In an elaborate April Fool’s Day prank on Friday, late-night TV hosts Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel swapped talk shows and networks.
Fallon flew to Hollywood to host “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on ABC, while Kimmel stood in for Fallon on NBC’s “The Tonight Show.” It was a confusing story of two Jimmys for audiences.
As part of the epic switcheroo, Fallon and Kimmel sat at each other’s desks and did some of each other’s recurrent pieces, which stunned studio audiences at 30 Rock and the El Capitan Entertainment Centre.
The Roots remained in New York to warm up the crowd for Kimmel, whose sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez stayed in Tinseltown to serve up Fallon with punchlines.
“I love being here in New York. I want to tell you about this crazy thing that happened in LA this week. So um, you know the actor Will Smith? Oh you’ve heard this story? I didn’t know if it made it east, I’ll skip it then,” Kimmel cracked.
“Are you figuring out what’s happening now? You’re noticing what day it is? Or no, maybe … April Fool’s everybody.”
In Los Angeles, Justin Timberlake came out disguised as Matt Damon, and Fallon asked him to leave an autograph.
“Jimmy Kimmel would love it if you signed something. But then I was thinking about it, Jimmy would really want something more from Matt Damon if he was on the show,” Fallon said.
“Can you tag his desk?”
Timberlake complied, spray painting “I [heart] Matt Damon” on Kimmel’s desk while dressed in Red Sox gear and wearing a blond wig.