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Jimmy Fallon’s Triumphant ‘Tonight Show’ Brings U2, Evolution of Hip-Hop Dance

U2, Jimmy Fallon, 'Tonight Show'

There is no them, there’s only Jimmy Fallon. And the newly christened host of The Tonight Show‘s gift is partly an aw-shucks enthusiasm that makes him come across as One of Us. Fallon brought on whatever the collective noun is of celebrities for his first episode since passing the Late Night baton to fellow Saturday Night Live alum Seth Meyers, but the most memorable line of U2’s bombastic new “Invisible” still applied: It wasn’t about Will Smith, or Morrissey and the Smiths (in T-shirt form), or Lady Gaga, or Stephen Colbert or Tina Fey or Mike Tyson or Mariah Carey or Joan Rivers… it was a triumph for Fallon himself, and he has a way of making that feel like everybody’s #winning.

So when Bono and the fellas blasted out “Invisible” from the rooftop of Rockefeller Center, joined by the Rutgers University marching band (above), the spectacle was awesome despite the tired echo-of-Edge’s-echo-effects song — the New York City backdrop recalled Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ breathtaking Empire State Building-shot “Despair” video. And when they sat down for an unplugged take on Oscar-nominated Nelson Mandela tribute “Ordinary Love” (below), that was suddenly out of the ordinary, too — the “?uestlove” shout-out helped, as did transplanted Late Night house band the Roots joining in at the end. Scroll down to watch Fallon and the Fresh Prince demonstrate “The Evolution of Hip-Hop Dancing”: Yes, “we” are all doing the stanky leg. Thanks, Jimmy.

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