There are few better ways to honor someone than by immortalizing them in butter, as Jimmy Fallon is about to discover.
Next month, the Iowa State Fair is celebrating 10 years of Fallon leading The Tonight Show by transforming the host into a giant statue made of butter. Late-night legend Johnny Carson—who previously hosted The Tonight Show for three decades—and Fallon’s trusty announcer, Steve Higgins, will also get the butter treatment.
Both Carson and Higgins have personal ties to the state of Iowa. Carson was born in Corning and his family resided in Clarinda, Red Oak, and Avoca growing up; he moved to Norfolk, Nebraska at age eight. Meanwhile, Higgins hails from Des Moines, which is where the well-known state fair takes place.
The comedians will serve as sidekick sculptures to the fair’s famous Butter Cow centerpiece, which has been a tradition since 1911. Sculptor Sarah Pratt, along with her apprentices Hannah and Grace, are the architects behind these late-night butter masterworks.
Honoring celebrities and pop culture is a longtime tradition at the Iowa State Fair. Past butter sculptures have taken the shape of (real and fictional) famous figures like Elvis Presley, Tiger Woods, Harry Potter, and even the Sesame Street gang. Last year, the fair honored Iowa athletes Jack Trice, Kurt Warner, and Caitlin Clark.
Higgins has always proudly claimed his Iowan roots. “The thing I like most [about Iowans] is that we’re proud of where we’re from, but we’re not a**holes about it,” the Tonight Show announcer told The Des Moines Register in 2014. “If show business was [in Iowa] would I have ever left? No.”
The 2024 Iowa State Fair kicks off August 8 and runs through August 18. All of the sculptures will be on display in the John Deere Agriculture Building 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. throughout the fair’s 11-day run.