Jimmy Kimmel & Jimmy Fallon Host Each Other’s Shows For April Fool’s Day Gag

Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon threw their viewers for a loop on Friday night in celebration of April Fools’ Day when they switched places hosting each other’s shows for the evening.

The studio audience at Jimmy Kimmel Live! were surprised (along with everyone else watching both shows) when Fallon appeared in Los Angeles to host the show with special guest Justin Timberlake and Kimmel’s Aunt Chippy, while Kimmel took over The Tonight Show, interviewing Hugh Jackman and Bridget Everett. The Red Hot Chili Peppers appeared as musical guest on both shows.

Fallon walked out and teased, “Hi, I’m Jimmy,” as the audience cheered, adding, “Settle down, you’re going to offend the other Jimmy.”

“For surprises on ABC this week, this one’s a distant second,” said Fallon, referring to the Oscars drama of course. He then expanded on what it felt like to host his friend’s show: “It’s really strange for me to be here,” he said. “I feel like someone opened the late night multiverse.”

Fallon said that he and Kimmel “worked really hard to keep this a secret,” explaining that the two hosts had been discussing the prank for four years.

After both monologues, the duo checked in on each other via video chat with Kimmel in Fallon’s 30 Rock studio and Fallon on Kimmel’s Hollywood Boulevard set. “I love that we did this — I can’t believe we pulled it off,” Fallon remarked, noting that the inspiration was “Jimmy and I wanted to have some fun with people mixing us up all the time.”

The shows then cued up a pre-taped video where the Jimmys pranked fans via a photo op where the stranger started off posing with one of the late-night hosts, only to realize the other had sneaked into frame while their back was turned.

The Hollywood Reporter was on site at Kimmel and reported that during the commercial break, Fallon told the studio audience that he had once spoken to a fan for 20 minutes about how much she loved his show, only for her to remark at the end how she had just met Jimmy Kimmel. The Tonight Show host said, however, “I couldn’t be mistaken for a better guy.”

You can check out clips from both shows above.

Michael is a music and television junkie keen on most things that are not a complete and total bore. You can follow him on Twitter — @Tweetskoor

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