Questlove Talks Playing On Fallon [VIDEO]: A "Retirement Gig" That Made Things Bigger Than Ever
Questlove said that he originally considered his band The Roots' appearances as the house band on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon a "retirement gig," but rather than slowing him and the band down, it's brought them a whole new level of prominence.
"Being on Fallon... has actually opened up more doors than ever before," the Roots drummer told TIME.
"You're talking about an entity that did 230 shows a year since 1993, so people took that for granted. But now that we're not available... saying no has never been more valuable for us."
Jimmy Fallon is set to take over The Tonight Show early next year and the Roots will be along for the ride.
"The new show's coming to us," he said.
The show now tapes in Los Angeles, but will be moved to NBC's New York studio when Fallon assumes hosting duties. Questlove did acknowledge that this steady job could have come to an end due to a cheeky musical selection. On a show in November 2011, the band used the Fishbone song Lyin' Ass Bitch to introduce Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.
"That was a learning curve," he said. "In my hastiness to make my mark on a comedy show, that's what I went with."
In hindsight, what might he have gone for instead?
"I would have been way better of playing Sam Cooke's Wonderful World, with the 'Don't know much about history...' bit. But it's water under the bridge, we got past it," he said.
Getting to be on Fallon at all was the result of a strange, but maybe serendipitous, twist of events, Questlove claimed. He said that he met the TV host only days after moving out to L.A.
The Roots were doing a show at UCLA, and Fallon came by. Questlove was doing an interview inside of a trailer, and when he came out the door, he saw Fallon and the remaining seven Roots in that sort of Eight Is Enough human pyramid: three on the floor, two above them, and Fallon on top.
"It was at that moment I was like, 'Ah, man, we're gonna grow old with this guy," he said.
Ultimately, he believed that the Fallon experience has been beneficial for the Roots, not only professionally but also interpersonally.
"If anything, dealing with him has made us closer and sillier, whereas I don't even feel like this is 25-plus years. I really feel like this is our third year again; this is a brand new start for us," he added.
