09:44 PDT 03/23/2021
in
Hilary Lewis
The move, which also brought the presenter back to his longtime home, Studio 6B, probably makes him the network’s first evening show to bring back a live audience since the pandemic began.
The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon brought back a live studio audience last night for the first time since the new coronavirus pandemic closed studio audiences in March 2020.
The NBC evening show also returned to its longtime Studio 6B home at 30 Rockefeller Center in New York, after previously broadcasting from Studio 6A, the former home of the Today fourth hour of the show Hoda and Jenna when it brought live audiences on Thursdays and Fridays before the pandemic, since July.
Running on the stage of The Tonight ShowA characteristic blue curtain, Fallon wore a full suit and tie (he is getting more and more groomed after progressing from casual shows at home to the 6A scenario) and greeted his crowd of socially distant guests.
Filming showed small groups of masked individuals in the audience, and Fallon and guest Andy Cohen later said the audience was only 58 people.
“I’ve never been so excited to do a show for 58 people in my entire life,” joked Fallon. “After last year, it’s like performing at a sold out Madison Square Garden.”
Fallon also told viewers that his audience in the studio was made up of fully vaccinated rescuers and that the audience will include rescuers and health professionals throughout the week. He thanked them for everything they did last year.
Much of the studio looked the same, with The Roots to Fallon’s left and broadcaster Steve Higgins to his right, but The Roots seemed to have been given a somewhat new configuration allowing band members to remain socially distant during the show.
Fallon also joked that a family of raccoons has taken up residence at his desk since the program left the studio a year ago.
Cohen, who joined Fallon in the studio, was sitting on a couch a little further from the host’s table than usual, with a large coffee table between them. Invited colleague Tracee Ellis Ross, however, appeared via video, with Fallon speaking to a large video screen in front of his desk.
“It’s still more than double my normal audience”, Cohen, who introduces Bravo’s See what happens live, said of the Fallon crowd. “This is certainly the majority of people I have seen in over a year. This is great.”
Fallon and many of his network colleagues returned to their studios after initially recording programs remotely from their homes for a few months over the summer, but they all did so without a live audience (except for a handful of masked team members and colleagues) in the studio). CBS ‘ Late show with Stephen Colbert has transmitted from a replica of the host’s office at Ed Sullivan Theater.
With Monday’s show, Fallon’s Tonight’s show it appears to be the network’s first evening show to bring back a live audience since the pandemic ended the studio audience in March 2020.
NBC 30 Rock show companion, Saturday Night Live, has had a small masked audience of first responders since returning to his studio this fall. Likewise, other one-off events in the past few months have featured audiences made up of masked rescuers.
Fallon went to social media on Monday night to celebrate the return of a live audience, sharing photos from the show and writing: “I can’t describe the feeling of performing in front of a live audience. We work well together. I missed it so much. Thanks.”