He is not even a year into hosting The Tonight Show and yet, Jimmy Fallon is planning to take the show on the road after losing a bet to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The bet from Mayor Emanuel was that if Chicago students read 2.4 million books, Fallon would have to bring the show to Chicago.
Well, as Fallon said in the YouTube video above, Chicago is getting The Tonight Show — at least temporarily — due to the hard work of Chicago public school students.
“A few months ago Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel came on the show and threatened me. No, he made a friendly bet with me and said if the kids of Chicago read 2.4 million books over the summer we’d take the show there for a visit. Well the kids didn’t read 2.4 million books. They read 2.7 million books.
“So congratulations Chicago, you’ve got some smart kids. You won the bet. We will be coming to Chicago. We’ve just got to figure out how to get everyone there. We have, like, 200 something people that have to go with us. So Rahm, if you’ve got room in your house, we’ll come and hang with you.”
While no date has yet been announced for Chicago’s The Tonight Show run, the Chicago road trip for The Tonight Show will not be its first. The Tampa Bay Times reported on Fallon’s first on the road experience earlier this year when he brought the show to Universal Studios in Orlando for an entire week. It should be noted that Universal Studios is part of NBC Universal, which distributes The Tonight Show on NBC stations across the nation.
Tampa Bay Times writer Michelle Stark provided her own review of Fallon’s first road trip since hosting the long-running Tonight Show , and said the first trip appeared to be about corporate synergy instead of just simply hitting the road.
“In fact, Monday’s taping — with an Orlando skyline instead of the New York City backdrop behind his desk and palm trees behind house band the Roots — was focused more on hype for Universal Orlando and its new Harry Potter-themed expansion Diagon Alley, expected to open really, really soon. Lots of segments filmed in Diagon Alley, lots of talk about Universal and its two parks (Jimmy is afraid of the Hulk ride).”
Are you in Chicago? What do you think about Fallon bringing The Tonight Show to the windy city? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
[Image via Flickr Creative Commons ]
