‘Tonight Show’ taping Sunday at Detroit Opera House was full of Detroit love.
“Whatupdoe!” Jimmy Fallon shouted to the crowd at the Detroit Opera House on Sunday, during a special on-the-road taping of “The Tonight Show” which marked the show’s first-ever visit to Detroit.
The episode was filled with Detroit flavor: mentions of Vernors and coney dogs, “Ja-red Goff!” chants from the crowd, jokes about Eminem’s Mom’s Spaghetti, nods to Motown, an appearance by the Detroit Pistons’ dancers and a cameo from Aidan Hutchinson, the Detroit Lions’ superstar defensive end, who showed up at the end of the taping and handed Fallon an honorary game ball, following the Lions’ decisive 52-21 victory over the Chicago Bears, just a few hundred yards away at Ford Field about two hours earlier.
Fallon gave shout-outs to She Wolf, Buddy’s Pizza and Miller’s Bar in Dearborn, spots he had eaten over the last few days while in the city for the taping. He also gave a shout out to Motown legend Martha Reeves, who was watching on from the box seats in the mezzanine, among the 3,000 attendees at the taping.
Guests were Detroit actor and comedian Keegan-Michael Key, Detroit Pistons star point guard Cade Cunningham and rapper Common.
Key joined Fallon at the Lions game earlier in the day. “You came (to the game), and (the Lions) scored immediately,” Key told Fallon. “You have to come back to Detroit every Sunday.”
Key wore a Barry Sanders Lions jersey and played a game with Fallon where he asked the host to do his best pronouncing several Detroit street names, including Livernois, Dequindre and Gratiot. “Gra-shee-oh?” Fallon tried with the last one, to the great amusement of the crowd. Later, Key and Fallon dined on some samples from Slow’s Bar BQ, the Corktown BBQ spot that is celebrating 20 years in business.
Cunningham talked about his time in the city and gifted Fallon a pair of Cartier Buffs. He also joined Fallon as he shot shirts into the crowd with a T-shirt cannon while they were flanked by the Pistons’ dance squad and Pistons mascot Hooper.
Common was joined by singer Bilal as they paid tribute to late Detroit hip-hip producer J Dilla, performing “The Light,” a Dilla-produced track from Common’s 2000 album “Like Water for Chocolate.” An artist spray painted a portrait of Dilla during the performance.
Hutchinson crashed the party at the end of the taping, greeting Fallon by giving him a giant bear hug.
Tickets for the show were given out free to fans through an online lottery, and lines wrapped around the Opera House on Sunday afternoon as fans were let in to the building.
The show taped from about 5 p.m. until about 6:20 p.m. It is set to air at 11:30 p.m. on Monday on NBC, and will be available to stream on Tuesday on Peacock.
Among those in attendance was Jamie Longenbarger of Monroe.
“I think it’s amazing to have Jimmy come here to our city. Detroit is exciting as it is, and to have someone like Jimmy here makes it extra,” she said. “It was so exciting. Every part of it. It was great. Great experience.”
Said Traci Longenbarger, who joined Jamie at the taping, “Coming out of that (Lions) game, I think (Detroit) was just super hype today, and it was amazing.”
Melody Baetens contributed to this report.
agraham@detroitnews.com