There have been a lot of fondly remembered stories that have come out about Prince in the days following the music icon’s untimely death. However, Jimmy Fallon didn’t really get a chance to talk about the man until The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon returned to the schedule this week. Not only did we hear more about Prince’s insane SNL 40 aftershow appearance, we also heard an incredible story about the time Jimmy Fallon played Prince at Ping-Pong. You can check it out, below.
This is one really long story. It involves Chris Rock—and a pretty funny Rock impression from Fallon—a newborn baby, a broken guitar, Prince leaving Fallon hanging at one of his concerts and a slew of other moments that make Prince seem larger than life. As Fallon even notes at one point, Prince had some mysterious qualities that didn’t even make him seem like a real person.
We have a handful of great stories. He’s an icon, he’s legendary, but he’s very mysterious. There are these famous stories that you don’t think are real, but they’re real.
Apparently, on the night that Jimmy Fallon’s daughter Winnie was born, Prince’s camp tracked down Questlove and told him that Prince was interested in playing Ping-Pong with Jimmy Fallon at Susan Sarandon’s club SPiN in New York. Fallon says he eventually worked out a way to play Prince in Ping-Pong and got beaten badly by the musician, after which he immediately disappeared. It’s an innocuous-enough story when the bare facts are laid out, but when Jimmy Fallon tells the story, it’s incredibly hilarious and full of plenty of asides.
Jimmy Fallon isn’t the only one who had funny experiences with Prince. Both Questlove and The Roots guitarist Kirk Douglas also chime in during the lengthy video, so if you want to hear about the wild life and times of the artist known as Prince, this is a must-watch.
Prince passed away at his Paisley Park home in Minnesota on Thursday of last week. In the time since news of his death broke, networks like MTV and VH1 and shows like Saturday Night Live have put together their own iconic tributes celebrating the life and career of Prince. He's a singer whose music affected many and will be missed, but at least he leaves behind a slew of wild stories--including one involving Fallon and an oddball game of Ping-Pong--in his wake.
New episodes of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon air on weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET, only on NBC. In addition to all of these great Prince nods, here's what else is coming out this summer.
