The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Experience

Happy Summer Love Bugs!

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting the big apple with three of my closest friends, and I was beyond fortunate and blessed to have snagged a ticket to see my ultimate favorite comedian and talk show host, Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show.  The experience was beyond surreal and I am still pinching myself from being on the show.  Many of my friends ask me how I was able to manage to score a ticket to this highly acclaimed, Emmy and Grammy winning host and show and what the experience was like, so I thought I would give you a little insight into my experience.

At the display window at the NBC studio in Rockefeller Center!

Tickets to The Tonight Show are complimentary, but they sell out fast, and when I say fast I mean, lightning speed.  If you follow the show on Twitter, you will notice that they tweet the official date and time of when the tickets for the following month will go on sale during the first week of every month.  For example, if you want tickets for November, you will need to check the sale date and time the first week of October, since that is when they will sell the tickets for the entire month of November.  Once you get on the Ticket Page, start refreshing your browser continuously when it is one minute prior to sale time.  Once you receive a message that you are in the queue, don’t do anything, just wait patiently, and hopefully the ticket page will appear when it is your turn.  Being in the queue is kind of like standing in a virtual line.  When it is your turn, the ticket page will appear, just follow the prompts and you are good to go.  Tickets for the month of July (when I attended) were sold out in 7 minutes!  I was floored that I was one of the lucky ones to get a ticket!  Miracles are real people.

I arrived early and dressed in smart casual attire (as prompted to on my ticket).  The show starts filming at 5 PM and we were told to arrive at 3 PM.  After security checks and various announcements of turning off cell phones (which is a huge no-no and could actually get you kicked out of the studio if your device is not off), we were all taken to a waiting room, which was really cool to lounge in while everyone else came in.  There is no photography whatsoever, so unfortunately I am not able to show you the cool waiting area.  Just close your eyes and picture various white couches with larger than life monitors portraying images of previous guests on the show.  You can feel the anticipation and excitement from the entire crowd which was really cool.  I was able to meet a lot of really nice people when chilling out here.

Everyones ticket has a random number or letter on the back of it.  Once my number was called I was taken directly to the studio and was seated pretty close to the front of the stage.  I sat with my jaw to the floor because I just could NOT BELIEVE I was actually at studio 6B with the Tonight Show set right in front of me.  A hilarious comedian (I don’t know his name because he introduced himself before I walked in) entertains guests until the entire studio is full.  There are NO laughing, screaming, or clapping tracks on this show so we were all told to react accordingly.  Once the show started, I couldn’t help myself.  I must have looked totally ridiculous because I could not stop clapping and cheering as The Roots started jamming (with guest musician Mark Rivera, Billy Joel’s band mate) and Jimmy walked out of that iconic blue curtain and began his monologue.  To be quite honest, I wasn’t even listening to the monologue because I was still taken back by the fact that I was actually there!  It wasn’t until after the first commercial break that I started to settle down (just a teeny bit) and pay attention.  I attended the July 14th, 2015 (Season 1, Episode 291) show which included LeBron James, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey as the guests on this show, followed by musical guest Omi, who sang his hit summer song, Cheerleader.

I spotted myself on the show! See the girl with her hands up in the air? That’s me! =)

One thing that I was really impressed with was the accuracy and with-it-ness of every single person involved with the show.  There was structure and routine, and not one thing went wrong.  I know this is done every day, but It was just mind blowing that there are so many cohesive units behind the scenes and yet they flow so well.  I loved seeing the make-up artist and all of the producers and behind the scenes cast come out and change sets, do touch-ups, and prepare for the next scene.  In between commercials we enjoyed listening to music and chit- chatting with each other about the show.  There were a few commercial breaks when Jimmy came up to the audience to thank us for being there and chit chatted a bit, and when he did his nightly walk through the audience, I was lucky enough to get a high-five.  Of course, I screamed like a three year old on Christmas morning and said the famous words, “I’m never washing this hand again!”.  I was so looking forward to seeing it on television, but it was cut just before he reached the audience.  Regardless of not having my 5 seconds of fame, I was smiling from ear to ear and it was a moment I will never forget.

The show took about and hour and a half to film, so once it was over I headed to the NBC Experience store for souvenirs.  I went crazy with my Tonight Show souvenirs!  Here are a few of the items I purchased for myself and my family and friends!

The items pictured here are the Tonight Show mug, lanyard, t-shirt, sweatshirt, Hashtag plush, and candy dispenser.

If you are visiting New York City, and love Jimmy Fallon as much as I do, I wish you all the luck in the world in trying to score tickets to the show, and if you do, have a great time and tell me all about it below!  If you have any questions about something I didn’t mention, feel free to ask in the comments as well!

XO, NAT

Disclosure:  All images and opinions are my own.