Jimmy Fallon's first "Tonight Show"
Tonight wasn't just about Will Smith, Mariah Carey, Robert De Niro and Lady Gaga. The Rutgers University Drumline also appeared in a star-studded lineup for the first episode of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon". The Rutgers drummers, part of the Rutgers University Marching Scarlet Knights, played in a performance of U2's new single "Invisible" on the roof of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. U2 followed up the open-air show with an in-studio rendition of its Golden Globe-winning, Oscar-nominated song "Ordinary Love", with backing from The Roots.
Tim Smith, director of athletic bands for Rutgers University, tweeted photos from the Rutgers rehearsal. The college marching band has been playing some pretty high-profile gigs. Just this month Rutgers students took the field at Super Bowl XLVIII for the pregame show. Last year, the drumline also performed at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
Unquestionably however, it was the sheer starpower that Fallon - former host of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" - drew in his first outing as "Tonight Show" host that had his audience glued to the screen. At least, for what proved to be the biggest celebrity-filled moment of the show. It happened in a segment that followed Fallon's opening monologue.
Addressing a friend who he said bet him that he'd never become host of "The Tonight Show", Fallon said the friend - whoever that was - owed him $100. In short order, Robert De Niro, Tina Fey, Mariah Carey, Tracy Morgan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Seth Rogen, Mike Tyson, Lindsay Lohan, Joe Namath, Kim Kardashian, Joan Rivers and Lady Gaga showed up, each bestowing their own $100 bill.
Stephen Colbert was there, too, to dump a load of pennies on the late-night host, whose new airtime moves him to an earlier start. What did the "Colbert Report" boss have to say? "Welcome to 11:30, b**ch!"
Fallon also started his "Tonight Show" tenure with another sendup of the famous "Evolution of Dance" YouTube video (he's previously tried it with First Lady Michelle Obama), this time with Will Smith, his first-ever guest on the New York-based show. Together they demonstrated the "Evolution of Hip-Hop Dancing" through various dances - the Dougie, the Cabbage Patch and the Running Man among them.
But one sequence that proved to be an especially big winner on Twitter had Smith and Fallon doing the Carlton, a nod to Smith's "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" co-star, Alfonso Ribeiro, and his ... zestful ... dancing style (complete with Tom Jones soundtrack). (NJ.com)
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