Bad news for anyone who already gets the Jimmys confused. Late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon celebrated both April Fools’ Day and Freaky Friday by swapping shows. Kimmel headed to New York to film The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon while Fallon filmed Jimmy Kimmel Live! in Los Angeles. While show writers knew about the switch for a couple weeks, the secret was tightly kept — Fallon’s band, the Roots, weren’t even in on it until the day of. Audiences of both shows found out about the swap when the other Jimmy walked out for the monologue in a switch-up the two hosts said they’d been planning since April 2020.
“As far as surprises you’ve seen on ABC this week, this one’s a distant second,†Fallon joked. Kimmel also made a subtle reference to Will Smith’s Oscars slap, telling the audience he wasn’t sure if the news had reached the East Coast yet. The Jimmys also took the time to call and check in on each other during their monologues. The swap continued for the rest of the segments in each show, with Kimmel writing thank-you notes and playing “Box of Lies†with Hugh Jackman. Fallon, on the other hand, leaned into Kimmel’s pranks and surprised fans by popping up in selfies with Kimmel. No one in the audience seemed to be too upset that they hadn’t gotten the Jimmy they expected to see. As Kimmel put it, “We have a great show tonight. If you don’t like it, it’s okay, it’s not mine.â€