While we don't often start talking about celebrity guest appearances on late night talk shows a month ahead of their air date, it's a much bigger deal when they're the very firsts guests, as is the case for Will Smith and U2, who were announced to be Jimmy Fallon's first guests when he takes over The Tonight Show next month.
The announcement was one of many that came out of the TCA press tour this weekend. NBC announced that musician and movie star Will Smith and the very recently Golden Globe award winning band U2 will have the honor of serving as Fallon's first guests when The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon premieres on Monday, February 17. For Smith, his appearance is timed near the release of Akiva Goldsman's Winter's Tale, which is set to arrive in theaters on Valentine's Day. Smith also has Glenn Ficarra and John Requa's Focus in the works.
As for U2, as mentioned, the band is riding high on a Golden Globe win for their song "Ordinary Love," which was on the soundtrack for Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. U2's Bono also helped Parks and Recreations' Amy Poehler celebrate her own Golden Globe win by sharing some dramatic smooches with her before she went up to collect her award:
And celebrations don't end there. U2 was nominated for an Oscar for "Ordinary Love".
U2 and Will Smith weren't the only updates announced about The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, EW reports that Fallon is planning on bringing his video shorts with him to the show, and he's working on two ideas right now. Fallon is also planning on bringing The Tonight Show out to Los Angeles at least once a year. And from the sound of it, he's really thrilled over the new set, which is located in Studio 6B at 30 Rock, which is where The Tonight Show used to be based.
So it seems things are rolling right along in the process of getting the new series on the air. And we should probably expect more promos and hype leading up to the big event, especially as the Winter Olympics get going. With NBC covering that, they'll have plenty of opportunity to promote The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, as well as Seth Meyers' Late Night. Speaking of which, USA Today reports that Meyers will make his Saturday Night Live exit on February 1. His late night talk show is set to debut on February 24, and as it happens, Amy Poehler will be his first guest.
