Jimmy Fallon Kicks Off 'The Tonight Show,' Debuts 'Evolution of Hip-Hop Dancing' With Will Smith

The Jimmy Fallon era of The Tonight Show has begun. And, unlike the uncertain start Fallon had with Late Night, his Tonight Show debut was confident, earnest and had little problem bringing in the big stars.

During one of Fallon's first Tonight Show segments, the late-night host laughed that his buddy who bet him he'd never host The Tonight Show now owed him $100. Cue a parade of celebrities, including Tina Fey, Mariah Carey, Joe Namath, Lindsay Lohan, Tracy Morgan, Lady Gaga, Stephen Colbert and Mike Tyson, stopping by Fallon's desk to drop off a $100 bill. The first celebrity out was Robert De Niro, a callback to when he was Fallon's inaugural Late Night guest. That very first interview was awful and appeared to spell doom for Fallon's days on Late Night. Five years later, Fallon sits at the Tonight Show desk and that De Niro interview is just a footnote.



Will Smith was Fallon's first Tonight Show guest, and the duo quickly proved that Fallon's Tonight Show wouldn't be much different from Fallon's Late Night. In the vein of "The Evolution of Mom Dancing" with Michelle Obama, Fallon and Smith performed "The Evolution of Hip-Hop Dancing." Fallon twerked.