Syracuse, N.Y. — Comedian Jimmy Fallon made a surprise appearance at a Syracuse comedy show Friday night, doing a 15-minute set opening for Nate Bargatze in front of a sellout crowd at the Oncenter War Memorial.
The show was part of the Be Funny Tour, featuring Bargatze, a standup comic from Tennessee. Fallon, host of “The Tonight Show” and a former cast member on “Saturday Night Live,” was teased as a “special guest” early in the show. Among the three other openers was Steven Rogers, who is from Liverpool, N.Y.
Fallon wore sneakers with orange laces. He joked about his family, his upbringing near upstate New York (he grew up in Ulster County), and his alma mater, the College of Saint Rose, which has announced it is closing. Fallon joked about attending a college that is going out of business. He also did a “thank you note” bit.
Bargatze said Fallon is only joining the tour in a handful of cities. Fallon chose Syracuse and Albany, he said. The tour stops at the MVP Arena in Albany on Saturday, March 9.
Julian McCullough, who emceed the show, said Fallon was a big reason the comedians on the tour got together. Bargatze has performed on “The Tonight Show.”
Bargatze, whose 2022 Netflix special “The Tennessee Kid” launched him to national fame, did an hour of new material after Fallon’s opening set. He joked about family life, getting old, arguments with his wife, and county fairs. Bargatze hosted an episode of “Saturday Night Live” last fall.
Fallon famously visited the Salt City in 2020 along with Tom Brady and Julian Edelman. All three were guests of scrap metal magnate Adam Weitsman at the Carrier Dome for an SU men’s basketball game.
Last year he visited the Rochester area on St. Patrick’s Day, where he sang along with the band at a pub in Fairport.
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