John Oliver wasn’t the only late night icon to crash this week. “The Tonight Show” started Monday off with a surprise appearance from the now-retired David Letterman, who poked fun at Jimmy Fallon while reuniting with bandleader Paul Shaffer.
Fittingly, there was no build up to Letterman’s surprise appearance. After Fallon debuted his Super Bowl Excuse Generator, the comedy legend pretended to wander onto the stage. “Is this the 23rd hour of the ‘Today’ show?” the former TV host asked once the crowd finally settled down.
Letterman stopped by as part of a reunion of sorts with his longtime sidekick, Shaffer. The musician stood by Letterman’s side during both NBC’s “Late Night With David Letterman” and CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman.” Shaffer is currently filling in for The Roots this week since the house band is in rehearsals as they prepare for “SNL50: The Homecoming Concert.”
“Paul and I, we used to do a show pretty much exactly like this,” Letterman said. “We didn’t do the Chuck E. Cheese crap.”
That pretty much set the tone for the rest of the drop-in. As Fallon tried to make Letterman feel at home onstage, the older comedian fired shot after shot at the “SNL” alum. At one point, Fallon excitedly asked Letterman if he wanted to read any of Fallon’s jokes.
After making a cue card guy cycle through several options, Letterman made a face. “I’m good, thanks,” he said.
Later in the monologue, Fallon pressured Letterman to make a TikTok with him for something he called the “handshake challenge.” After Fallon hopped away from him, Letterman said, “That was lame.”
He then had his own challenge for Fallon, telling the NBC host he really wanted to “hit you in the face with a tortilla.” Moments later, tortillas were being flung at Letterman, who then used the food item to repeatedly slap Fallon. Even Shaffer got in a hit. But when Fallon tried to hit Letterman back, the studio audience groaned sympathetically.
“I think you cracked a crown, by the way,” Letterman said. The appearance ended with Letterman yelling offstage, “I’ll see you in court” and calling Fallon a bleeped explicative.
For viewers less familiar with this particular comedy icon, Letterman’s experience on “The Tonight Show” was par for the course when it comes to the snarky and silly former late night host. Fallon has cited Letterman as an inspiration for his work, and the two previously appeared together on the podcast “Strike Force Five.” This is all to say that the ribbing was in good fun. Watch the clip, above.
