Jimmy Fallon is an American comedian, television host, actor, singer, writer, and producer. As host of The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon has expanded the boundaries of late night television, treating audiences to memorable celebrity interviews, creative musical bits, and groundbreaking viral videos. The four-time Emmy winner began his career in 1998 with six successful seasons at Saturday Night Live, and went on to host the show three times. Additionally, Fallon is a best-selling author--his children's books, Your Baby's First Word Will Be Dada and Everything is MAMA both debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list.
The Roots are a hip-hop band that serve as The Tonight Show's house band, and have become one of the best known and most respected hip-hop acts in the business, with 12 Grammy nominations and four Grammy award wins. Additionally, "The Roots Picnic," a yearly star-studded mix of musicians, has become a celebrated institution. The Roots were named one of the greatest live bands around by Rolling Stone.
History with the Macy's Parade[]
Jimmy Fallon and the Roots first appeared in the 2009 parade on the Gibson Guitar Corporation float. They performed a medley of many holiday songs, called Too Many Songs in One Big Holiday Medley, and it included Jingle Bells, Winter Wonderland, Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmastime, Lindsey Beckham's Holiday Road, Run-DMC's Christmas in Hollis, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and Three Dog Night's Joy To The World.
They were so popular in the 2009 parade that it only made sense that they would return the following year. This time, they took a trip on Macy's Santaland Express, performing Do They Know It's Christmas Time? by Band Aid and What Christmas Means To Me by Stevie Wonder.
After not making it to the 2011 parade, they returned on the brand-new Gibson float in 2012, performing the smash hit from legendary rock band Queen, We Will Rock You.
The following year, they joined the cast of Sesame Street on their float, performing Somebody Come and Play, which was also the theme song for the Sesame Street spin-off, Play With Me Sesame.
After three years of an absence, Jimmy and the Roots made their grand return in 2017, once again appearing on the Gibson float that they previously rode on in 2009 and 2012. However, that year, the float crashed into a police barricade, but luckily, nobody was hurt. When they arrived at Herald Square, they payed tribute to Prince by rocking out with his hit song Let's Go Crazy.
They returned once again in. 2019, this time appearing on the Entenmann's Bake Shop float, performing the classic rock song Surfin' Bird by the Trashmen.
Their most recent appearance was in 2020, where the NBC telecast opened with Jimmy cooking Thanksgiving dinner, only to realize that news reporters say that the parade is cancelled. Jimmy gets mad, and says, "You can't take the parade away from New York. You can't take the parade from America. You can't take the parade away from the world." He tells Siri to call Questlove and tell him to meet him at Herald Square, and Siri responds with a funny, misheard, nonsensical sentence.
At last, Jimmy arrived at Herald Square, where he and the Roots opened the parade with Dancing In The Streets by Martha and the Vandellas, which was also the opening number in the 2017 Parade.
Fallon and The Roots are currently set to appear on the Winter Wonderland in Central Park float at the 2022 Parade performing Jimmy and Dolly Parton's original holiday song "Almost Too Early For Christmas".
In total, Fallon and his Roots have made up to eight consecutive appearances at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.