After saying goodbye to his Late Night home, Jimmy Fallon welcomed a new era for The Tonight Show. The premiere featured A-lister cameos, dancing with Will Smith, and a roof-top performance by U2.
The show began with a new opening, shot by Spike Lee, with shots of the Empire State Building, Radio City Music Hall, and the Chrysler building to mark the shows return to the big apple since Johnny Carson moved it to California in 1972. Fallon’s obligatory monologue then continued with the same gratitude that his last episode of Late Night left off with and an introduction to his parents sitting in the audience.
After introducing his announcer Steve Higgins and house band The Roots, Fallon decided to give a second opening monologue and appeared from behind the curtains again, this time using the Sochi Olympics as the butt of his jokes.
Fallon then welcomed a slew of celebrities, including Seth Rogen, Tina Fey, Kim Kardashian, Lindsey Lohan, and even Lady Gaga, that all dropped hundred dollar bills after Jimmy tells the audience that the guy who told him he’d never host The Tonight Show owes him. The best appearance came from Stephen Colbert, who shares the same time slot, and paid Fallon with pennies before taking a selfie.
Fallon resurfaced his Late Night segment “evolution of dancing,” this time chronicling the evolution of Hip-Hop moves with none other than the fresh prince himself, Will Smith. The three minute rundown featured “The Running Man,” the “Humpty Dance,” and ended with the current “Twerking.”
The rest of the shows action happened off the stage and instead at the top of Rockefeller Center, where U2 performed their new song “Invisible.” While the band rocked it as usual, they were mildly overshadowed by the skyline behind them that had a falling star.
The new Tonight Show host didn’t disappoint with his second episode either, this time having comedienne Kristin Wigg dress up as One Direction member Harry Styles and give an interview. He again resurfaced another Late Night trope with his “#HashTag” segment, first done with Justin Timberlake and now with Jonah Hill, that just has a conversation with the placement of hash tags after sentences.
Wednesday night brought charades with celebrities including Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper, Tim McGraw, and multiple Academy Award winner Emma Thompson.
The remaining premiere-week antics of the refreshed Tonight Show include a visit from Justin Timberlake, which will hopefully feature a new installment of the “History of Rap.”
Late Night will welcome Seth Meyers on February 24th.
