Comic Derek Gaines Makes Tonight Show Correspondent Debut

Comedian Derek Gaines made his first appearance on The Tonight Show on Thursday—not with a stand-up set, but as a correspondent.

The comic reported a man-on-the-street segment for Jimmy Fallon, who tossed to the segment during his opening monologue. While discussing how Joe Biden reportedly feels that the country has forgotten about him since he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, Fallon told viewers that he sent a correspondent out to prove that people are still thinking about the current president.

Gaines’ sketch finds him asking passersby at Rockefeller Center increasingly strange questions, from “Who’d you vote for in 2020?” to “Who do you think Kim K is going to date next?”—all of which were answered with “Joe Biden.”

“President Biden is still very much in the minds, hearts, and lower backs of New Yorkers,” Gaines ultimately declares.

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The comedian announced his pending appearance on Instagram Wednesday afternoon. “Today I got to be a correspondent for The Tonight Show,” Gaines captioned a photo of himself with a cue card from the segment.

In August, Gaines warmed up the crowd as the opener for Michael Che at the first “test episode” of the “Weekend Update” co-anchor’s new work-in-progress late-night show, Don’t Sleep with Michael Che. Gaines previously appeared in Che’s sketch show, That Damn Michael Che, and has recurred on other shows from SNL alumni, including Tracy Morgan’s The Last O.G. and Pete Davidson’s Bupkis. Gaines was also a writer on Inside Amy Schumer, for which he won a WGA Award in 2023.

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