17. Here’s how he got the Roots to be his band: In the planning stages for Late Night, Fallon’s friend Neal Brennan, who produced Chappelle’s Show, asked him what he was going to do for music. “[Brennan] goes, ‘You should ask the Roots,’” says Fallon. “I go, ‘You think the Roots would do my show?!’ He goes, “No, no, no, they won’t do it, but they know a lot of musicians from Philly that can come up.’” But Fallon couldn’t get the idea out of his head. He went backstage at a concert in L.A., did a cheerleader pyramid with the guys (“Questlove was not on the pyramid”), and pitched them the idea. Then he sent an email to their manager and didn’t hear back for a month, which he took as a no; it turns out they were just in Europe. Fallon met with them in Lorne Michaels’ office because he wanted to impress them, and gave them his spiel. “I remember Questlove was like, ‘Alright, I have two questions for you,’” Fallon says. “'One, what if, like, Herbie Hancock’s in town, can he sit in with the band?' I go, ‘Yeah. Of course he can sit in with the band.’ And he goes, ‘My other question is, this is Lorne Michaels' office, why isn’t there popcorn here?’ And I’m like, Oh, he’s a comedy nerd! He knows that Lorne has this big basket of popcorn before SNL. I couldn’t believe he knew that. So I go, Oh, I like this guy. He’s a comedy nerd, and also an audiophile, which I’m a bit of. He’s an encyclopedia. I trust him over Google.”