Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel used their respective late night shows on Monday to have their own New York Knicks celebration parties to mark the team winning their first NBA Championship in 53 years.
NBC’s The Tonight Show stole are march on its rivals by securing the champion Knicks as special guests on Monday’s episode, with the orange-tie-sporting Fallon joking in his monologue “of course, it’s the Knicks so they won’t really show up till the second half.” It was a New York type of night with Fallon revealing the audience was made up Knicks superfans, and that the musical guests were Staten Island legends the Wu-Tang Clan. “It sounds like Game 5 in San Antonio in here!” remarked Fallon as the crowd burst into an impromptu “Let’s Go Knicks!” chant.
The Knicks’ No.1 booster Spike Lee joined Fallon on stage to introduce the trophy-wielding team to a cacophany of cheers from the home crowd. Fallon split the main interview segment in two, speaking to NBA Finals MVP and Knicks captain Jalen Brunson, starting forward Karl Anthony Towns (KAT) and coach Mike Brown first. Fallon began the first interview by reminding the audience that the last time Brunson appeared on the Tonight Show, he promised that if the Knicks won the championship he would bring the trophy to the show on his next visit. “He’s a man of his word,” said Fallon. Brunson admitted that winning hadn’t really sunk in yet and both KAT and Brunson then spoke about the feeling of playing in Madison Square Garden during Games 3 and 4 of the Finals and the noise and energy inside the arena as victory crept closer.
“When we get the fans involved, and we give them something to cheer for it’s something special,” said KAT. With sports being so superstitious, Fallon inevitably asked about KAT’s fiancee Jordyn Woods and her lucky game-day “Tux Clutch Mini” bag. Fallon also brought up the WWE wrestler Danhausen who “uncursed” the Knicks before the Finals, asking Brunson whether he believed that’s what happened. “At first I was a little skeptical, but you have to believe it now,” joked Brunson.
In the second interview, Fallon spoke to the Knicks’ small forward Josh Hart, guard Mikal Bridges and forward OG Anunoby, the latter of who has now arguably become the greatest British basketball player ever. Inevitably, Fallon started the segment with OG’s tip-heard-around-the-world that secured an unlikely and historic come-from-behind victory in Game 4. “I saw a man flying,” said Bridges about the “crazy play”, praising OG’s athleticism and ball control on the seemingly impossible shot. The second interview was far more light hearted and dwelt on OG’s memeable stoic personality and Hart repeatedly untying Fallon’s sneakers during actual Finals games.
The Tonight Show ended with a spirited set from the Wu-Tang Clan, who Knicks fans will tell you truly uncursed the team after Donald Trump’s visit for Game 3 and the horrendous first half in Game 4 with the rap supergroup’s half-time performance during that game in the Garden preceding that insane comeback.
Over at The Daily Show, Stewart teased his audience that he was going to “focus the entirety of the show today on the complexity of what a new nuclear enrichment inspection regime will look like.” But to the crowd’s delight, he was just joking.
The host, who was overjoyed about the Knicks’ win, kicked off Monday’s show continuing his celebrations by recapping the lively chaos that unfolded across New York City Saturday night.
“By the way, do you ever be sitting at home and you’re watching this kind of footage and you wonder to yourself: who the are these people out in the streets of New York losing their minds? Well, funny story. The little guy on top of that other guy’s shoulders, he works here,” Stewart said, revealing that the man featured in the respective clip was Scott Hercman, one of The Daily Show‘s writers.
Hercman then made an appearance on stage with Stewart; however, he was still sitting on someone’s shoulders, just like in the viral video of him celebrating in the NYC streets Saturday night. “I’m very superstitious, so I’m up here until next year’s finals,” Hercman quipped.
Stewart continued, “It was an incredible night all across the city. Everyone was out celebrating. They were in the streets. They were in the subways. We had drum lines. We had bagpipes. We had fireworks, and we had an MTA bus driver breaking it down.”
He then pointed out that the Knicks victory brought out many “appearances by the entire NYCU,” referencing the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“There was Spider-Man and there was also Spider-Man and then there was, of course. Spider-Man and oh no, Spider-Man,” Stewart quipped. “And then there was Batman and, of course, back to Spider-Man.”
Later in the episode, the host also poked fun at himself as he posted a video on his own social media over the weekend of his joyous reaction to the game’s results. He was spotted at an outdoor watch party with his friends and family.
“There was truly no place I would have rather been than right on the streets of New York. And shout out to the unsung MVPs of the night: the people who had the genius idea to go out on their fire escapes and project the game onto the sides of buildings,” he joked before shouting out the “always MVPs who keep this city safe and clean for the rest of us to enjoy.”
On ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Kimmel opened his Monday night monologue with “the best five-game NBA Finals series ever.” After rattling off all post-Game 5 stabbings, injuries and arrests in the aftermath of the Knicks’ win, Kimmel joked that “people worried Mayor Mamdani was going to destroy New York, no one would have guessed it would be fans of the Knicks.” Kimmel then played a clip of Knicks fans getting a little too rowdy, including destroying school buses and putting Elmo’s head on a spike. “You know you’re in a festive mood when you set fire to a school bus, and nobody has a problem at all!”
On Late Night, Seth Meyers dedicated the first half of his “Closer Look” segment to the Knicks’ Finals win. “I don’t know where you’re watching tonight, but wherever you are, I guarantee it’s not as much fun as New York City is right now,” said Meyers. “No offense, but New York City is currently a cross between Mardi Gras, Coachella, and that rave from The Matrix. We got Knicks in 5, World Cup Fever, the Puerto Rican Day parade, we got block parties, we got watch parties. We’ve even got guys balancing trash cans on their heads for some reason.”
Meyers added, “The vibes are so immaculate here in New York City that any given night you could be out for a walk in Brooklyn, and you could see Spike Lee being paraded through a raucous crowd like he was basketball Santa Claus.” The host then spent some time giving Lee some extra love for so publicly sticking with the Knicks through feast and mainly famine.
“It all feels bigger than just sports,” said Meyers. “If you’re in New York City right now, whether you live here or you’re just visiting, you could jump on the F train and at any moment be surrounded by people in Knicks gear or Brazil gear, or Morocco gear or even Mets gear. And if you’re from abroad and you don’t know what the Mets logo is, it’s the one on the hats of the sad people.”
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