In the first few moments of the show Fallon thanked the audience for their support and gave a shout out to his parents who were in the audience. He also gave a shout out to his wife Nancy and daughter Winnie who were backstage. He introduced his old friends The Roots and Higgins who came with him from Late Night. He then showed the audience where he will be standing every night: on a rose gold four leaf clover. After a short intro of introducing himself and the rest of the new Tonight Show crew, he came out from behind the curtain again and delivered his monologue. Paying homage to the Late Night days, he delivered the newly titled "Tonight Show Superlatives" for the athletes in the winter Olympics.
Fallon then headed over to his new desk and told the story about how his friend once said he would never host the Tonight Show. Fallon laughed and then said that friend now owes him $100. That friend turned out to be a number of A-list celebrities that were currently in New York. Robert DeNiro, Tina Fey, Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga, Sarah Jessica Parker, Lindsay Lohan, Mariah Carey, Seth Rogan, Tracey Morgan, Rudy Giuliani, Ian McKellen, Mike Tyson and Joan Rivers all came out and placed money on the desk. This was the first time in almost 30 years that Rivers has made an appearance on the Tonight Show. Johnny Carson banned her after she left the show in the 80s. To top off the celebrity cameos was Steven Colbert who dumped his $100 in the form of pennies on the desk, took a selfie with Fallon and then told him, "Welcome to 11:30 bitch!"
Fallons first guest, Will Smith, took part in The Evolution of Hip-Hop Dancing which is a segment that Fallon brought over from Late Night. The Carlton and The Humpty Hump were the crowd favorites.
Even though it was his first night, Fallon handled the show like he has been doing it for years. Even if you are not a fan of late night television, wish Jay Leno was still around, or still boycotting the program after what the network put Conan through, turn on Fallon one night this week to see what he has in store. There is no doubt that Fallon is the right guy for the job and he wants his audience to know that as well. "I just want to do well," Fallon told his audience. "If you guys let me stick around long enough, maybe I'll get the hang of it."