Jimmy Fallon and The Roots are set to take to the Tonight Show stage with a special in-show musical performance this Thursday, December 19—the last episode before the show takes a two-week holiday break.
While neither the host nor his house band have hinted at what they’ll be performing, it’s become a recent holiday tradition for the host and his house band to collaborate on a musical number number to ring out the year. Last year’s final episode of the year saw Fallon and The Roots dressed in gaudy ’80s garb as they performed an homage to gift cards, titled “Get a Gift Card.” A year earlier, Fallon performed as Elvis Presley in “Elvis on the Shelvis.”
It remains to be seen whether we’ll get a new original song this year, or if Fallon and The Roots will perform their song off Fallon’s Holiday Seasoning album, “Hey Rudy,” a poppy ode to Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.
They recently performed the song at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and on Fallon’s top-rated holiday special, Jimmy Fallon’s Holiday Seasoning Spectacular.
Thanksgiving Night saw Fallon put a ’70s spin on a different song from his album on The Tonight Show, “Chipmunks and Chestnuts.”
Fallon and The Roots’ December 19 performance will come on the heels of another holiday-themed Tonight Show episode. The night prior, Darlene Love will bring her traditional rendition of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” to Fallon’s show for the first time—continuing a decades-long tradition from David Letterman‘s two late-night shows that dates back to 1986
Fallon’s guest lineup for Thursday 12/19 also includes Chloe Fineman and Martin Short, who will be hosting Saturday Night Live’s Christmas episode this weekend.
Help! The chipmunks are just darling.