen Mirren | 0 | 1 |
| Paula Patton | 0 | 1 |
| Michelle Pfeiffer | 0 | 1 |
| Kelly Ripa | 0 | 1 |
| Maria Sharapova | 0 | 1 |
| Gabourey Sidibe | 0 | 1 |
| Sofia Vergara | 0 | 1 |
| January Jones | 0 | 2 |
| Betty White | 0 | 2 |
In a light-hearted attempt to reclaim the honor of his The Proposal co-star Betty White, who at the time was the only celebrity Jimmy had defeated in beer pong, Ryan Reynolds played Jimmy in a game of beer shuffleboard. The two later played another game after a dispute arose over an interpretation of the rules of the game.
On the March 27, 2009 episode, Fallon explained that he had watched an episode of Saved by the Bell that morning. The episode he watched was The Prom, where Kelly opted to give the money she had saved to go to the prom with Zack to her father, who had just lost his job. Fallon commented on the absurdity of Kelly's father losing his job at a weapons plant because "world peace had broken out", and also pointed out that the year 2009 is the twentieth anniversary of Saved by the Bell. Fallon then decided to launch a campaign to persuade the original cast of Saved by the Bell to appear in a reunion special on his show. Dennis Haskins, who portrayed Mr. Belding, was the first to agree to take part in the reunion, and appeared on the show the same night Fallon launched the campaign. On April 3, 2009, it was announced that Lark Voorhees, who portrayed Lisa Turtle, would also be joining the reunion, making her the second Saved by the Bell guest. On April 24, 2009, Mario Lopez appeared on the show. After helping Fallon re-enact almost verbatim the climactic scene of the episode Save the Max in which the Saved by the Bell gang put together a pledge-drive to save The Max (altered to Late Night putting on a pledge drive to reunite the Saved by the Bell cast), he agreed to appear on the reunion.
On June 8, 2009, Mark-Paul Gosselaar appeared on the show as a guest to promote his series Raising the Bar. When he came out on stage, he was dressed as his Saved by the Bell character Zack Morris and claimed that since graduating college, he had been living in Los Angeles, working as an actor named Mark Paul Gosselaar because "there was already a Zack Morris in SAG". After agreeing to appear on the reunion, he received a phone call, on his signature oversized early-1990s–era cell phone, from Jessie Spano; Gosselaar then informed Fallon that Elizabeth Berkley had also agreed to appear on the reunion. At the end of his appearance, Gosselaar sang Friends Forever, a song performed by the Saved by the Bell gang's band Zack Attack. Fallon and The Roots also performed with him.
On March 4, 2010, Fallon said "it looks like the dream [of a reunion for Saved by the Bell] is over." However, on that night's show, he reunited the cast of the show California Dreams (which aired "right after Saved by the Bell" on NBC) instead. Dennis Haskins made a brief appearance, confusing the two reunions. California Dreams cast members Brent Gore (Matt Garrison), William James Jones (Tony Wicks), Heidi Noelle Lenhart (Jenny Garrison), Kelly Packard (Tiffani Smith), Jay Anthony Franke (Anthony Sommers), Jennie Kwan (Sam Wu), and Michael Cade (Sly Winkle) briefly discussed what they're doing now: Gore is working with a non-profit in Los Angeles, Jones is attending Pepperdine University in pursuit of a master's degree in clinical psychology, Lenhart is a mother of two, Packard is a mother of three and had a small part in the then-upcoming film My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, Franke is living in Australia with his wife and had recently finished filming a television pilot he created himself, Kwan (who became tongue-tied and blushed after being introduced) had toured with the traveling production of the musical Avenue Q and did a lot of voice acting (including the character Suki from the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender), and Cade works with the company Oxcyon and had a couple of films coming out that summer. The seven cast members then played the California Dreams theme song as the show went to commercial.
In February 2015, the Saved by the Bell cast was finally reunited (excluding Dustin Diamond and Lark Voorhies) and reprised their roles for a sketch which had Jimmy as a new student at Bayside High, and revealed Zack Morris had impregnated Kelly Kapowski (Tiffani Thiessen is pregnant in real life).
Jimmy and a celebrity guest take turns trying to make three-point shots on a basketball goal using objects like a telephone or a bowl of Count Chocula cereal.
Jimmy and a celebrity surprise people at the Top of the Rock by photobombing their pictures.
Jimmy and a celebrity guest each pair with a member of the audience and play a game of Celebrity. The game is played in three rounds, each using 16 possible celebrity names as answers. During the first round, the clue-giver can give as much of a clue as they want. During the second round, the same set of names is used, but the clues are limited to three words. During the third and final round, the same names are used again, but the clue-givers may only use gestures (like in charades).
Jimmy and a partner battle a celebrity guest and their partner in a game where each player takes turns doing impressions as clues to get their partners to guess mystery celebrity masks each other is holding up.
While Jimmy is interviewing an actor, he casually mentions a mid-90s action film they were both in called Space Train (about people who have to save the Earth by going to outer space, but are afraid to fly, so they take a train into space). After the actor claims not to remember the movie, Jimmy shows a "clip" from the movie (acted out live by the two of them). Participating actors include Robert De Niro (on Late Night's first episode), Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley, Will Arnett, and Sir Richard Branson. Space Train is referenced in the ride experience of the theme park attraction Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, in which Jimmy, aboard "The Tonight Rider" (a nod to Knight Rider) on the moon, uses a roller coaster launcher under construction called the Space Train to shoot him and the audience back to Earth.
When Saturday Night Live writer/actor Seth Meyers appears as a guest, Jimmy will sometimes bring out Meyers' younger brother Josh and have them play a version of The Newlywed Game. Jimmy asks Seth a series of questions while Josh wears a pair of noise-canceling headphones, and then gets Josh to guess what Seth gave for answers. The brothers then switch positions, with Josh answering and Seth guessing.
Jimmy plays a game of tic-tac-toe with a celebrity guest that has them flinging slingshot "party monkeys" into buckets.
Jimmy plays a game of war with a celebrity in which the winner of each hand throws a glass of water on the loser. After one player uses five glasses, they earn the right to spray his opponent with a large water gun. He has played with Jason Statham, Christopher Meloni, Chris Kattan, Ashton Kutcher, Hugh Jackman, Jon Hamm, Tom Cruise, Ryan Reynolds, and Lindsay Lohan, among others.
Jimmy and a male guest each don a suit made of Velcro and throw small red balls at their opponent, trying to get the balls to stick to the suit. After 45 seconds, the balls are tallied and whichever person got more balls on their opponent's suit is declared the winner.
Jimmy plays a round of miniature golf in the studio and in the halls around the studio with a celebrity. To date, he has played with Billy Crudup, Will Arnett, Samuel L. Jackson, and Chris Rock.
Jimmy and a celebrity guest play an ice-fishing themed game of cornhole with beanbags shaped like fish and an ice-blue target platform. Three points are scored for a bag that goes in the hole, and 1 point for each bag remaining on the board at the end of the game. Each player has 5 bags to throw.
| Player 1 | Score | Player 2 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jimmy Fallon | 3 | Drew Barrymore | 3 |
| Jimmy Fallon | 10 | Diane Lane | 7 |
| Jimmy Fallon | 10 | Rosario Dawson | 4* |
| Jimmy Fallon | 1 | Winona Ryder | 0 |
| Jimmy Fallon | 1 | Miley Cyrus | 9 |
| Jimmy Fallon | 3 | Kirstie Alley | 5 |
| Jimmy Fallon | 3 | Marisa Tomei | 10 |
| Jimmy Fallon | 10 | Christina Ricci | 0 |
| Jimmy Fallon | 2 | Chloë Grace Moretz | 3** |
| Jimmy Fallon | 3 | Kyra Sedgwick | 1 |
| Jimmy Fallon | 2 | Greg Kinnear | 5 |
| Jimmy Fallon | 1 | Serena Williams | 1 |
*Dawson manually knocked some of her bags into the hole after the game, achieving a posted score of 16.
**Moretz walked over to the platform and dropped her last bag directly into the hole.
Jimmy and Kid Rock played a game of horseshoes. Tariq served as judge. Later, Jimmy played Tim McGraw, with Higgins as judge.
| Player 1 | Score | Player 2 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jimmy Fallon | 1 | Kid Rock | 3 |
| Jimmy Fallon | 1 | Tim McGraw | 4 |
Jimmy and a guest (usually a female) play a game of ladder toss.
| Player 1 | Score | Player 2 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jimmy Fallon | 5 | Mila Kunis | 2 |
| Jimmy Fallon | 7 | Martha Stewart | 0 |
| Jimmy Fallon | 4 | Julianne Hough | 2 |
Jimmy and a celebrity guest alternate playing simple songs (such as "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" or "Jingle Bells") on a randomly selected musical instrument that neither have any experience playing, trying to get The Roots to correctly guess what they were trying to play. If there are two celebrity guests, they will compete against each other. Originally, Jimmy and the celebrity would try to guess the songs each other played. The game was introduced to Jimmy by Julianna Margulies, who had played it at a birthday party for William H. Macy. Scarlett Johansson, Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen have also played it.
A sketch where Jimmy and a celebrity partner give a "makeover" to an audience member. Both Jimmy and the partner dress all in white, including blonde short-bobbed wigs, with Jimmy wearing a peasant shirt and tights. Jimmy sings "let us play with your look" over and over, rising in pitch until he gives out, while his partner makes over the audience member. The celebrity is the first guest later, and both Jimmy and the guest usually express wonder at who those two weird people were.
Jimmy shows a scene from Jacob's Patience, a fictional 1990s Canadian soap opera he and his celebrity guest appeared on, where the actors used mannequin arms instead of their own.
Jimmy plays a clip from Other Voices, a Canadian talk show airing at 3 AM he hosted, which featured his celebrity guest. Their dialogue is supplied off-screen and they must attempt to lip-sync along to it. The first installment featured Jimmy interviewing Steve Carell; Jimmy's dialogue was supplied by Higgins and Carell's was supplied by Chris Kattan. Later, when Jimmy interviewed Simon Cowell and Queen Latifah, Higgins and A. D. Miles supplied the dialogue. When Drew Carey appeared as a guest, in addition to Higgins and Miles providing their voices, Jimmy and Drew had people hiding behind them providing their arms. These are both sketches from Whose Line Is It Anyway?, the American version of which Carey hosted.
Jimmy (as a teenage girl named Sara) and a female guest (or a male in drag) as one of her friends star in a fictional TeenNick show called Ew!, shot in the basement of Sara's house, in which they talk about things that make them say "Ew!". Sara always mentions how to spell her name: "And if you're wondering, that's S-A-R-A, with no H, because H's are ew!" Her nerdy stepdad Gary (played by A. D. Miles), whom she hates and is embarrassed by, always interrupts midway through the show, originally in person but more recently via FaceTime, since A. D. Miles left the show late March 2017.
The character of Sara is based on an actual girl named Sara in Jimmy's audience who loudly said "Ew!" after a disgusting joke during the July 15, 2011, edition of "Thank-You Notes". When Jimmy asked the girl her name, she answered, "Sara without an H." Jimmy saying "Ew!" in the style of Sara whenever something disgusting is mentioned during the regular show has also become a running gag.
In chronological order, the show has featured the following celebrities as Sara's friends for guests:
Sara and her stepdad Gary appear in the pre-show of the theme park attraction Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando as well as in the ride experience. In the latter, Gary is seen carrying a basket full of the Tonight Show Golden Retriever puppies.[70]
On May 10, 2012, Will Ferrell hosted. He emerged from the curtains dancing and singing about his white "tight pants". In this sketch that was the most popular among fans,[71][72][73][74] "All of a sudden, Fallon crashed the party with his own tight pants, which did not sit well with Ferrell — who claimed he was the only one who could wear tight pants."[75] The skit was re-run on Fallon's Best of Late Night special (2014). Later, on Fallon's Tonight Show, he revived the sketch with Jennifer Lopez. In 2016, it was reprised with Will Ferrell and Christina Aguilera. In all renditions, Fallon always leaves and says he'll find a new town.
Jimmy, as his Tight Pants character, appears in the ride experience of the theme park attraction Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando dancing in the NBC Studios' Studio 6B's hallway.
Whenever Gwyneth Paltrow is on, Jimmy mentions they were in a singing duo named Shazazz several years ago (either in the late 1980s or early 1990s). They go on to perform their top hits, originally in the style of old school rap: "Do It", "We're Gonna Do It", and "Remember When We Did It (The Reunion)". A later version had them switching genres to R&B and performing "Let's Do It", "Why Don't We Do It Again", and "We Did It".
Jimmy reminisced with Liv Tyler about the time they appeared on Star Search in the 80s as the duo "Pleather and Lace", singing a cover of Cyndi Lauper's "All Through the Night". (The Star Search judges gave them ¼ stars.)
Later, the duo appeared on the (fictional) talent search show Star Makerz singing The Human League's "Don't You Want Me". The Star Makerz judges gave them ¼ Zs.
Higgins emcees a version of the classic game show Pyramid where Jimmy and a celebrity guest each pair with an audience member.
Whenever she is a guest on the show, Rachel Maddow, a self-proclaimed mixologist, makes Jimmy an obscure cocktail.
When he is a guest on the show, Denis Leary and Jimmy will usually play each other in a hockey-themed game, such as air hockey or "box hockey". They usually make a bet that the loser will donate money to the Cam Neely House for cancer patients in Boston.
Jimmy and a celebrity guest take turns rolling large, soft balls up a ramp into the audience, where audience members are holding bins and buckets labeled with different point values in a layout reminiscent of that used in a regular skee ball game.
| Player 1 | Score | Player 2 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jimmy Fallon | 100 | James Franco | 80 |
| Jimmy Fallon | 0 | John Rich | 60 |
| Jimmy Fallon | 150 | Kristen Bell | 140 |
Jimmy and a celebrity guest attempt to pour three bottles of beer, one at a time, first into a mug and then from the mug into a large graduated cylinder. The pouring is complicated by a broomstick, both ends of which is affixed to their wrists, so that their arms are completely outstretched when attempting the pour from the bottle to the mug. The person with the most liquid in the cylinder at the end of the game wins.
Jimmy and a celebrity guest each wear a clear plastic box around the upper half of their bodies. The box is divided into three zones: head, torso, and groin. Both of them are armed with a Nerf-style bow and suction-cup arrows. They stand approximately 15 feet apart and try to hit each other with the arrows. Five points are awarded for an arrow to the torso, ten for a head shot, and twenty for a hit in the groin area.
| Player 1 | Score | Player 2 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jimmy Fallon | 30 | Jason Sudeikis | 50 |
| Jimmy Fallon | 10 | Robert Pattinson | 25 |
| Jimmy Fallon | 30 | Nathan Fillion | 30 |
| Jimmy Fallon | 30 | Ryan Lochte | 25 |
Jimmy and a celebrity guest each hit large foam balls off a tee into the audience using a large plastic bat. The audience is divided into three scoring zones. Each player hits three balls (and sometimes also a final "superball" worth double points). Where the ball lands in the audience is how much it's worth. When playing against a British guest, they use cricket bats instead.
Jimmy and a celebrity guest each put their arms and head through holes in stand-up pictures of chefs. In front of them is a pie-flinging machine. They then play rounds of rock-paper-scissors. Each time one of them loses a round, they click their machine one time. After a random number of clicks, the machine will propel the pie into their face (similar in concept to Russian roulette). The first person to take three (later reduced to two) pies to the face loses. One such guest was Glenn Close on June 5, 2013.[76]
Jimmy and a celebrity guest appear as disembodied heads in front of a tranquil background and recite not-quite-true facts like "George Washington's face appears on the quarter, the one-dollar bill, and Tobey Maguire's left butt cheek" while new age music plays in the background.
Jimmy and a celebrity guest take turns selecting an egg from a carton where 8 of the eggs have been hard-boiled and 4 have been left raw.[77] While Jimmy and his guest sit on stools at a small, high table, Steve Higgins presents the egg carton with humorous but ominous remarks while explaining the rules. The contestants then take turns in choosing an egg from the carton and smash it against his forehead. The first person to smash two raw eggs on his head is the loser.
Guest players have included Jason Sudeikis (November 2012),[78] David Duchovny (January 2013),[79] Joel McHale (February 2013),[80] Tom Cruise (April 2013),[81][82] Seth Meyers (August 2013),[83] and Edward Norton (October 2013).[84] Most recent guests include Jane Fonda (July 2022) and Shawn Mendes (April 2022).
In Word Sneak, Jimmy & the celebrity guest hold 5 cards, each containing random words that must be said in a conversation as seamlessly & casually as possible. Guests that have played include Bryan Cranston and Ricky Gervais.
Once a year on the show, Jimmy has a "yacht rock" party, celebrating that genre of soft rock of the late 70s and early 80s. Jimmy will wear a captain's hat (and give out the hats to the audience) and have nautical-themed games. In addition, a yacht rock act will perform one of their hits of the genre:
Whenever Justin Timberlake appears on the show, he and Jimmy perform a medley of popular hip-hop and rap songs from a 30-year span in (roughly) chronological order. Thus far, they have done six installments.
In a spoof of The Price Is Right game Plinko, Jimmy and his celebrity guest drop disks into a Plinko-style pegboard, disks that end up in various liquids that are to be mixed and consumed as cocktails. The board invariably contains gag substances such as pea soup or pickle juice, in addition to alcoholic beverages such as champagne and mixers such as Tang.
A game of Blackjack wherein at the end of each round, the winner slaps the loser across the face with a gigantic prosthetic hand.
A game of pool played on a giant billiard table with bowling balls and no cues. The first person to sink three balls, stripes or solids, wins.
In this hybrid of beer pong and air hockey, at each end of the table are seven holes with cups full of beer in them. If your opponent succeeds in scoring the puck by sinking it in one of your cups, you must chug, then turn the cup upside down and place it on top of the hole. First player to score three wins.
Jimmy and a celebrity guest take turns lip syncing to popular music. The segment was spun off into its own reality competition show on Spike (later Paramount Network).
Jimmy and a celebrity guest have their mouths superimposed on each other and take turns voicing each other.[85]
A game of flip cup.
Jimmy tries to see who's the most honest person by having a celebrity guest pick from two choices: "Truth or Truth". They ask each other questions and respond with not-quite-true answers.[86]
Jimmy and a celebrity guest race each other on scooters one lap outside Studio 6-B through holiday-themed obstacle courses.[87]
In a parody of the viral video hit "The Evolution of Dance", Jimmy and First Lady Michelle Obama performed "The Evolution of Mom Dancing", a series of such dance moves as "The 'Go Shopping, Get Groceries'", "The 'Raise the Roof'", "The 'Sprinkler'", "The 'Just The Hands Part of Single Ladies'", "The 'Where's Your Father? (Get Him Back Here!)'", "The 'Pulp Fiction'", "The 'Out of Sync Electric Slide'", and "The 'Dougie'". The sketch was in honor of Mrs. Obama's "Let's Move!" campaign to end childhood obesity.
Later, Jimmy and Justin Timberlake performed "The Evolution of End Zone Dancing", featuring some real touchdown dances like the "'Ickey Shuffle'" and "The 'Dirty Bird'", as well as other dances, such as "The 'Touchdown Robot'", "The 'Old-Timey Railroad Car'", "The 'Earthquake Waiter'", "The 'I Thought I Just Saw Aaron Hernandez'", "The 'Football Spin' (Into The Love Scene From "Ghost")", and "The 'Justin Timberlake' (From 'N Sync)" (the last of which mock-infuriated Timberlake, causing him to shove Jimmy and leave the set).
Then there was an edition which featured Jimmy and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie performing "The Evolution of Dad Dancing".
On February 17, 2014, Fallon teamed up with Will Smith for "Evolution of Hip Hop Dancing".
They continued the skit later on with singing and dancing when Jimmy and Kristen Bell teamed up for "The Evolution of Disney Songs".
Jimmy and a celebrity guest wear cone-shaped hats, while Higgins gives them questions pop culture. If one of them gets the answer incorrect, their car raises up to a net-covered water balloon until it pops.[88]
Celebrity guests and Fallon take turns to hit the button of impressions generator, it will land on a random celebrity with a random topic. Celebrity guests and Fallon are challenged to do the impression.
Jimmy and a celebrity guest have a conversation, only to act out different emotions or situations while they're talking (e.g. "Extreme Sexual Tension".)[89]
Two men, played by Jimmy and a celebrity guest, sit down on a mountaintop and stare at each other, pondering the universe. Their thoughts are heard on-camera, which are often tongue-in-cheek. The sagement usually ends with them singing.[90]
Jimmy and a celebrity guest take turns throwing footballs at glass pictures of each other's faces. The first person to smash all their opponent's faces wins the game.[91]
Celebrity guests and Fallon take turns to hit the button of impressions generator, it will land on a random singer with a random song. Celebrity guests and Fallon are challenged to do the impression.
Jimmy and a celebrity guest pick a card with a movie title and 5 seconds to describe the plot of that movie, while the opponent has to guess what it is.[92]
Jimmy and a few celebrity guests play a drinking game similar to musical chairs, but with cups of beer.[93]
Jimmy and a celebrity guest take turns reading phrases, while wearing a pair of headphones playing loud music so the other person can't hear the phrase.[94]
Jimmy and a celebrity guest read from scripts written by kid viewers on what they think a movie is about based on the title (e.g. Magic Mike).[95]
Jimmy shows a "clip" from a TV show in the 1980s he and a celebrity guest starred in together, in which play officers from the Point Pleasant, New Jersey Police Department, who repeatedly spit food on each other (acted out live by the two of them).
Celebrity guests and Tariq from The Roots take turns hit the button of freestyle generator, it will land on three different topics. Celebrity guests have to do the rap freestyle containing the three random words.
Celebrity guests and Fallon take turns hitting a button which generates a well-known song. The lyrics will appear on cue cards, but the music will stop and the cards will be blank. If celebrity guests and Fallon don't finish the lyric correctly, they get sprayed in the face with water coming out of a prop microphone. If they get the lyric correct, the other player gets sprayed. During the final round, celebrity guests and Fallon sing the song together, and they both have to get the lyric correct.
In this sketch, aired on Nov. 22, 2009, guest Blake Lively and Jimmy play each other, reminiscing about their previous Thanksgiving Dinners. It is shown through flashbacks that each Thanksgiving both Blake and Jimmy bring the same food item or dish. Blake, enraged, slaps Jimmy. At the last Thanksgiving shown neither bring out a food dish, however Blake becomes enraged anyway when she and Jimmy break the wishbone from the turkey and he gets the bigger half.
On Halloween 2011, Jimmy and Heidi Klum bowled two frames apiece using pumpkins of various sizes instead of bowling balls. Klum beat Jimmy 19–18.
After Stephen Colbert auctioned off a portrait of himself "enhanced" by artists Shepard Fairey and Andres Serrano for the charity DonorsChoose, he declared on his show, The Colbert Report, that his "BFF for six months," Jimmy Fallon, was going to match the auction price, $26,000. On the next night's Late Night, Fallon demurred, saying, "here's the thing: I never said that." Hearing that, Colbert came out on the Late Night stage and chided him, saying, "if you can't donate $26,000 of your best friend's money without asking him first, what's the point in being best friends?" In quasi-retaliation, Fallon announced that if his viewers would donate the $26,000 to DonorsChoose, Colbert would appear with the Roots to sing Rebecca Black's "Friday". (Fallon claimed he couldn't match the amount himself due to his money "being tied up in Soul Patrol Sweatshirts".) The viewers met the donation goal (as of April 2, 2011, 2,026 donors had pledged $63,902[96]), with NBC Universal also matching the $26,000, and Colbert, along with Fallon, Black Thought, Taylor Hicks, and the New York Knicks City Dancers, performed the song on the April 1, 2011 show. During the performance, Seth Herzog held up a large placard with a QR code on it; the code led to a "secret" video where Jimmy thanked his viewers for their donations.[97]
In a later segment of The Colbert Report, Colbert noticed that NBC used a picture of the "Friday" performance in Late Night's Emmy packet, and pointed out the irony of doing so since Fallon and Colbert would be up for Emmys in the same category. Colbert then did a "Thank You Note" to Jimmy for promoting his show. On a later episode of Late Night, Jimmy wanted to remain "fremmymies" (a portmanteau of "friend" and "Emmy") rather than "emmymies" and countered with his version of Colbert's "The Wørd" (which included "Who are we kidding – neither of us is gonna beat Jon Stewart"); the show then went to commercial with the logo Late Night with Jimmy Falbert.
When the six months was up, the pair became mortal enemies and went on each other's shows to feud. Anderson Cooper appeared on both sketches (claiming Italian restaurant Sbarro gives out free tickets to both shows when you buy a slice of pizza) asking each host if he could be their new friend, to which both replied "No, Anderson, it's just too soon!"
On December 20, 2012, Jimmy and Higgins did a version of the classic Abbott and Costello bit "Who's on First?" with Jimmy in the Bud Abbott role and Higgins in the Lou Costello role. During the bit, Billy Crystal appeared as the first baseman (Who), A. D. Miles was the second baseman (What), and Jerry Seinfeld played the third baseman (I Don't Know).
On May 24, 2012, Jimmy and Will Smith played their grandfathers, who had a music show on the old NBC Radio Network in the 1920s, and they show some old archived clips of them performing. However, all of the songs they performed were simply crooner-style versions of Smith's old songs, who claims they sound nothing like his music.
Jimmy and Bryan Cranston show clips from a soap opera they were in called Suspended Suspense in which they played brothers fighting over their late father's estate, all while suspended in the air by harnesses.
Jimmy and Jennifer Lawrence show clips from instructional dance videos they attempted to sell on an overnight show on QVC.
Jimmy was joined by Lionel Richie for a duet of Richie's song "Hello", which was also a parody of its music video.
Jimmy and Jon Hamm show clips from a soap opera they starred in together called In the Dusk of Night in which they played business partners fighting about whether or not Hamm's character is having an affair with Jimmy's character's wife. All the while, small animals on remote controlled cars roll onto the set playing loud music. Hamm claimed his outstanding performance was the reason he got the part of Don Draper on Mad Men.
Jimmy and Bryan Cranston show clips from an action show they were in together in which they played BASE jumpers who confessed wrongdoings to each other while on a dive.
Each year for March Madness, Jimmy picks an underdog team he thinks will go all the way. So far he is 1–3; his first 3 picks lost in the first round, but his 2013 pick actually made the Final Four.
In 2009, Jimmy threw all of his support behind the Tennessee-Chattanooga Mocs,[98] who were seeded #16 and played the heavy favorite, #1 seeded Connecticut Huskies in the first round. Jimmy made signs for the audience to hold up, gave them T-shirts, had their pep band play on the show, did a brief history of the school, and did an interview via satellite with Head Coach John Shulman. He also reviewed a list of notable graduates, which includes Dennis Haskins (most known as Mr. Belding from the TV series Saved by the Bell) who made an appearance on stage in support of his alma mater and gave Jimmy a UTC hat. However, the show's support wasn't enough, as the Mocs lost the game 103–47.[99] Coach Shulman and the outgoing senior players attended the March 20th taping of the show as audience members and Jimmy had a brief conversation with the coach during the show.
In 2010, Jimmy picked the Siena Saints. He said he wanted to pick his hometown school. He once again did a school history and reviewed a list of notable graduates, which also includes his sister Gloria. The Roots then performed a ballad about head coach Fran McCaffery. The #13 seed Saints lost in the first round to the #4 seed Purdue Boilermakers 72–64.[100] As a tribute to the team, Jimmy read off the Siena roster and had the audience twirl Saints T-shirts.
In 2011, Jimmy picked the #15 seed Long Island-Brooklyn Blackbirds who played the #2 seed North Carolina Tarheels in the first round. To celebrate, Fallon gave the entire audience Long Island-Brooklyn basketball T-shirts. Later, the Roots sang a song about the LIU head coach Jim Ferry, described by Jimmy as "the sexiest coach in the NCAA", and then Jimmy gave the entire audience Blackbirds thundersticks. LIU's mascot also appeared during Cell Phone Shootout the day before the first game to give high fives to the audience. Jimmy's pick once again didn't make it past the first round, losing 102–87.[101]
Late Night was in reruns the week before the tournament in 2012, so no underdog pick was made that year; however, Jimmy did a Pros and Cons sketch about March Madness upon his return.
In 2013, Jimmy's team was the #4 seed Syracuse Orange, his first pick to have a higher seed than their first-round opponent. Jimmy gave a special shout-out to Syracuse sophomore forward Rakeem Christmas (whom, Jimmy points out, wears number 25 on his jersey). After Syracuse won their first game (81–34 over the #13-seed Montana Grizzlies[102]), Jimmy gave one lucky audience member a bowl of oranges, which he elected to trade for a "mystery prize": a sack of oranges. After Syracuse won their second game (66–60 over the #12-seed California Golden Bears[103]) Jimmy gave out another bowl of oranges, which was traded for a citrus juicer. Syracuse's third game was a 61–50 win over the #1-seed Indiana Hoosiers,[104] but fell during a long weekend. After Syracuse won their fourth game (a 55–39 win over the #3-seed Marquette Golden Eagles[105]), Jimmy gave out another bowl of oranges, which were traded for a gift-wrapped bowl of oranges. Jimmy wanted to show a clip from their Elite Eight Victory, but CBS wouldn't allow it, so they re-created one using an Atari 2600 basketball game. Syracuse was finally defeated in the Final Four by Michigan on April 6.
In 2014–2016, the Puppy Predictors chose the winners.
In 2017, Jimmy as Shaquille O'Neal did a bracket (or "Shaq-et") in during Shaq's fictional podcast named "The Shaqcast" in which he picked the winners based on bizarre criteria (i.e. Wisconsin wins because they're the cheese state and he loves cheese) or the better mascot (he chose Gonzaga to win the tournament because Bulldogs are adorable, although his first pick was his alma mater Louisiana State).
As an April Fool's Day prank in 2009, Yoshi Amao came out and did the entire monologue in Japanese (with subtitles) instead of Jimmy.
In 2010, most of the band was shown lounging instead of playing the theme song during the introduction (the music was pre-recorded) while keyboardists James Poyser and Kamal Gray had a pretend boxing match.
In 2011, the band briefly played the theme song intentionally poorly and Questlove's drumming "stepped on" Tariq's announcing of the episode number. Shortly thereafter, Questlove announced "April Fools!" They finished the theme song as normal.
In 2012, April 1 fell on a weekend.
In the run-up to the 2010 midterm elections, Jimmy had five Golden Retriever puppies with human first and last names (Roger Blain, Brian Johnson, Kyle McAdams, Lisa Armstrong, and "troublemaker" Gary Frick) act as "pundits" to predict the winner of various races by choosing which of two bowls of dog food to eat from (blue for the Democrat and red for the Republican). After he briefly went through the candidates' positions, he released the puppies from a small cage. The puppies selected:
The puppies correctly called three of the four races, only missing in the Sestak/Toomey race in Pennsylvania.
After the election, an "attack ad" ("paid for by cats") surfaced slamming Gary Frick for his flip-flop in the Cuomo/Paladino race.
In a final bipartisan effort, he rewarded the puppies for their work by letting them eat out of a single bowl.
Jimmy also had the puppies predict the Best Picture winner of the 83rd Academy Awards. They incorrectly predicted Toy Story 3 (The King's Speech was the actual winner).
Jimmy later had the puppies predict the results of the 2011 NFL season. They incorrectly selected the New England Patriots to be the winners of Super Bowl XLVI. The Patriots did make it to the Super Bowl, but lost to the New York Giants by the score of 21–17.
On the February 24, 2012 episode, Jimmy had the puppies predict the Best Picture winner of the 84th Academy Awards. They incorrectly predicted The Tree of Life (The Artist was the actual winner).
The night before the 2012 U.S. presidential election, Jimmy allowed Gary Frick (whom Jimmy has adopted as his own pet) to select the winner. She (Gary Frick is actually a female dog) incorrectly picked Mitt Romney as the winner (Barack Obama was re-elected).
On the January 30, 2013 episode, as part of an "Audience Suggestion Box" segment, Jimmy had the puppies predict the winner of Super Bowl XLVII.[106] They correctly selected the Baltimore Ravens over the San Francisco 49ers (the final score was 34–31).
On the February 20, 2013 episode, Jimmy had the puppies predict the Best Picture winner of the 85th Academy Awards. They correctly predicted Argo. (Gary Frick did not appear in this segment; she was replaced by Barry Frick, whose relation to Gary, if any, is not yet known.)
On April 12, 2013, a puppy incorrectly picked Wichita State to win the 2013 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament (even though the show's pick was Syracuse, who also didn't win—that honor went to Louisville). The selection method was different for this prediction: each of the four puppies wore the jersey of a different team and the first one that reached the food bowl indicated the prediction.
On May 3, 2013, Jimmy had one puppy (Barry Frick) predict the winner of the 2013 Kentucky Derby. Barry incorrectly predicted Verrazano, who came in 14th place; Orb was the winner.
On September 4, 2013, as part of an "Audience Suggestion Box" segment, Jimmy had the puppies predict the winner of the NFL season opener between the Baltimore Ravens and the Denver Broncos. They predicted Denver. The puppies were correct when the Broncos, led by Peyton Manning, did win.[107]
On April 30, 2015, as part of an "Audience Suggestion Box" segment, Jimmy had 16 puppies predict the winner of the 2015 Kentucky Derby, all of them representing one of the top sixteen horses racing. The puppies correctly predicted that American Pharaoh would win the derby.
In the theme park attraction Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, the Golden Retriever puppies make an appearance, carried inside a basket by Sara's stepdad, Gary.
Jimmy brought down two self-professed fans of the Harry Potter series and had them compete at a series of contests to try to win a prize package provided by Warner Brothers.
Because the contestants were tied after round 3, they went to a tiebreaker, where they had to chug a pint of butterbeer as quickly as possible.
The winner's prize was a three-day trip for two to London, staying at a four-star hotel, and the winner would film a Harry Potter movie scene. The loser received a Late Night T-shirt.
Jimmy and a choir of the show's staff sang a song about the twelve biggest news stories of 2010, to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas". The sketch returned in 2011 as the "Late Night Topical Carolers".
In Target Demographic, Jimmy details a very specific type of viewer which is attractive to advertisers due to their excessive wasteful spending on material goods. The first version was "Blonde Connecticut Housewives". The segment has also examined "Jersey Shore D-Bags" (actual residents of the area, not cast members of the MTV reality show), "Indian Doctors", and "Balds". This sketch was only done in the early days of the show and has seemed to be retired.
Leading up to the 2011 BCS National Championship Game between the Auburn Tigers and the Oregon Ducks, Jimmy noted that, while most schools have school fight songs, no school has a school power ballad. After some deliberation as to which of the championship teams to choose, he decided to create one for Oregon, "We are the Ducks", which was performed by former Skid Row lead singer Sebastian Bach.
Jimmy and the show's staff, plus Will Arnett and Horatio Sanz, did a parody of "The Super Bowl Shuffle" called "The Pro Bowl Shuffle".
Jimmy played New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, Arnett played Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre, Sanz played Pittsburgh Steelers strong safety Troy Polamalu, Bashir Salahuddin played Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, and A.D. Miles played New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning. In non-speaking roles, Owen Biddle played Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, Questlove played Detroit Lions tackle Ndamukong Suh, Damon Bryson played Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson, Kamal Gray played Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, with unidentified gentlemen playing Cowboys tight end Jason Witten and Chicago Bears defensive end Julius Peppers.
Black Thought played Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson, Captain Kirk Douglas played Giants wide receiver Steve Smith, F. Knuckles played New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush, with an unidentified gentleman playing Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, even though those four players were not named to the 2011 Pro Bowl at the time (Johnson later made the Pro Bowl as a replacement for injured Houston Texans running back Arian Foster).
Jimmy enlisted the help of Zac Efron, Jesse Eisenberg, Howie Mandel, Jack McBrayer, Patton Oswalt, Maya Rudolph, Jason Segel, Martin Short, T.I., and Brian Williams to recite a shortened version of the poem A Visit From St. Nicholas in a Mad Libs fashion.
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a Swiffer (Mandel);
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that Rod Carew (Oswalt) soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sweet and sour shrimp (T.I.) danc'd in their heads,
And Mama in her performance fleece (Eisenberg), and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's crap (McBrayer) —
When out on the lawn there arose such a caw (Short),
I sprang from the bed to see what it be (Williams).
Away to the window I flew like a virgin (McBrayer),
Tore open the shutters, and threw up all over my new loafers (Williams).
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a '71 Gremlin (Oswalt), and eight sexy (Segel) ferrets (T.I.),
With a little old driver, so sloppy (Efron) and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be Herbert Hoover (Rudolph).
More rapid than yogurt tubes (Oswalt) his coursers they came,
And he sneezed (Williams), and he pooped (Rudolph), and call'd them by name:
"Now! Dasher, now! Spanky (Short), now! Gertie (McBrayer) and Vixen,
"On! Fallopia (Rudolph), on! Charles Barkley (T.I.), on! Mucus Legs (Oswalt) and Blitzen;
His eyes — how they twinkled! His nipples (McBrayer): how merry,
His cheeks were like squishy (Oswalt) birds (T.I.), his breasts (Short) like a cherry;
He had a broad face, and a stanky (Williams) hot (Rudolph) belly
That shook when he diddled (McBrayer), like a bowl full of hot sauce (T.I.):
And laying his weird sucker pads (Oswalt) aside of his spicy butt (Rudolph)
And giving a squash (Efron), up the ding-dong (Short) he wiped (Williams).
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight —
Happy (Efron) Christmas (Eisenberg) to (T.I.) all (McBrayer), and (Oswalt) to (T.I.) all (Short) a (Mandel) dried penis (Rudolph).
During the week of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, Jimmy opened each show with an impression of a speaker from the previous night at the convention: San Antonio mayor Julian Castro, former president Bill Clinton, and singer James Taylor (singing a parody of "Fire and Rain" about the DNC and RNC).