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Watch Nile Rodgers ‘Freak Out’ With the Roots on ‘Fallon’

nile rodgers, late night with jimmy fallon, the roots

Daft Punk’s scheduled appearance on The Colbert Report may have been D.O.A. — thanks Viacom! — but another Random Access Memories maestro did make it onto late-night television yesterday. Nile Rodgers, the French disco droids’ “Get Lucky” partner, appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to pull a J Mascis and sit in with house band the Roots. The newly cancer-free Chic frontman showed off his glittery guitar skills at various points in the episode, which is streaming above. Rodgers and the Roots whipped out “Le Freak” (at 10:35), relived “Good Times” (at 18:35), and dusted off Sister Sledge’s Rodgers-written “We Are Family” (at 30:00). Fallon also engaged the 60-year-old living legend (who’s one of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, btw) in a bit of banter, lavishing him with praise for co-writing SPIN’s pick for the Best Song of 2013 So Far, and asking about the origins of Chic’s “Le Freak.” We don’t want to spoil the anecdote, so all we’ll say is that it involves Grace Jones, Studio 54, and the word “fuck.”

Watch till the end of the episode to catch the Head and the Heart perform “Shake,” the lead single off their upcoming sophomore album, Let’s Be Still, out October 15 on Sub Pop.