Even on Thanksgiving day, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon was on, with fantastic guests like actress Rashida Jones (Web Therapy), talk show host and actress Whoopi Goldberg (The View), and chef Tom Collicchio. Jimmy Fallon and Rashida sang a medley of holiday favorites together, and then she joined Fallon and The Roots’ bandleader, Ahmir-Khalib “Questlove” Thompson as they participated in a cooking demonstration conducted by chef Collicchio.
Jimmy Fallon welcomed his studio audience warmly this Thanksgiving Thursday. He then performed his nightly monologue, joking and commenting on news items that made the headlines today. Some of the joke follow, in a slightly paraphrased form.
“This is what people have been talking about,” Fallon began. “Today was the Macy’s thanksgiving Day Parade. I remember sitting on my dad’s shoulders, and he said ‘Why are we doing this, when we’re just watching TV?'”
Then, Fallon said “There were a lot of new balloons this year. There was Thomas the Tank Engine, the Pillsbury Doughboy, and a Butterball Turkey one,” Fallon said, comparing it to Kim Kardashian’s boobs.
“This is crazy. I heard that competitive eater, Joey Chestnut, ate more than 9 pounds of turkey to win the competition. He then slept for two days,” Fallon quipped.
“People in New York City are looking for the man who won a million dollar lottery ticket. I already won the greatest prize of all — you guys.”
“Important information here — tourists in Venice face a $1,500 fine for having suitcases with noisy wheels,” Fallon said, then imitated Italians shouting at each other.
“We have a great show! Give it up for The Roots!” Fallon said, as they played him to his desk. “We have a great show tonight! Who better to celebrate Thanksgiving with then Whoopi Goldberg and another of our favorites, Rashida Jones? Also, what do you do with your turkey leftovers? Chef Tom Collicchio is here to show you.”
Then, he did his weekly “Thank You Notes,” segment, a day ahead of time. He and announcer, Steve Higgins, messed with keyboardist, James Posey, as they usually do, trying to get him to laugh. Then, Fallon began his “Thank You Notes” bit. Some of the “Thank You Notes,” Jimmy Fallon said follow, paraphrased.
“Thank you, yams, for sounding like Sofia Vergara trying to say ‘jams.'”
“Thank you, turkey basters, for not being called ‘bird squirters.'”
“Thank you, people who ask to borrow your Tupperware containers for holiday leftovers, basically asking to borrow them forever.”
“Thank you, dogs, for eating grandma’s green bean casserole,” Jimmy Fallon said, concluding the comedy bit. Then, the Tonight Show went to a commercial break.
Back from break, Jimmy Fallon started talking about how he loved holiday music. Then, he and Rashida Jones changed the words of popular songs, to make them have words about the holidays. It was hilarious! They sang songs to the tune of hits like All About That Bass, Let It Go, and many others. They were AWESOME! Santa Claus even came out to join them as they sang! The entire audience were on their feet by the end of the medley. Check out the video below!
After the commercial break, Jimmy Fallon introduced his first guest of the evening, Whoopi Goldberg. “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Whoopi Goldberg!” Whoopi brought Fallon a gift basket.
“It’s so nice to see you, Whoopi! What did you bring me?”
“It’s Thanksgiving, so I brought you a black turkey,” she said.
“You brought me a chocolate turkey?” he asked.
“I keep trying to out-do myself,” she answered. It was a turkey made out of solid dark chocolate. He said “There’s enough for the entire audience.”
“I just want to spend a minute with my family and friends without being mad,” Whoopi said. She asked everyone to go to their windows and yell out, “I just need a minute!”
Whoopi said “When I was a little kid, my mother made us feel, even though we had no money, we were millionaires. One day a year, put down your gadgets and talk to your family!”
“I went to Vegas, which I do every year, to celebrate my birthday,” Whoopi said. She talked to Fallon about her new grandbaby, and about her daughter doing a reality show. “My daughter is really funny,” Whoopi said. “Bitingly funny. They ask what they should do, and then came up with the idea of skydiving.”
Jimmy Fallon also talked to Whoopi about The View, and some wild things that they sometimes do on that show. “And, you’re also doing the movie Top Five,” Fallon said.
“Yes! It’s so good! It’s wet-your-pants funny!” Whoopi said.
Jimmy Fallon mentioned one scene in particular, when Whoopi, Chris Rock, and others go to s strip club. Fallon mentioned that the music “was supervised by Questlove.” He then showed a funny clip from the movie Top Five.
“I’m in the midst of writing a relationship book,” Whoopi said. She talked a little bit about the book, then Jimmy Fallon said when the Tonight Show comes back, his next guest would be Rashida Jones.
When The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon returned from the commercial break, Fallon introduced actress Rashida Jones. Fallon said “She’s the executive producer of A to Z — ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back Rashida Jones!” He thanked her for doing the holiday medley with him.
“Are you kidding?” she said. “That’s the highlight of my year!”
Fallon mentioned that Rashida’s mother was actress Peggy Lipton. Fallon said that “You can’t talk about it, but your mother is going to be in a sequel to Twin Peaks.”
“I can’t talk about it,” she said.
“You’re writing Toy Story 4?”
“Yeah, I’m co-writing it with Will McCormick.”
“Can you tell me about it?” Fallon asked her.
“I can’t talk about it,” she said. “Pixar is so cool. I don’t want to ruin your fantasy, but I can’t talk about it.”
They did talk about A to Z, but she said it was up against Scandal and “a little thing called football.”
The “A” stands for Andrew, and the “Z” for Zelda, the names of the two main characters, who have been dating for a little over 8 months. She urged viewers to watch the show, and said they could watch back episodes on “NBC on Demand.”
After yet more commercials, when the Tonight Show came back, Fallon, Rashida Jones, and Questlove took part in a cooking demonstration with renowned chef Tom Collicchio, the head judge of Top Chef, which is in Boston this season. He showed them what to do with holiday leftovers.
He said that “Of course, there’s the sandwich thing,” but he showed them what they could do with leftover turkey even for the next day’s breakfast. Questlove broke a couple of eggs, while Fallon chopped up some other things, like sweet potatoes.
“Again, there’s no recipe,” Collicchio said. “You just get whatever leftovers you have.”
Rashida tried to flip some eggs that were frying, but had some problems, so chef Collicchio helped out. There was not much time left, but the cooking demonstration was pretty much over, anyway.
What a great Thanksgiving day (well, “night”) episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon! Fallon’s guest, Whoopi Goldberg, Rashida Jones and chef Tom Collicchio were wonderful, and watching the show while letting Thanksgiving dinner digest was a perfect way to conclude the festive holiday. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
Written By Douglas Cobb
Jimmy Fallon and Rashida Jones Sing Holiday Favorites
