Ariana Grande returns to promote 'Focker-in-Law' on Tonight Show

Ariana Grande returned to public view Sunday after several months away, joining Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller on NBC’s The Tonight Show to sing “O Christmas Tree” and promote Focker-in-Law.

The special Sunday broadcast followed NBC’s Sunday Night Football game between the Chicago Bears and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. USA Today reported that Grande arrived with a new bob haircut and that her level of participation in the promotional tour had been unclear beforehand.

Host Jimmy Fallon opened the musical bit during his monologue, saying the Rockefeller tree had reached Rockefeller Center and “the holidays are coming.” Fallon added, “It kind of makes me want to sing.”

The three guests interrupted him for the carol ahead of their interview, with Grande and Stiller alternating parts. De Niro delivered the punchline by lip-synching the last line to dubbed vocals.

“First of all, I was so honored to be asked,” Grande told Fallon during the interview.

Writer-director John Hamburg sent her the script, Grande said, and she fell in love with it. “I was just like, ‘How have I earned the right to even read this, let alone join this incredible cast and play on set with the most incredible actors and comedians in the world?’” she said.

Grande’s first encounter with Stiller came during her cameo in Zoolander 2, his 2016 comedy, which he directed. “He was directing me in an orgy scene in Zoolander 2 with a hippo and Susan Sarandon,” she said, adding that they had “a comfortability” right away.

“A connection,” Stiller said.

Grande recalled a different introduction to De Niro, saying they met backstage at The Tonight Show and took a selfie in 2015.

For her first Focker-in-Law scene, Grande said she and Stiller went directly into rehearsal for a Heimlich maneuver on his character. “We met the stunts team and they were amazing and they were like, ‘Alright Ben, bend over. Ariana you’ll get behind and just put your arms around him,’” Grande said, according to Rolling Stone.

Grande recalled telling her mother about that first day of filming, “Well, I gave Ben Stiller the Heimlich for a few hours.”

The guests joined Fallon for “True Confessions,” a game in which they judged whether accounts of one another’s lives were true. Grande convinced the group she had fallen into a Boca Aquarium tank at four. The trio also performed “Slow Clap Soap Opera,” a skit based on the fictional “My Family’s Money.”

Focker-in-Law follows 2010’s Little Fockers as the fourth Meet the Parents installment. Stiller and De Niro return as Greg Focker and Jack Byrnes, while Grande plays Olivia Jones, girlfriend of Greg’s son Henry, played by Skyler Gisondo.

Hamburg wrote and directed the film after co-writing the first three. It is Grande’s first film role since she played Glinda in the two-part Wicked adaptation.

On Aug. 2, Grande’s representatives announced she would be “taking a step back from visibility” after her tour, describing it as “a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny.” At a Chicago concert the following day, Grande said the decision “was not a reactive or impulsive thing.”

Grande has kept a low profile since her 41-date Eternal Sunshine Tour concluded Sept. 1. Following her hiatus announcement, she withdrew from a planned West End production of Sunday in the Park with George with Wicked co-star Jonathan Bailey. Bailey left too, and the production was scrapped in September, USA Today reported.

Focker-in-Law is scheduled to open in theaters Nov. 25.