Musical sketches Slow Jam the News 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: • President Obama's executive order on
immigration reform •
President Obama's time in office with Obama himself joining Jimmy. •
Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential campaign with
Bush himself joining Jimmy •
Pete Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign with
Buttigieg joining Jimmy •
Kamala Harris's 2020 presidential campaign with
Harris joining Jimmy •
Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign with
Sanders joining Jimmy
Neil Young 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.
Bob Dylan 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''.
Chicken Band 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. On November 4, 2015, Jimmy and Tartaro were joined by
Meghan Trainor and
Alanis Morissette to perform Morissette's "
Ironic".
Brian Williams: Gangsta Rapper 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.
Classroom instruments Jimmy with the Roots join a musical celebrity to perform one of their hits on classroom instruments. These have included: •
Idina Menzel – "
Let It Go" (March 3, 2014) •
Meghan Trainor – "
All About That Bass" (September 4, 2014) •
One Direction – "
Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (December 22, 2014) •
Madonna – "
Holiday" (August 4, 2015) •
Adele – "
Hello" (November 24, 2015) •
Sia &
Natalie Portman – "
Iko Iko" (January 27, 2016) •
The Lonely Island – "
I'm On A Boat" (with
T-Pain's part performed by
Black Thought, who "forgot" to use the clean lyrics) (May 16, 2016) •
Metallica – "
Enter Sandman" (November 16, 2016) •
Ed Sheeran – "
Shape of You" (February 27, 2017) •
Fleetwood Mac's
Lindsey Buckingham and
Christine McVie featuring kids from
SeriousFun Children's Network – "
Don't Stop" (June 2017) •
Anna Kendrick &
Darlene Love – "
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" (December 18, 2017) •
Camila Cabello – "
Havana" (January 17, 2018) •
Ariana Grande – "
No Tears Left to Cry" (using Nintendo Labo Instruments; May 14, 2018) •
Backstreet Boys – "
I Want It That Way" (June 28, 2018) •
Aerosmith – "
Walk This Way" (September 12, 2018) •
Weezer – "
Take On Me" (February 28, 2019) •
The Who's
Pete Townshend and
Roger Daltrey – "
Won't Get Fooled Again" (May 15, 2019) •
Jonas Brothers – "
Sucker" (June 10, 2019) •
Ringo Starr – "
Yellow Submarine" (September 24, 2019) •
Janet Jackson – "
Runaway" (February 12, 2020) •
Sting – "
Don't Stand So Close to Me" (April 9, 2020) •
Brendon Urie – "
Under Pressure" (using household items as instruments; May 12, 2020) •
Billy Idol – "
Dancing with Myself" (using household items as instruments; May 22, 2020) • The original cast of
Hamilton – "
Helpless" (using household items as instruments; June 27, 2020 as an online exclusive) •
Justin Bieber – "
Peaches" (April 26, 2021) • Madonna – "
Music" (August 11, 2022) •
"Weird Al" Yankovic – A medley of his songs (November 7, 2022) •
John Fogerty - "
Lookin' out My Back Door" (May 1, 2023) •
Sheryl Crow – "
All I Wanna Do" (November 3, 2023) •
Justin Timberlake – A medley of songs (January 25, 2024) •
Bill Murray,
Ernie Hudson, &
Ray Parker Jr. – "
Ghostbusters" (March 15, 2024) •
Gwen Stefani – "
Hollaback Girl" (November 25, 2024) 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.
Shot-for-shot music video recreations 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: •
Styx's music video for "
Too Much Time on My Hands" (April 29, 2016) •
Go West's music video for "
King of Wishful Thinking" (February 9, 2018). •
Dead or Alive's music video for "
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" (April 25, 2019).
The Ragtime Gals 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.
Covers performed • "
Baby Got Back" • "
Bitch Better Have My Money" featuring
Joseph Gordon-Levitt • "
Buddy Holly" featuring
Weezer • "
Ignition (Remix)" • "
I Wanna Sex You Up" • "
Roxanne" featuring
Sting • "
Sexual Healing" featuring
Steve Carell • "
Talk Dirty" featuring
Kevin Spacey • "
That's What I Like" featuring
Tina Fey • "
Thong Song" by
Sisqó featuring the
Backstreet Boys Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon 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.
First Drafts of Rock 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),
The Beach Boys' "
Fun, Fun, Fun" (where most of its lyrics are centered upon a hamburger stand, and eventually consist entirely of the word "hamburger"),
The Guess Who's "
American Woman" (which had stanzas about an "Australian Lawyer" and "Canadian Dentist"),
ZZ Top's "
Legs" (which had stanzas regarding other body parts;
Chris Stapleton made a guest appearance portraying
Billy Gibbons), 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").
Audience Suggestion Box 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").
Screengrabs 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.
Head Swap 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
The Tonight Show, 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.
12 Days of Christmas Sweaters 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.
Tonight Show Stocking Stuffers 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.
Obama Expressions 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.
Cupid's Arrow 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.
How You Like Me Now? 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
The Tonight Show 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.
At the Bar with Roger Federer 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.
Tale of the Tape 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.
Good Advice, Bad Advice 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.")
Do Not Play List 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.
Do Not Read List 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.
Do Not Watch List 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).
Do Not Game List During the show's Video Game Week in 2013, Jimmy showcased some 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.
Celebrity Whispers 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.
Questions & Danswers 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.
Obama and Putin phone conversations Jimmy as President of Russia
Vladimir Putin and Dion Flynn as President Obama have one-on-one private conversations about their presidential debates. Both candidates criticize themselves and each other. 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.
In Reply To 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.
Tonight Show Superlatives 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.
Questlove and Tariq re-enact The Bachelor 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.
Fallonventions 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.
Picture This 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.)
I've Got Good News and Good News In an attempt to counter all the bad news stories, Jimmy has real-life NBC news anchors read (fake) stories that are overly-positive.
Facebook Headlines 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".
Kid Letters Jimmy reads letters submitted from kid viewers, and even replies to suggestions.
Mispronouncing 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!.
The Big Question 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?"
Bad Signs 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).
Good Name, Bad Name, Great Name 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.)
Tonight Show Polls 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.)
This Week in Memes Jimmy recaps the week through memes with funny sayings based on what the pictures look like.
Tonight Show Podcasts Jimmy reviews (fake) obscure, lesser-known podcasts with celebrities, like
Shaq Loves Poems and
Celebrity Quiet Game.
Tonight Showbotics Jimmy showcases new robots and technologies from around the world, including
Sophia the Robot.
News & Improved Jimmy shows pictures from current news and makes up headlines based on how it looks.
Andrew Karn 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.
Tonight Show GIFs Jimmy shows GIFs and adds quotes to them based on what they look like.
Deep Issues, Deep Tissues Jimmy would send a correspondent down to get people's thoughts about current events while being given a deep massage.
Blended News Stories Jimmy takes three news headlines and blends them together to create one bizarre headline.
In Lighter News Jimmy reads headlines from lighter news stories to the tune of "
Roses are red, violets are blue."
Goodnight News 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?'").
Tonight Show Interesting Polls Jimmy shows a poll which would turn into an argument between a husband named Carl and his nagging wife Jodie.
Kentucky Derby Hat Giveaway 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).
News Smash Jimmy covers multiple news stories at once, quickly transitioning back and forth between them.
#Blessed #Inspired Jimmy, donning long hair and a tunic, reads inspirational quotes from Instagram and adds funny quotes to them.
Tariq's Irk List Tariq tells Jimmy about things that annoy him, like getting old and wearing shoes at home.
Go On, Git! 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!" 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.
2020 Election Closing Arguments 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.
Popular Mathematics 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 subtractions and multiplications, but, in later versions of the sketch, only addition was left as an option.
Trump's No Context 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.
Let's get Siri-ous 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. ==Running gags==