Do you watch a lot of late-night talk shows?
We all have our favorite late-night hosts and they all have their own unique styles. If you go way back, Johnny Carson played off of a very genial and old-fashioned persona, emphasizing his classiness. After that, David Letterman was supremely ironic and irreverent, making fun of talk shows as a form while he participated in the form. There’s a whole new batch of hosts now, each with their own new focuses.
Of all the new hosts, one of the most popular with a younger demographic is Jimmy Fallon.
Fallon started off his career on Saturday Night Live doing musical-themed comedy and hosting Weekend Update.
Although he’s grown in stature over the years, Fallon definitely hasn’t dropped his emphasis on musical comedy. Part of his growing popularity has to do with the fact that he speaks the language of the internet better than anybody. To that end, he and his social media team have engineered all kinds of viral videos and surprises designed to take the internet by storm.
And this one may be one of the best he’s ever pulled off.
As anyone who has lived in New York knows, you never know what you’re bound to see on the subways.
Aside from the more sundry characters you may bump into, you’re also liable to see buskers performing music, dancing and otherwise showing off their talents. Because so many people are busy trying to get to work, these people often go mostly unnoticed. With that in mind, Fallon decided to call in some of his friends from Maroon 5 to go undercover as subway performers to see if anyone would notice.
The results were absolutely hilarious.
With Fallon on tambourine, they all performed together to the delight of the onlookers.
To kick things off, they did a cover of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” originally performed by Queen. While their costumes were pretty elaborate, the performance was great… and some of the onlookers may have suspected that something was up. The crowd gathered and pulled out their phones to capture the show until the song ended.
When it was all over, everyone applauded—right before the big reveal.
A moment later, Fallon (in disguise) announced that the band could do one more song.
With that, he tore off his hat and his fake mustache to reveal himself. A moment later, the band did the same! All the onlookers cheered and even more people gathered to the front to see Maroon 5 perform an acoustic version of their single “Sugar.” We’re guessing that plenty of people were late to their jobs that day.
By the end of it all, the crowd that gathers around them is massive!
At the end of it all, Fallon does a pretty inspired dance while playing the tambourine… and with that, the song ends.
So far, the clip has amassed some 21 million views on YouTube! Still, these kind of musical pranks and performances are par for the course for Fallon. After all, he also did the same thing with international pop star and diva Christina Aguilera! Both of them were in disguise—still, it’s hard to disguise a voice as distinctive as Aguilera’s.
The crowd gathered quickly and early.
Once again, they revealed their true identities—and the crowd went wild!
The duo performed Aguilera’s song “Fighter” to a now enormous group of people. Plenty of people captured the performance on film and the enthusiasm was undeniable. Much like the other clip, the video has nearly 10 million views as well. Needless to say, all the people on the subway got the surprise of a lifetime that day.
Still, the whole performance should be seen for its greatest effect:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPwuLLL64HM
Through these videos and many others, it seems that Fallon and his social media team have mastered the surprise performance!
Above all, it’s easy to cheer for videos like these. Not only are these artists talented and great at performing live, they’re also making a big difference in the day to day lives of so many average New Yorkers by participating in these stunts. We’ve already watched these videos again and again—and we’re sure you will, too.
Congratulations to Jimmy and his team on their success—keep the videos coming! Check out the Maroon 5 performance below:
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