Jimmy Fallon visited the recovering island of Puerto Rico and documented his experience on Tuesday’s episode of The Tonight Show. The impetus of the weekend trip was to raise relief money for artists affected by the hurricane in 2017.
While there, the host visited Lin-Manuel Miranda on-set at the opening of Hamilton, in which Fallon donned full costume to perform “The Story of Tonight” from the Broadway hit — but with updated lyrics for The Tonight Show. The Hamilton cast also helped sing the late-night show’s theme, as well.
“There are friends who say ‘good luck,’ and there are friends who say, ‘Hold on. I’m coming with you,'”tweeted Miranda in reference to Fallon’s visit to his homeland.
Miranda and Fallon sat down on the Hamilton stage to speak about the string of performances in Puerto Rico, where Miranda praised the cast and Fallon praised the show itself. “It’s kind of poetic justice for it to come to Puerto Rico,” Fallon said. “There’s a song in this show called ‘Hurricane’ and I could barely get through it last night,” Miranda responded. “Never in a million years would I imagine it would resonate in this way,” Miranda said of writing the song years ago.
Later on, Fallon and Black Thought went down one of the longest zip lines in the world in the jungles of Puerto Rico, which travels at 95-miles an hour from an enormous height.
When his feet were firmly planted on the ground, the late-night host enjoyed plenty of lively festivities with local inhabitants. He met with Chef Jose Andres, founder of World Central Kitchen, to demonstrate how the food industry in Puerto Rico is alive and kicking due to the resilience of the community.
“I can feel the energy and the spirit of this place, the history, the food, the music, the people. Puerto Rico is thriving and its open for business,” Fallon proclaimed.
(Excerpt) Read more in: The Hollywood Reporter