StarPix/REX/ShutterstockJimmy Fallon, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and director of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Dave Diomedi came out to the Paley Center in New York City Wednesday to discuss the NBC program, The Roots and the state of comedy at large.
While the group is on national television five nights a week, they were able to share a few stories that aren't as widely known to the public.
Here are five key moments from An Evening with The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon:
1. Barack Obama Didn't Rehearse "Slow Jam the News"
Number 44 slow jammed the news twice during his eight years as president. Jimmy said Barack was a lot looser and willing to do more "fun" things the second time around. "He was a way different president," the late-night host said. "He was on his way out." When it came to the part where the former president said he wanted to help put Americans back to "work, work, work, work, work," he wanted to sing and dance that part out. Also, Barack was ready to put on a show the moment he stepped on the stage. "He didn't rehearse," Questlove added.
2. Prince Whooped Jimmy at Ping Pong—and No One Was There to Witness It!
A week after being on the show, Prince's manager called Jimmy while he was at dinner and said the singer wanted to play him in ping pong at SPiN, a popular ping pong club. Not wanting to be the one to say no to the music icon, Jimmy made his way over to the spot around 11 p.m., where he went past a back curtain to find Prince wearing a double-breasted suit standing there with a ping pong paddle. Jimmy said Prince looked right at him and without hesitation he said, "You ready to do this?" When it came to game point, Prince served up a hit that was so far out of the host's range he had to turn around and crawl on the floor to get it. When Jimmy had the ball and stood back up, Prince was gone. Jimmy had no idea where the "I Wanna Be Your Lover" singer went, but saw the curtain moving ever-so-slightly. "It's like Batman," the host joked.
Questlove, who was late to the quick ping pong match, ran after Prince's car as he was driving away. When they reached a red light, Prince rolled down his window, "Grey Poupon-style." Questlove asked the eight-time Grammy winner what had happened. Prince looked back and responded, "Ask your boy," before driving off into the night.
3. The Roots Didn't Want to Be Jimmy Fallon's Band
The first time Jimmy met The Roots was at UCLA prior to the launch of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. Questlove said they were in a good place of making a living off doing what they loved, so they didn't want to switch up their groove. "In the back of my mind I knew we weren't going to accept it," the lead drummer said. Questlove and his manager, Rich Nichols, stepped out of their trailer before the show and saw Jimmy had all of the guys in the band form an old-school, Eight Is Enough-style human pyramid for a photo. In that moment, Questlove leaned over to his manager and said, "We're not getting rid of this guy are we?"
4. The Tonight Show Theme Song Was a Complete Accident
When Late Night With Jimmy Fallon was transitioning into The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy thought it would be in the best interest for the show to have a brand new theme song. After recording 15-20 options, The Roots' manager Rich was dragging files over on the computer for Jimmy to listen to and choose. Rich accidentally drug over the very first song The Roots ever recorded in 30 Rock, the iconic "Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!" theme song everyone knows today. The song was originally created as a test bumper song for coming in and out of commercial breaks for Late Night, but was never picked up. Jimmy kept coming back to the song, because he thought it was catchy. Lorne Michaels suggested adding horns to the final version of the song, because "kings need to be announced."
5. Questlove's Dream Guest Couldn't Come on the Show…and It's All Jimmy's Fault!
While the happy-go-lucky late night host loves all of his guests, Questlove was quite upset about one scheduled star who had a sudden cancellation. "I was salty. We had Angelina Jolie," said the 46-year-old drummer. "Then something happened." But as Jimmy explained, "I had a baby!"
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