On Monday night, Jimmy Fallon hosted The Tonight Show for the first time since the death of his mother Gloria. Taylor Swift made an appearance, surprising him by performing a song off her new album Reputation. The ballad, called “New Year’s Day” proved to be an emotional performance for everyone involved.
At the beginning of the episode, Fallon paid tribute to his mom and shared this heart-wrenching story:
“When we were little, my mom would walk us to this store, me and my sister, and we would hold hands, she would squeeze my hand three times and say, ‘I love you,’ and I would squeeze back, ‘I love you, too.”
He went on to say that he had tried to use the same tender way to communicate when she was hospitalized.
“Last week I was in the hospital, and I grabbed her hand and squeezed. ‘I love you.’ I just knew were were in trouble.”
Jimmy pays tribute to his mother Gloria pic.twitter.com/YVpZfeuI9A
— Fallon Tonight (@FallonTonight) November 14, 2017
Needless to say, the entire studio was shocked when Swift echoed this exact gesture in the lyrics of “New Year’s Day” during her performance.
After the show, Tonight Show producer Mike DiCenzo described the emotionally charged atmosphere on set and how the entire cast and crew “lost it” during Swift’s performance in a series of really sweet tweets:
A few words (i.e. a thread) about tonight’s show. It was our first show back after Jimmy’s mom passed away…
— Mike DiCenzo (@mikedicenzo) November 14, 2017
It was a really tough day for our whole staff. A lot of us knew his mom Gloria, and she was the best. The best. She loved the show, she loved all of us, and most of all, she loved Jimmy.
— Mike DiCenzo (@mikedicenzo) November 14, 2017
They talked on the phone every day. As Jimmy said, she was his biggest fan.
— Mike DiCenzo (@mikedicenzo) November 14, 2017
And as @Questlove said, Jimmy is not only our boss, he’s our family. We love him. So we were devastated for him last week, and we were feeling for him today.
— Mike DiCenzo (@mikedicenzo) November 14, 2017
I’m sure today was especially tough for Jimmy. The fact that he came out, stood there, and did a normal monologue for the crowd is a testament to how strong he is.
— Mike DiCenzo (@mikedicenzo) November 14, 2017
But at the desk, you could hear his voice break when talking about our musical guest Taylor Swift, and that’s because he knew what he was about to say…
— Mike DiCenzo (@mikedicenzo) November 14, 2017
Jimmy’s words about his mom were beautiful. “Mom, I’ll never stop trying to make you laugh. I love you.” I was crying. We all were.
— Mike DiCenzo (@mikedicenzo) November 14, 2017
The story about his mom squeezing his hand 3 times to say “I love you” when he was a kid, and then him squeezing her hand in the hospital – he hadn’t told any of us that story… More on that in a second.
— Mike DiCenzo (@mikedicenzo) November 14, 2017
He went on to thank Swift for showing up “with zero hesitation” despite not being scheduled to perform.
First, a quick word about Taylor Swift. She was not scheduled to do our show today. But we wanted something special for this first show back, so we asked her on a complete whim, since she had been in town doing SNL. She said yes with zero hesitation.
— Mike DiCenzo (@mikedicenzo) November 14, 2017
When Taylor sang that specific lyric, everyone broke down.
She sang “New Year’s Day.” No one had heard it. Suddenly she sings the line, “Squeeze my hand 3 times in the back of the taxi.” I nearly gasped. Tears. I think everyone in the audience started sobbing.
— Mike DiCenzo (@mikedicenzo) November 14, 2017
I could see Jimmy silhouetted at his desk dabbing his eyes with a tissue. We all lost it. It was a beautiful coincidence in a beautiful performance. “Hold on to your memories, they will hold on to you,” Taylor sang.
— Mike DiCenzo (@mikedicenzo) November 14, 2017
That hug between Jimmy and Taylor after the song was 100% real emotion. Whatever you think of Taylor, she did something beautiful for Jimmy and our show today, and we’re forever grateful.
— Mike DiCenzo (@mikedicenzo) November 14, 2017
Thank you to Taylor, the Roots, Higgins, our whole staff and crew, and to all the FalPals, fans, and everyone who reached out to and supported Jimmy and his family. I can tell you it meant everything to him.
— Mike DiCenzo (@mikedicenzo) November 14, 2017
One last note: our show was right on time today, but we edited out a minute to leave room for Jimmy high-fiving audience members during the end credits. It was Gloria’s favorite part of the show.
— Mike DiCenzo (@mikedicenzo) November 14, 2017
We love you, Gloria.
— Mike DiCenzo (@mikedicenzo) November 14, 2017