Jimmy Recaps Trump's Busy Schedule | LL COOL J, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Riley Green | Thursday, September 4

Summary

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

Episode: Jimmy Recaps Trump's Busy Schedule | LL COOL J, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Riley Green
Date: September 5, 2025

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Episode Overview

This energetic episode of The Tonight Show features a blend of Jimmy’s trademark monologue, comedy sketches, and high-profile celebrity interviews. The main themes include the kickoff of the NFL season, humorous commentary on topical events (notably Donald Trump’s packed week), a playful discussion of football, music, and sports celebrity culture, plus wide-ranging interviews with LL COOL J (on 40 years of "Rock the Bells" and the upcoming VMAs), NBA superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (on his historic season and new shoe line), and country artist Riley Green (on his roots and career). The episode is peppered with memorable comedic moments and showcases the guests’ personalities in lively, spontaneous exchanges.

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Main Segments & Key Insights

1. Jimmy’s Monologue: NFL Season & Topical Jokes

[01:03 – 04:13]

• Jimmy kicks off by lamenting a lost college tuition bet on DraftKings, then launches into jokes about the Eagles and Cowboys opening the NFL season.
• A satirical ad fusion between Coors Light and hydration is introduced:
  “Football is back, which means tailgating, beers and shots, shots, shots. But remember, it’s important to stay hydrated and drink water. And that’s why you can always count on us. Coors Light.” ([01:50])
• Musical riff with LL COOL J: A tongue-in-cheek rap about NFL drama, Taylor Swift’s fictional engagement to Travis Kelce, and NFL storylines:
  “32 teams all trying to win. The Ravens, the Eagles, the Bills, all savage.” – LL COOL J ([02:19]) “And Taylor Swift is engaged to Travis.” – Jimmy ([02:23])
• Satire on President Trump’s “busy” schedule, recited like a children’s rhyme: “Sunday, White House. Monday, bed. Tuesday, speech — Tell everyone I’m not dead. Wednesday, got the CDC. All that’s left is WebMD…” – Jimmy ([03:11])

2. Comedy Sketch: NFL Season "Soprolatives"

[05:02 – 06:52]

• Jimmy runs through playful, made-up "superlatives" for NFL players:
  “Brian Anger... most likely to look at a bowling ball and say ‘Dad.’”
  “Braden Mann... most likely to be voted sexiest man alive in 1883.”
  • Others include lines about alien abductions, denim pajamas, and "swallowing a football sideways".
• The segment embraces the show's winking, irreverent humor.

3. Interview: LL COOL J

[07:34 – 13:43]

Career Retrospective, "Rock the Bells" & Hosting the VMAs

• Jimmy highlights LL’s music and acting legacy, referencing Any Given Sunday: “You think you’re an athlete until you get on the field with a recently retired Lawrence Taylor. And you get checked real quick.” – LL COOL J ([08:25])
• Discussion of training for acting vs real football: “Little League, you know, with LT… the older you get, the further back away from the line you get pushed depending on your size.” – LL COOL J ([09:14])
• 40th anniversary of "Rock the Bells":
  • LL explains why the video took 40 years:
    “The real reason is… I overslept. When it was time to shoot the first video, I just overslept, baby.” ([10:12])
  • The new video’s intergenerational concept led to a Tribeca Film Festival award.
• LL keeps it playful about his classic car, which grew a tree through it: “I went there one day and looked inside. Yo—there was a tree growing through the car.” ([12:03])
• Hosting the MTV VMAs:
  “Just to really make it about the artists, make it about the fans. Have fun. I’m gonna change my clothes, but we’re not gonna have 999,000 outfit changes.” ([12:34])
• On presenting the first Rock the Bells Visionary Award to Busta Rhymes:
  “He’s been such an instrumental and impactful artist… Not only with his rhythmic flow... but also his visual impact. The way he did the videos and the way he moved the world.” – LL COOL J ([13:10])

4. Interview: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA)

[14:05 – 22:03]

NBA Historic Season, Video Games, and Fashion

• Recap of SGA's trophy-filled year: “You were the regular season MVP... the Thunder won an NBA championship, and you were named the Finals MVP, becoming just the fourth person in history to win the regular season MVP, scoring title and Finals MVP in the same season.” – Jimmy ([14:45]) “What a list.” – SGA ([15:29])
• Reflecting on achievement: “When you work hard, put your head down and take it one step at a time, you can get anywhere you want to go.” – SGA ([15:52])
• SGA on football: “No chance. No chance. No chance.” – SGA on playing in the NFL ([16:10]) “Just like how they can’t come on the basketball court, I can’t go on the football field.” ([16:16])
• SGA’s tunnel fashion ("fits"), upbringing, and his parents’ influence: “My parents growing up always made sure we left the house... and represented the family name. So if my collar was up, I’d get in trouble.” ([18:52])
• Shoe launch—Converse Shea One: “A lot of NBA players have a signature shoe... To be able to create your own and have the imprint on the shoe the way I have is amazing.” – SGA ([20:21])
  • New colorways are “named after my wife’s eye color, my brother's favorite color, and my mom’s entire closet is black.” ([21:16])

5. Interview: Riley Green

[22:23 – 29:28]

Country Roots, Family, Football, and Duck Calls

• Riley is on the "Damn Country Music Tour," playing to sold-out venues, including Red Rocks: “It’s awesome, man. All the shows have been selling out... I’ve been doing this for, you know, 10 or 12 years and just to see it continue to grow and the venues are getting bigger.” ([23:20])
• Memories of football and family: “My music career started as my football career ended. I really struggled to get up for a 9:15 class... after staying out all night playing in bars.” ([24:49])
  • His grandfathers’ influence, turning the family house into a “Golden Saw Music Hall”:
    “It was me and a bunch of older people and we’d meet up every Friday…” ([25:55])
  • Songwriting origin: “Nobody can tell the exact story that I tell. So I started writing songs just about how I grew up and my family and those values.” ([27:06])
• Hilarious moment: Duck call demonstration, as Jimmy predictably uses it “the wrong way,” sparking audience laughter: “I just feel like... it would be more fun if you tried it first because I think there’s a 50/50 chance you blowing the wrong end.” – Riley Green ([28:24]) "You don't smoke out of it." – Riley Green ([28:04])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• LL COOL J, on missing his iconic music video shoot:
  “The real reason is... I overslept. When it was time to shoot the first video... I just overslept, baby.” ([10:12])

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, on humility despite superstar success:
  “When you're in the moment and you're competing and you're playing, you don't realize what you're doing until someone... like me tells you.” – Jimmy ([15:48])

• Jimmy Fallon, on football superlatives:
  “He was voted most likely to look at a bowling ball and say 'Dad.'” ([05:18])

• Riley Green on life as a touring country artist:
  “It’s awesome, man... All the shows have been selling out. It’s so cool to have a mom, especially as a songwriter when things are really working...” ([23:20])

• Riley Green, on his families' influence:
  “My granddaddy Buford just loved country music... My granddaddy Lyndon was like the fisherman hunter, you know, came to every ball game.” ([25:14])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Intro & Monologue — [00:05–04:13]
• NFL “Soprolatives” — [05:02–06:52]
• LL COOL J Interview — [07:34–13:43]
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Interview — [14:05–22:03]
• Riley Green Interview — [22:23–29:28]

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Tone & Style

The episode is lively, fast-paced, and playful, with genuine warmth in the guest segments. Jimmy’s rapport with each guest is lighthearted, quick-witted, and self-deprecating—a hallmark of the Tonight Show’s late-night charm. Each guest brings their own personality, from LL COOL J’s charismatic storytelling and SGA's humble confidence, to Riley Green’s easygoing country humor. The episode is rich with pop culture references and inside jokes, making it enjoyable for fans across sports, music, and comedy.

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This summary captures the highlights, notable comedic moments, and genuine conversations from each primary segment, offering an engaging guide for anyone interested in the episode's content and energy.

Transcript

[Jimmy Fallon]

From Studio 63 in Rockefeller 7 in.

The heart of New York City.

Tonight, starring Give me shout. Hey, hey, hey, hey. This guest, LL Cool Daniel Giselle Dennis Riley Green. And featuring Steve legendary Ruth Curry football. And now, here he is. Give it Jes. Thank you very much. Welcome, welcome. I love it. Yes. Oh. Oh. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.

And welcome, everybody. Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Tonight Show. I hope tonight goes well because I just lost my kid's college tuition on draftkings. So, yeah, Tonight, the NFL season kicked off with the Philadelphia Eagles taking on the Dallas Cowboys. It's perfect timing because Eagles fans just sobered up from the Super Bowl. So that's perfect. Yep, the NFL season, football season is here. And with all the drinking at the games and bars and even at home, it's important to stay hydrated, which explains this new ad I just saw. Check this out. Hey, fans, football is back, which means tailgating, beers and shots, shots, shots. But remember, it's important to stay hydrated and drink water. And that's why you can always count on us. Coors Light. There you go. That's perfect.

That's nothing.

Yeah, I'm pumped for this season because there's so many incredible storylines to follow on the field. And in fact, Tareeq and I even wrote a song about it. Tariq. Let's do this. Beth.

[LL Cool J]

Football's here.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It's back again.

[LL Cool J]

32 teams all trying to win. The Ravens, the Eagles, the Bills, all savage.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And Taylor Swift is engaged to Travis.

But okay.

[LL Cool J]

Anyway, it's time to rock, run, throw, kick, catch, tackle, block, pull up.

[Jimmy Fallon]

DraftKings. It's time for betting on who gets invited to T. Swift's wedding. But back to the field.

[LL Cool J]

Can't wait any longer.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Will Sabrina Carpenter be the maid of honor?

[LL Cool J]

Giants have Russell and Jackson dunk.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And Taylor has the ring the size of Kevin Hart.

[LL Cool J]

Throw deep all day.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Groomsmen, bridesmaids out. Groove deep, curve, life of a showgirl. Falcons, Ravens friendship bracelet. Touchdown. Big day. Fairy tale romance.

Big plaque, blank face.

End zone, endgame.

Bronco boot Tay.

Travis.

Tay tay.

Thanks, Drake. Well, guys, President Trump has had an interesting week. People didn't see him for a few days, but now he's back to his usual schedule and he's always got a lot going on. If you haven't been keeping track, I'm going to catch you up. Sunday, White House Monday, bed Tuesday speech. Tell everyone I'm not dead Wednesday got the CDC. All that's left is WebMD, Putin Kim parade with XI major FOMO, OMG Thursday. Lose a couple trials, try to block the Epstein files. Claim you never knew the man. Then untag pics on instagram. Golf then work, then do some chores. Throw some trash out from second floor. Work then golf then diet coke. Yell crack or barrel. Went too. Woke. Work off 10. Golf healthy man. Ignore my cankles and my hand. Work off 10. Work, hate or drive. Check your pulse. Yep, still alive.

I can catch you up. Switching gears.

Did you guys see this? Yesterday in San Francisco, two united planes on the tarmac bumped into each other. United calls that an accident, while southwestern calls it a high five. Listen to this. I saw that a new study found that dogs can almost get all the nutrients they need from plant based foods. The only downside is once dogs go vegan, they won't stop barking about it. I heard you. I heard you. I heard you. Impossible. Yes, impossible. Feet just the same. I know you. Finally, guys, as I mentioned, the first game of the NFL season kicked off tonight. Dallas cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Now.

As you know, at the end of every season they give out awards like most valuable player, but they also give out awards at the start of the season. I'll show you what I mean. It's time for tonight's show soprolatives. Here we go. Our first player is from the Dallas cowboys. It is Brian anger. Uh, yeah. He was voted most likely to look at a bowling ball and say dad. Next up from the Philadelphia eagles is Braden Mann. He was voted most likely to be voted sexiest man alive in 1883. Amazing. That's how.

Dude.

What an honor. Next up from the eagles is Gallus Goddard. He was voted most likely to deny having just been probed by an alien for three days. What are you talking about, dudes? I'm fine. Nothing happened. Next up from the cowboys is Trent sieg. He was voted most likely to braid friendship racists with his toes. Next up from the eagles is Jordan Davis. He was voted most likely to still be holding in a Burp from 2007. Next up from the eagles is gran calcatera. He was voted most likely to sleep in denim pajamas. Huh? Next up from the cowboys is Jack Sanborn. He was voted most likely to be able to swallow a football sideways. Next up from the eagles is keely Ringo. He was voted most likely not to need a graduation cap because he's a rogue. And finally from the cowboys is Trevor Keegan. He was voted temu Kelsey brother.

There you have it, everybody. Those are your soproteus. We have a great show. LL cool j is Here tonight, NBA champion Shay Gildous Alexander is joining us. And we got talk from Riley Greene. Stick around. We'll be right back with LL Cool J.

Our first guest is a multi platinum Grammy winning member of the Rock and Roll hall of Fame who's about to host the MTV VMAs, which air live this Sunday at 8pm on CBS, MTV and Paramount. Please welcome LL Cool J.

Legend. LL Cool J. That's what I'm talking about. They love you.

We love you. Welcome back to the show, bud.

So.

You look great, man. Thanks so much for being here. This is a big show for us. It's the NFL Kickoff Show.

[LL Cool J]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And I know you have a bit of a football legacy of your own because, of course, you were in Any given Sunday.

[LL Cool J]

Yes, I was.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's right, bud.

[LL Cool J]

Come on.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, yeah.

[LL Cool J]

You know, any given Sunday. It's funny because, you know, you think you're an athlete until you get on the field with a recently retired Lawrence Taylor. And you know what I'm saying? You get checked real quick a little bit, you know what I mean? He was running by me, tapping me on the shoulder.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Call the ambulance.

I'm like, oh, man.

[LL Cool J]

He was playing with me.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, yeah.

[LL Cool J]

You know, there's an interception. So you're supposed to keep your head on the swivel and all that. Cause I was on offense. I was a running back.

[Jimmy Fallon]

But you're a big dude.

[Riley Green]

Yeah.

[LL Cool J]

All that.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah.

[LL Cool J]

Real huge, but still. Yeah, yeah. No lt. When he got on the field, it was like, he's like basically my size. But it looked like he grew like three feet or something when he got on the. You know what I'm saying? Like, it was fun. Nah, nah, nah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It was fun.

[LL Cool J]

It was fun, but it was memorable.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You know what I mean?

I know you play a lot of football as a kid.

[LL Cool J]

I did.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, I did. But the kind of training that went into this. Is any Little League experience help at all?

[LL Cool J]

I mean, you know, Little League, you know, with lt. The Little League thing is, you know, you find out, like, the older you get, the further back away from the line. You get pushed depending on your size, you know.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Oh, that's interesting.

[LL Cool J]

So, you know, you start off as nose guard and then, you know, you move to like middle linebacker. Next thing you know, you're, let's go to offense. Now you're a fullback.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah. Now you're.

[LL Cool J]

Now you're half back, you know.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Now you're waving.

[LL Cool J]

Now you're in the stairs, like right Rounds. You're in the stairs.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You're in the Right Rounds. Yeah, yeah, you're in the stairs.

[LL Cool J]

Right?

[Jimmy Fallon]

Rounds. That's what I'm talking about. That's how you become LL Cool J. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Rock the Bells, by the way. Yeah. That's amazing that it's four to you.

[LL Cool J]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Thankfully, you crushed that. Yeah. And you just released a video for that song because you never released a video for that song. Yeah. Yep, yep. Went on to win the best music video prize at the Tribeca Film Festival this year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Crazy. Why did it take you this long?

[LL Cool J]

You know, I mean, the reason, the real reason is. Cause I overslept. When it was time to shoot the first video on my first album, I just overslept, baby.

[Jimmy Fallon]

For real? Yeah.

[LL Cool J]

I was sleep. I was sleeping. It was a long night. Doing shows, knocked out, you know, Russell called me up.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It's your career. You know? It's your career. Yeah, man.

[LL Cool J]

And I was thinking to myself, oh, wow, I have a career. And I'm like looking at the phone like, he says, I have a career.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah.

I didn't have one.

[LL Cool J]

I changed my mind about things. And then, you know, so I ended up just, you know, my man Greg Brunkehalla, you know, he came up with this concept to like, do a video and kind of incorporate different generations and do a video for Rock the Bells, a never made video. So we did it and ended up winning at Tribeca.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And thank you, Greg Bronco. That's a good one.

You trust me.

Yeah. Also, your most recent album, the Force that you just put out is fantastic, by the way. I remember Questlove posted something about it and was like, go check this out. It is fantastic.

[LL Cool J]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You crushed it. Thank you. The song you did with Eminem.

[LL Cool J]

Yeah. Thank you, thank you. Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Mer Grim, you got a lot of great special guests on this album. Nas is on there. Yeah, Busted. But. But the video with Eminem is nominated for an MTV for vma. Yeah.

[LL Cool J]

Yeah, thankfully.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah.

[LL Cool J]

Yup. And that's actually. That's actually my very first car. That's my very first car I ever bought. And I actually had it shipped to Detroit for the video.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I was gonna ask you. Cause is this bigger and different? Yeah, yeah.

[LL Cool J]

This is actually the same. Oh, you prepared? I got.

[Jimmy Fallon]

This is.

[LL Cool J]

This is actually the same car from this album. This was my second album cover, and that's the exact same car. This car right here.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's hilarious.

[LL Cool J]

Yeah, I actually had it Redone, though. Cause at one point a tree had grown through it. But that's a long story.

[Jimmy Fallon]

But anyway, I had it. I had one of those cars. I had a redone. I had one of those cars, too.

[LL Cool J]

My ride, you know what I mean?

[Jimmy Fallon]

So a tree is going through it.

[LL Cool J]

Tree grow through it. It was sitting in my grandmother's drive.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And a little plant.

[LL Cool J]

And I went there one day and looked inside. Yo. It was a tree growing through the jar. I'm like, yeah, it might be time to get it redone.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's so sweet.

[LL Cool J]

You know, my mother called me up.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Todd, I think you should look at your car. I'm like, you know what I mean? It's 20ft in. What kind of tree is this? Cars don't grow on trees. Only your car does.

[LL Cool J]

Acorns.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, exactly. The VMAs are live this Sunday.

[LL Cool J]

Yes.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Of course you're gonna do it. You're the best at doing this. You show up, you host award shows. I've seen you crush it before. What is your approach to the weekend? What can people expect?

[LL Cool J]

You know what? Just to really make it about the artists, make it about the fans. Have fun. I'm gonna change my clothes a little, but we're not gonna have 999,000 outfit changes.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Is that about you?

[LL Cool J]

400. No, no. It's about the fans, it's about the artists. It's about people just having a good time. And I love the fact that it's all these different genres mixed together.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You got Gaga. Yeah, yeah.

[LL Cool J]

From Gaga to J. Balvin to Sabrina Carpenter to Busta Rhymes to, you know, Ricky Martin.

[Jimmy Fallon]

To Ricky Martin, you know? Yeah, yeah.

[LL Cool J]

It's crazy. It's gonna be crazy.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You're doing. The award you're giving out to Busta is your Rock the Bell's Visionary Award.

[LL Cool J]

Yeah, it's the VMA Rock the Bell's Visionary Award. And we're giving it to Buster because he's been such a instrumental and impactful artist with his. Not only. With his rhythmic flow, which I'm sure thought will attest to, you know, but. And his lyricism, but also his, you know, his visual impact. The way he did the videos and the way he moved the world, you know.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Woo. Ha.

Yeah, I remember that. You know what I mean? I love that.

[LL Cool J]

So I'm giving Bus the first one.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, I'm so excited. It's gonna be great. You know I love you anytime you are in town. You're the best man. My man LL Cool there's the best.

Watch him host the MTV VMAs live this Sunday at 8pm on CBS, MTV and Paramount. More Tonight show answers to grace and correct.

Our next guest is an NBA superstar and the reigning MVP for the world champion Oklahoma City Thunder. He also is the creative director for Converse basketball and his new shoe, the Shea One, is out. Now. Please welcome Shay Gildrich Alexander.

Sga. Come on.

Shay. Do I call you Shay? Do you want me to call you sj?

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Shay's perfect.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, Shay's good. Okay. Can I just go through some of the things that happened to you last year?

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Let's do it.

[Jimmy Fallon]

All right. You were the regular season mvp. Congratulations.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Thank you.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You won the NBA scoring title, averaged 32.7 points per game. The Thunder won an NBA championship, and you were named the NBA Finals mvp, becoming just the fourth person in history to win the regular season mvp, scoring title and finals MVP in the same season. The only other three that were on that list are Michael Jordan, Shaquille o', Neal, and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Come on, bro.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

What a list.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Do you think about. Do you think about any of this stuff when you were coming up, when you were growing up, did you go, oh, this is all possible, or.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

No, not at all.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You just checking things off the. Checking the boxes out, and it's crazy.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Like, when you're in the moment and you're competing and you're playing, like you don't realize what you're doing until someone.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Like me tells you.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Yeah. And lists them out.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Yeah. It's crazy. It's an amazing feeling. But it goes to show, like, when you work hard, put your head down and take it one step at a time, you can get anywhere you want to go.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I mean, you are a great athlete. You are. You're six. Six. Do you think that you could ever play for the NFL?

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

No chance. No chance. No chance.

[LL Cool J]

No, no, no, no, no.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You wouldn't do that.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

I wouldn't disrespect them like that. Nah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Really? No.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Just like how they can't come on the basketball court. I can't go on the football field.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You can't go on there.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Just stay in our lanes.

[Jimmy Fallon]

But growing up, did you play football?

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

I did a little bit.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

I quit very quickly.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Okay.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

I like. I played running back, so I got hit a lot, and I, like, fell on the ball when I got tackled a couple times. Don't show him that. Don't show it when that. And I got the wind knocked out of me.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I gotta do it. Oh, come on. He.

Come on.

Look at that dude, you get tackled and you just lay down?

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

No, I fell on the football and got the wind knocked out of me. And I didn't like that at all. So I quit right away.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You said, I'm going to go right to basketball.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Yep.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's my sport.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

The wind never got knocked out of me playing basketball.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Not once. Yeah. As if being an NBA champion, the MVP wasn't enough, it was also announced that you're on the COVID of NBA 2K26. Yes. Look at this again. I want to go back to a second to your rookie year, okay? Because in your rookie year, you were in NBA 2K19. There you are. And your rating was 73. Now here you are, you're the COVID athlete, and you have the highest rating in the game at 98. That's. You gotta start from somewhere.

But come on.

This is so fun. Did this give you a little chip on your shoulder when you saw this?

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

You know, funny enough, I didn't care. Like, I was just happy to be in the game.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Oh, really?

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Yeah. If I was like a 59, I wouldn't care as long as I'm in the game. At that point.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You get to play. Look, I'm in the game. I'm a fan of that.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

I was just happy to be in the game. But as the years went on and I, like, realized I was gonna be in the game every year, my ratings started to feel a little disrespectful.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Okay. Yeah. So you had to get those numbers.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Up as the years went up.

[Jimmy Fallon]

As the years went on.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

A little bit more. I'm good now.

[Jimmy Fallon]

People love watching you play. It's amazing to watch you play. You're one of the greatest. But people also love your tunnel fits. Now, a tunnel fit, if you guys don't know that these are the outfits that you wear on your way into the game and leaving the game. And here's some of your tunnel fits just so we can look through. Look at this. Jan. What's up? How do you describe this fit?

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

You know, it was hot outside that day.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Why would you wear this on a hot day?

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Sometimes you have to sacrifice comfort. Sometimes you have to sacrifice comfort.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Were you always a fashionable kid?

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Yeah, I, like, my parents growing up, always made sure, like, we left the house and, like, represented the family name. So, like, if my collar shirt wasn't, like, buttoned up and my collar wasn't flapped down, I'd get in trouble.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Is that right?

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

So, like, little things like that, we just always, like, kept tidy and made sure we looked Apart, and then it just transferred it as I grew up.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I like this one here. This is a good one. Can you see where you're going in this?

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Yeah. I was, like, looking down as I was walking.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, that's a good challenge. You prepare for the game. You're like, my sight is ready. I don't need to see anything.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

My peripherals were great.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, Great. That day.

I can't.

How do you pull this off? And you look good in it. I can't do any of this. This is why you get, like, sneaker deals and stuff. No one ever asked me to design.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

They will after today.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I do. I am wearing the. I'm wearing the new. I am wearing the new kit in butter. This is the butter colorway.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Yep.

[Jimmy Fallon]

This is. So this came out when? Today?

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Yes, today.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yep, it came out today.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Sold out in minutes, actually.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Sold out in minutes. But this is based off a sketch that you did. Look at this. That's. You're making your own shoes. Yes, yes, yes. And it's sold out in minutes. This is. You can't get this jam. You can't.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Well, you can't, obviously, Jimmy.

[Jimmy Fallon]

No, I have not. I. I'm very appreciative, but that's wild.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Yeah, it was an amazing process. Like, a lot of NBA players have signature shoe. Well, not a lot. But to get in the category of having a signature shoe is one thing. And then to be able to create your own and have the imprint on the shoe the way I have is amazing.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It's been so special, the idea. You went for it. You worked hard. You go, no, I like this. I want this this way. And now it's real. I mean, it went from a sketch to being a real shoe in real life. Yeah, that's wild.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

But shout out the Converse team for executing. Cause the shoe looks way better than the sketch.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Shut up. They crushed it. They crushed it. But if you like this and you want to see some other colorways, there's more coming out later this month in October.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

October 2nd. I have three more colorways coming out. I have.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Look at how cool these are.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Pale clay colorway, mossy blue colorway, and the charm black colorway.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Now, are they named after.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]

Yeah, this is my wife's eye color. This is my brother's favorite color, and my mom's entire closet is black, like Fitch brown.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And I'm not joking. Come on, mom.

We love you, mom.

The Shea ones you dropped today already sold out. And I do have this pair here. And this is the last unclaimed pair of Shay ones. Should we. Should we give them to someone? What?

Not this girl.

Right here. Right here.

Where am I going?

Yeah, right here.

Well, there you go, aj. Absolutely. You have a great day. That's Alexa. Nice to meet you. Very classic.

Very gentlemen, thank you so much.

Thank you, bud. Shay, Gildrich, Alexander, everybody. More colors of the Shay ones will be coming out October 2nd. We'll be right back. Stick around, everybody.

Yeah.

[LL Cool J]

I said out of the flames like.

[Jimmy Fallon]

A phoenix Carrying the weight of my brain Like a genius. Our next guest is a multi platinum award winning artist who just released a deluxe edition of his album, Don't Mind if I do. Please welcome Riley Green. Welcome back to the show. But this is your first time talking to you on the. On the desk here.

[Riley Green]

Yeah, they're getting brave.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, we're getting real brave. Yeah. You're currently on the damn country music tour.

[Riley Green]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah.

[Riley Green]

Pretty accurate too. It's a good name for it.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It is a good day. Yeah. How's the tour going?

[Riley Green]

It's great. Everybody wears camouflage, as you can see.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I did all backstage. Everyone's a camouflage. You have a good team, by the way. I like everybody.

[Riley Green]

Yeah, it's. It's awesome, man. All the shows have been selling out. It's so cool to have a mom, especially as a songwriter when things are really working, you know. And yeah, I've been doing this for, you know, 10 or 12 years and just to see it continue to grow and the venues are getting bigger. We did Red Rocks a couple weeks ago. Sold out. Showed.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It must be amazing to do that play.

[Riley Green]

It's cool. Yeah. A lot of my family showed up, so it became a little stressful, you know, I mean, I've got a. I'm from Alabama. I got a lot of cousins and they, they came out, they filled half the.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Half the stadium.

[Riley Green]

Yeah, there was more people backstage than.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Actually in the crowd.

Yeah, I know you're a big football fan. It was Eagles versus Cowboys. Now you're a big Cowboys man.

[Riley Green]

I was a huge Cowboys fan. Mostly Troy Aikman. I was, Ah, yeah. You know, I still wear Brute cologne because of Troy Aikman. I don't know if y' all remember.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Oh, I was my first.

[Riley Green]

It was a commercial and he was like playing backyard football and he dropped back and this really attractive girl sacked him. And she got real close to his face. Yeah, she got it real slow. And then he got in the huddle, said, alright, guys, same place. I would run around the Houseman jersey.

[Jimmy Fallon]

On just Root cologne.

[Riley Green]

Yeah. Gosh, you can buy a 3 gallons of it for $8.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, exactly right. That's correct. Here's a picture of you. Quarterback. Here are you quarterback. Hey. Jacksonville State.

[Riley Green]

Jacksonville State in northeast Alabama. That was a year after they stopped doing leather helmets.

[Jimmy Fallon]

But what, what was the priority here, football or music?

[Riley Green]

In that moment it looked like football.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah. You were into it.

[Riley Green]

I was. My music career started as my football career ended. I really struggled to get up for a 9:15 class. You did after staying out all night playing in bars, you know.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah. But you're like now I gotta.

[Riley Green]

I think it worked out. I think it's working out anyway.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Me too. It's really working out. You told me too that your grandpa was a big influence on you. Yeah.

[Riley Green]

My granddaddy Buford just loved country music. My granddaddy Lyndon was like the fisherman hunter, you know, came to every ball game. My granddaddy Buford, Buford and Lola Jean, by the way, we had a lot of great names in my family.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Buford, great name.

[Riley Green]

Yeah. He just loved country music. And I wrote a song about him that I played for him at his funeral. And they had a line in it that said he never could himself, but he taught me how to play. And that's kind of how it was. He didn't play guitar, I couldn't. But he had this old epiphone guitar. And we'd sit around and take. Just mess around on it, you know.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You as a little kid with grandpa.

[Riley Green]

I'm the short one.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Isn't that fun? And then, and then explain right after.

[Riley Green]

Football practice, explain this photo to me.

[Jimmy Fallon]

What, what is this one?

[Riley Green]

That's so my great grandparents house we turned into a. A miniature grand old opera. We called it the Golden Saw Music Hall. And it was me and a bunch of older people and we'd meet up every Friday. I mean.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Were you an old soul growing up?

[Riley Green]

I think so. My granddaddy loved like Roy Acuff and George Jones and Merle Haggard. And that was where I grew up. My first song I ever sang was Mama Tried. And I learned how to play by watching those old guys make chords like see how they. And the old ladies brought snacks and I would get up and sing and I was really nervous. I never liked my voice, but like they would cheer cause I was a little kid. So I got like this false confidence that I brought here today.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's it. Yeah, I'm believing in this confidence. Do you remember the first song you ever wrote?

[Riley Green]

It's probably something I'm horribly embarrassed of. Yeah, I wrote a song called Escalade that was about getting an Escalade.

[Jimmy Fallon]

The car.

[Riley Green]

Yeah. It had, like, a rap part in it.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Oh, no.

[Riley Green]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Well, that.

[Riley Green]

Listen, this is kind of easy. It was some judgment in there.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Oh, yeah, sorry. That was me.

[Riley Green]

So I learned how to write because I got tired of playing the same cover songs all the time. And I remember going to Nashville for the first time.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Oh, yeah.

[Riley Green]

Playing a Riders round at Tootsies. And there was 15 people in line after me, and every one of them was better than me. So I was like, man, what can I do to set myself apart? And it was, you know, nobody can tell the exact story that I tell. So I started writing songs just about how I grew up and my family and those values. And I was just really fortunate that I think a lot of people grew up the same way. And some of those songs did really well.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah. And you're super talented. You know how to do it, bud. Last time you were here, I don't know if you remember this, but you. You gave me a duck.

[Riley Green]

Of course I do. Of course. I wrote it in my diary that night.

[Jimmy Fallon]

So I remember you gave me a duck whistle and a duck whistle, right.

[Riley Green]

A duck whistle would be, like, what they instruct ducks to do at the Peabody Motel in Memphis when they cross the street. That's a duck whistle. That's not like, traffic whistle, you know, like, that's a duck call.

[Jimmy Fallon]

This is a duck call.

[Riley Green]

Yeah. That's a nice one, too. I can see you've used it a lot. Looks like.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Well, I didn't know if it was legal, first of all. I didn't know what this. I didn't know what you were handing me at first.

[Riley Green]

You don't smoke out of it.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Okay.

[Riley Green]

Well, it does have that look, I guess.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It does have that look.

[Riley Green]

Have you practiced it? Let me hear it. Let me see if you got where. You figured it out yet? Don't you want to hear him blow a duck?

[Jimmy Fallon]

You do it before your show? No.

[Riley Green]

No. I mean, yeah. Every show I come out and blow a duck call.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Can you. Can you show me how to do a duck call? And I could try to.

[Riley Green]

I just feel like. And I may be mistaken here, but it would be more fun if you tried it first because I think there's a 50. 50 chance you bowling the wrong end.

[Jimmy Fallon]

What?

It's gotta be this end.

[Riley Green]

The math adds up.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Wrong end.

[Riley Green]

Yeah, I think that's the wrong end. That's the wrong end.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Okay. It is? Yeah.

[Riley Green]

Okay.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Why? You're right. That is the wrong end. Sorry.

[Riley Green]

I would show you how to do one, but I didn't bring. Oh, yeah, hang on a second. I got one right here.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

[Riley Green]

I always keep one on.

[Jimmy Fallon]

This is what I'm talking about.

That. Oh, my God.

We'll go hunting together. Yeah.

[Riley Green]

Yours is a little kazoo ish. Yeah, we'll go.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, we'll go. Thanks for coming back.

And Riley Green. The deluxe edition of Don't Mind if I Do is available now. Stick around, everybody. My thanks to LL Cool J, Shay Gildrich, Alexander, Saquon Barkley, the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, Riley Griffin Green once again.

And the Roots right there from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Good night, everybody. Thank you.

Thanks for listening to the Tonight show starring Jimmy Fallon. Don't forget to subscribe to get the latest episodes weekday mornings. Wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the Tonight show starring Jimmy Fallon weeknights on NBC and streaming on Peacock.