The fate of The Tonight Show is unclear.
Jimmy Fallon and his late-night show's cast of characters created the ultimate Empire spoof Tuesday, titled Jimpire, and it is everything. Unsure of whom to leave his "Jimpire" to, Fallon channeled his best Terrence Howard to determine who would be the best comedic heir to his show.
"Well, with my finger being in the condition it is, who knows what could happen tomorrow?" said Fallon, explaining why he needed to choose an heir. "I could stub my toe. I could bite my tongue. I could burn the roof of my mouth on a hot microwave pizza."
"The point is I need to entrust my legacy to someone," he added, using Howard's classic intonation.
His options included Questlove, drummer of The Roots, Tariq of the same band, and Fallon's "business-savvy-yet-moody show producer," Andre. But then a fourth option showed up: Steve Higgins, now known as "Higgy."
Higgy, who portrayed Taraji P. Henson's character Cookie Lyon, showed up and fought for his right to the Jimpire, even joking that Fallon's finger injury was just a small "boo boo kitty." Despite the four potential heirs best efforts, Fallon couldn't decide whose jokes would be good enough for The Tonight Show. When he let Quest try out, all he did was drum. When Tariq followed up, he rapped. But neither seemed to be enough for Fallon until Higgy suggested they come together instead of pinning them against each other.
The result? An amazing rap and fresh beat about Chris Christie and his fight for the presidency in 2016, which is also "what he sees on the bathroom scale." BURN! Fallon decided these two made quite the dynamic duo, but all his confidence was lost when he ran into the real Lucius Lyon AKA Howard. Dressed in identical turtlenecks and purple scarves, Howard and Fallon confronted each other about the idea of an Empire spoof.
"Don't do one of Empire," Howard said flatly, before adding, "You're talking funny."
When Fallon finally made up his mind about the next leader of The Tonight Show, Taraji P. Henson showed up to call out Higgy, who called her a bitch.
"Who you callin' a bitch, bitch?" Henson asked. "I should call you Lil' Debbie cuz you are one fake-ass Cookie."
So who actually became heir to The Tonight Show? Watch the video above to find out!
(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)