Trump Calls for the Release of the Epstein Files | Michelle Yeoh, Hank Azaria, RAYE | Monday, November 17

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

Episode: Trump Calls for the Release of the Epstein Files | Michelle Yeoh, Hank Azaria, RAYE
Date: November 18, 2025
Host: Jimmy Fallon
Guests: Michelle Yeoh, Hank Azaria, RAYE

---

Episode Overview

This episode of The Tonight Show brings together pop culture, politics, comedy sketches, and star-studded guest interviews. Jimmy Fallon's monologue skewers current events, notably President Trump's call to release the Epstein files, trade tariffs, and holiday shopping woes. The show then transitions to engaging discussions with Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh, Emmy-winning actor Hank Azaria, and Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter RAYE, each sharing distinct stories about their craft and recent projects. Along the way, comedic sketches, character bits, and playful banter showcase the signature Tonight Show flair.

---

Monologue & Opening Sketches

Tackling Politics and Holiday Drama
[01:12 – 08:21]

• Trump & the Epstein Files:
  Jimmy addresses Trump’s abrupt support for releasing the "Epstein files" with trademark wit:

  “In other words, he just finished hiding everything.” – Jimmy Fallon [01:17]

• Trump and McDonald's:
  Jimmy jokes about Trump meeting with McDonald’s executives to discuss "affordability," and cracks about Ronald McDonald commenting on Trump's makeup.

• Holiday Tariffs & Sketches:

  • Tariffs are driving up prices on Christmas decorations and wine. Jimmy debuts a fake product:

    “Introducing Trump’s Yule log. It’s made entirely of pure American oak. And the Epstein files.” – Jimmy Fallon [01:54]

  • Comedy character "Trish Pickett, an aunt who loves wine," is interviewed about rising wine prices, delivering chaotic one-liners and anecdotes:

    “The only price I ever pay for drinking wine is the next morning when I wake up face down in my neighbor’s flower bed to discover I just bought a chandelier on Wayfair.” – Trish Pickett [03:20]
    “One time in 1972, that denim drape, ding dong smoked so much ganja he fell asleep for three days and woke up inside of a mattress.” – Trish Pickett [03:57]

• Swiss Tariffs Sketch:
  A "Swiss economist" character, Tobias Niederhauser, gives the Swiss perspective on a new trade deal. In exaggerated accent, he jokes about investment promises and ends with:

  “I ski down every day. I ski and I like to go around. We pay the bills for America right now. Cause we are down and Trump can go to hell.” – Tobias Niederhauser [07:59]

---

Celebrity Whispers Segment

Comedic Parody of Red Carpet Gossip
[08:21 – 10:10]

Fallon and crew perform imagined "celebrity whispers" into hidden mics:

• Running gags about repeating favorite months, “owing money” at the red carpet, and joking about fighting and secret pen techniques.
• Lighthearted, improvisational moment:

  “Let’s dance with each other – no, I’m kidding.” – Sidekick [09:05]

---

Michelle Yeoh Interview

Celebrating Film, Music, and Family
[10:39 – 17:55]

Key Topics:

• Michelle stars in "Wicked for Good" (in theaters this Friday).
• Discussion of her birthday, her fondness for the collectible Labubu toys:

  “Maybe a little more than 100 of them...they come in big and small, you know, you can’t just choose.” – Michelle Yeoh [13:02]

• On joining the Billboard charts for a song from “Wicked” and overcoming singing nerves with Cynthia Erivo’s encouragement:

  “Cynthia came up to me...looked at me with those beautiful eyes...‘I know you can do this. Just sing.’” – Michelle Yeoh [14:25]

• On playing the villain Madame Morrible and connecting with her godchildren & grand-godchild in Malaysia:

  “My grandgodchild...when I came on the call, she looked at me and she ran away...” – Michelle Yeoh [16:05]

• Yeoh explains how her dance background inspired the choreography for her villainous role, with input from director Jon M. Chu:

  “This is your time where you’re generating your tempest, your storm...bring all the energy in small ball.” – Michelle Yeoh [17:49]

---

Hank Azaria Interview

Voices, Longevity, and Springsteen
[18:23 – 23:21]

Key Topics:

• 37 seasons as a voice actor on The Simpsons:

  “Every sound I can make as a human being has been farmed at one point, harvested.” – Hank Azaria [19:27]

• How Mo the Bartender’s voice was created, blending Al Pacino and Bruce Springsteen impressions:

  “You take Bruce Springsteen on one end and young Al Pacino on the other. Right in the middle there is Mo the bartender.” – Hank Azaria [20:18]

• Discusses his new series The Artist, playing Thomas Edison, and describes the show as:

  “Like Downton Abbey on acid.” – Hank Azaria [21:05]

• Story of forming and fronting a Bruce Springsteen tribute band, which started as a birthday surprise for himself, raising $30,000 for charity.

• Receiving direct praise from Bruce Springsteen (via dentist's video):

  “While I have a terrible toothache, I’ve been fantastically entertained by your version of ‘Prove It All Night,’ which I gotta say, was pretty darn good.” – Bruce Springsteen (as recounted by Hank Azaria) [22:44]

---

RAYE Interview

Music Success, Collaborations, and Aspirations
[23:21 – 30:00]

Key Topics:

• Recap of RAYE’s breakout: four-time Grammy nominee, first artist nominated for both Songwriter of the Year and Best New Artist in the same year, opened for Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour.

  “It’s a huge deal.” – RAYE [24:31]

• On being on the cover of British Vogue and sitting next to Anna Wintour:

  “She’s the queen of bobs...so lovely...she’s listening to Bad Bunny!” – RAYE [25:02]

• Collaborative sessions with Mark Ronson, seeing Amy Winehouse’s handwritten lyrics in Ronson’s studio:

  “He just got out...Amy Winehouse’s writing from Back to Black...I paused the session for about 45 minutes just so that I could just stare at it.” – RAYE [26:28]

• Recounts writing her first ever song at age eight by “sampling” a jazz standard from a kid’s TV show:

  “Sampling is actually a songwriting art, so actually I was kind of right...from that age.” – RAYE [27:59]

• Upcoming album in “the first half of next year”—title not yet revealed—plus her "This Tour May Contain New Music" tour, two sold-out shows at Radio City Music Hall, and long-term dream to open a jazz club:

  “Just have like, like true musicians just pull up jam nights...be open till 5am, yeah, that’s my plan.” – RAYE [29:36]

---

Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• Political Satire (Epstein Files / Trump):

  “We have nothing to hide. In other words, he just finished hiding everything.” – Jimmy Fallon [01:12]

• Comedic Characters:

  “I call it ‘yes swore’ because I never say no to it.” – Trish Pickett [03:20]

• Showbiz Magic:

  “Bring all the energy in small ball. Small ball. Channeling, and then—” – Michelle Yeoh (on generating a magical tempest on screen) [17:49]

• Hollywood Dreams:

  “You take Bruce Springsteen on one end and young Al Pacino on the other. Right in the middle there is Mo the bartender.” – Hank Azaria [20:18]

• Musical Legacy & Inspiration:

  “I paused the session for about 45 minutes just so that I could just stare at it.” – RAYE (on Amy Winehouse’s notebook) [26:28]

---

Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | |------------|-------------------------------------------| | 01:12 | Jimmy Fallon on Trump & Epstein Files | | 03:05 | Aunt Who Loves Wine sketch begins | | 05:25 | Announcement on U.S.-Switzerland trade | | 08:21 | Celebrity Whispers comedy bit | | 10:39 | Michelle Yeoh interview starts | | 18:23 | Hank Azaria interview starts | | 23:21 | RAYE interview starts | | 27:20 | RAYE on writing her first song |

---

Tone & Style

The episode maintains a blend of sharp late-night satire, playful banter, star admiration, and genuine warmth. Guests are encouraged to share behind-the-scenes moments and personal stories while also participating in classic Tonight Show fun and games.

---

Conclusion

This episode delivers everything fans expect from The Tonight Show: timely comedic commentary on political news, imaginative original sketches, and candid, heartwarming interviews with leading figures from entertainment and music. Whether riffing on trending headlines, recounting Hollywood stories, or revealing inspiring tales of creative process, the show is high-energy, humorous, and inviting throughout.

Transcript

[Jimmy Fallon]

From Studio 6B in Rockefeller center in the heart of New York City, it's a Tonight show starring Jimmy Fallon. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Tonight, joining Jimmy and his guests, Michelle, Yo, Hank, Azaria, Ray. And featuring the legendary Ruth Crew. 22:16. And now, here he is, Jimmy Jesus. Thank you very much. Come on. Ah, thank you. Enjoy yourself.

Enjoy yourself. Welcome, everybody. Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Tonight Show.

You're here. You made it. Thank you for being here. Thank you for watching.

Well, guys, last night, in a major reversal, President Trump called on House Republicans to release the Epstein files, saying, we have nothing to hide. In other words, he just finished hiding everything.

Look.

Now, meanwhile, earlier tonight in Washington, Trump met with McDonald's owners, operators, and suppliers to discuss affordability at McDonald's. When Trump first walked into a room full of McDonald's employees, he was like, is this an intervention or am I in heaven? What's happening? At one point, Ronald McDonald saw Trump and said, wow, that's a lot of makeup.

[Audience Member / Sidekick]

Wow.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Chill it out, bro. Chill it out, bro. Listen to this. I read that due to Trump's tariffs, Christmas decorations are expected to be more expensive this year. But the President has a solution. Watch this. Christmas is right around the corner. And to kick off the holiday season, I have the perfect product. Introducing Trump's Yule log. It's made entirely of pure American oak. And the Epstein files. It's definitely a real log and not flight logs. And it'll put you in the Christmas spirit and make you an accomplice to the obstruction of justice. And for my Jewish friends, we've got Hanukkah candles that definitely aren't rolled up. Emails, Trump's Yule log. I'm running out of ideas. There you go. Isn't that nice?

Isn't that for the holidays? Look forward to that.

And get this. Due to Trump's tariffs, wine is going to be more expensive this holiday season. Americans looked at their extended family and said, whatever it costs, it's worth it. Let's go. Come on. Bring it down. Yep, Trump's tariffs are going to cause wine to be more expensive. Here to give her reaction is Trish Pickett, an aunt who loves wine.

[Trish Pickett (Aunt who loves wine)]

Hi, Jimmy. You look great. When did that start? I'm kidding. Want to do a shot?

[Jimmy Fallon]

No, no, I'm good. So how do you feel about the price of wine going up?

[Trish Pickett (Aunt who loves wine)]

Jimmy? The only price I ever pay for drinking wine is the next morning when I wake up face down in my neighbor's flower bed to discover I just bought a chandelier on Wayfair. Hey, give me some more of that pinot. Yes swore. I call it yes swore because I never say no to it. I'm kidding.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I'm sure you are kidding. So. So you're not concerned about the tariffs?

[Trish Pickett (Aunt who loves wine)]

Jimmy, did I ever tell you what your dad was like back in the 70s?

[Jimmy Fallon]

You're not my aunt. You're just an aunt.

[Trish Pickett (Aunt who loves wine)]

Oh, who cares? One time in 1972, that denim drape, Ding dong smoked so much ganja he fell asleep for three days and woke up inside of a mattress. No one knows how he got in there. And he never got out. He's still in there.

[Jimmy Fallon]

What are you talking about?

[Trish Pickett (Aunt who loves wine)]

I'm kidding. Why are you so worried about the truth? When are you my third divorce lawyer? Hey, give me some more of that chardonnay. I call it chardonnay because.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I understand. I understand why. Listen, I'm going to be honest. I'm starting to regret having you on the show.

[Trish Pickett (Aunt who loves wine)]

Regret? Only regrets I got is when I wake up at four in the afternoon, face down on a Little League pitchers mound, Aldi's Merlot all over my Talbot's blouse. And what's that? Yep, it's my book club telling me I tied 500 balloons to my house because I wanted to make it go up like in that Pixar.

[Jimmy Fallon]

All right, that's enough. An aunt who loves wine. Everyone.

[Trish Pickett (Aunt who loves wine)]

Is higgin single.

[Jimmy Fallon]

No, he's not. No, he's married. He's married. Face down in a pitcher's mound. Oh, my God. Blouse from Talbot. Face down in a pitcher mound. Then Little League at that.

[Michelle Yeoh]

Wow.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That ant. That was fantastic. Hey, did you guys just see this? Trump just cut his tariffs on beef, coffee and bananas in an effort to lower grocery store prices before the holidays. Yep, those Thanksgiving staples, beef, coffee and bananas. Hey, I saw that. The US Just reached a trade deal with Switzerland to lower tariffs on the country to 15%. Here to tell us about it from Switzerland's perspective is Swiss economist Tobias Niedenhauser. Tobias. Tobias Niederhauser. How are people in Switzerland feeling about the deal? Everybody's really happy about it. Uh, what was that again? What? I'm Swiss. I'm from the Swiss Alps, Jimmy. That's how we.

Do.

Accentuate the words we speak. Oh, I didn't realize that. Well, what did Switzerland offer in order to help lower the tariffs? Oh, well, the main thing was we promised to invest $200 billion in the U.S. i see. And how long do you have to make those investment?

[Audience Member / Sidekick]

Oh, by 2020.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Okay. Got it. Yeah, yeah, I hear you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I heard you. I heard you. I heard you. Yeah, yeah, I heard you. I have to wonder, though. How do the Swiss feel about having to make promises like that just to lower a tariff?

[Audience Member / Sidekick]

Oh, well, I'm going to be frank with you, Jimmy.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Most people think it's bull.

One last question. You're all the way from up in the Swiss Alps, but you came down to the city to talk to me. How are you getting home? Oh, yole hee Uber. Now that makes sense. It's Swiss economist, everyone.

And I ski down every day. I ski and I like to go around. We pay the bills for America right now. Cause we are down and Trump can go to hell. Take care, buddy. Take care, buddy. Wow. Fantastic. There he goes.

Finally. Guys, have you ever wondered what celebrities and athletes are whispering to each other when they're on the red carpet?

[Hank Azaria]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Press conference. Well, we have two. And that's why we sent our crew with some highly sensitive microphones out to get to the bottom of it. That's right. It's time for celebrity whispers.

[Audience Member / Sidekick]

Celebrity whisper. So what are your favorite months of the year? Well, I've always liked November and December and then June and December. Yeah, you said December twice.

[Michelle Yeoh]

What?

[Audience Member / Sidekick]

Yeah. Oh, no, I was talking about December. The other December. You know that one. Don't step on the dress. Didn't step on the dress. You almost stupid. I didn't.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Okay, smile.

[Audience Member / Sidekick]

Let's dance with each other. No, I'm kidding.

[Jimmy Fallon]

All right.

[Audience Member / Sidekick]

Yeah, I really would. I would if you would. Yeah, yeah, of course. Yes, of course. I know I owe you money and I'm gonna get your money, or, you know, you're Austin bothered. You definitely owe me money. I'm gonna get your money. Okay. I'm gonna get your money. Yeah. That's all right. That's all right, mama. I would get it and I'm happy to work it out. Now, I don't know where it is or how I'm gonna do it, but I'm gonna do it. Taking care of business, but I'm gonna do it. All right? Promise. You can't believe you came here with no gloves on. Crazy. Crazy. Oh, where are the photographers?

[Jimmy Fallon]

Right there. Okay.

[Audience Member / Sidekick]

Oh, hey, my man. Hey, what's up? What's. Oh, I thought you're somebody else. Sorry. There was a guy over there and he was saying that you can't punch people anymore. You're not. He said, I think you should go punch him. Yeah, go. Go punch him. Go punch that guy. Where is he? He's a secret technique for never dropping your pen.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's.

[Audience Member / Sidekick]

Damn it, that's busted. Here, you hang on to that.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Okay.

[Audience Member / Sidekick]

All right. Tom Cruise touched that. Okay, Gotta go.

[Jimmy Fallon]

There you go.

Those are our celebrity whispers. We have a great show from the new movie Wicked for Good. Michelle Yeoh is here. Hank Azaria is joining us. And we've got Ky from Ray. Stick around. We'll be right back with Michelle Yeoh. Come on back.

Our first guest is an Oscar winning actress who stars in the highly anticipated new film Wicked for Good, which is in theaters and IMAX this Friday. Please welcome Michelle Yeoh.

Absolutely.

Michelle Yeoh, welcome back to the show. Oh, yeah, we all love you. Come on. Thank you for coming back. I appreciate this. You look great. I wanted to show this photo because Happy belated birthday. And it was this summer, but.

[Michelle Yeoh]

Yes.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah. So months away, but happy belated. Here's a picture of you with balloons and Jon M. Chu there wearing a Michelle Yeoh T shirt. I have to get one of those.

[Michelle Yeoh]

Really?

[Jimmy Fallon]

Oh, yeah.

[Michelle Yeoh]

You could wear it.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I need one. Are you kidding me? Of course. I can't believe I don't already have one. He's brilliant director.

[Michelle Yeoh]

He is the best.

[Jimmy Fallon]

He's unbelievable.

[Michelle Yeoh]

Yeah, he's so talented.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I love everything.

[Michelle Yeoh]

Look at Wicked.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I know. Look at. Look at what he did. Crazy rich Asians in the Heights.

[Michelle Yeoh]

In the heights. Step up. But Wicked. And now Wicked for good.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Get ready. Wicked for good. But the reason why I wanted to talk about your birthday is because you posted that photo. But then you posted a photo of your cakes and you have labubu cakes. And these are. This is before the trend happened. Michelle Yeoh. You were ahead of the game. Do you love Labubus?

[Michelle Yeoh]

You know why I think they look like me.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You are so funny. You are so much more prettier than a Labubu.

[Michelle Yeoh]

No, wait, wait, wait. I do have something for you from my own collection. Dun dun, dun dun.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Are you kidding me? Oh, no.

[Michelle Yeoh]

I know you have two girls.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I do.

Are you ser.

[Michelle Yeoh]

I'm serious.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Michelle, you are the nicest. My girl's gonna love this. From Michelle Yeoh.

You're the best.

Thank you for this. Oh, my gosh. I love them.

They're so cute. So cute.

[Michelle Yeoh]

Right?

[Jimmy Fallon]

They're the cutest.

[Michelle Yeoh]

See, there's one M and there's one Y. Oh, see, this one is Y. That stands for yo.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, exactly. Oh, my gosh. I appreciate this.

[Michelle Yeoh]

Now you have Michelle Yeoh with your girls.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yes, I do. I love this. How did you get into Labubus when did you get into them? Oh, quite a little while ago. And how many do you have?

[Michelle Yeoh]

Maybe a little more than 100 of them.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You have 100 Labubus?

[Michelle Yeoh]

Yeah, but they come in big and small, you know, you can't just choose in different colors.

[Jimmy Fallon]

100 Labubus, Michelle, what are you talking about? Wow, that's a lot of labubus.

[Michelle Yeoh]

Yeah, but they're really, really cute.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yes, they are really, really cute.

[Ray]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I want to talk about this also before we get into Wicked for good. For Wicked. When the first one came out, part one. You actually hit the hot 100 on the Billboard charts. Number 93.

Come on. The wizard and I thank you.

[Michelle Yeoh]

Cynthia Erivo.

[Jimmy Fallon]

No.

Cynthia Erivo. Last time you were on the show we talked about, you're like, I don't know if I. Singing is my thing. You crushed it. You're on the Billboard charts. Are you a pop star now?

Wait, you're a pop star?

[Michelle Yeoh]

Yeah. Grammys, here I come.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yes, exactly. Yeah. You have to go to the Grammys. Yeah. Did Cynthia help you with all that?

[Michelle Yeoh]

Oh, my God. She really, really helped me out there. Because they sing live, both her and Ariana, these two girls have the most angelic, I mean, powerful voices. And so when we had to do the song while we were filming, and I recorded it first because I'm a scaredy cat, right?

[Jimmy Fallon]

So.

[Michelle Yeoh]

And they play it to me, and if, just in case, you know, I didn't want to sing it live, I could just go, yeah, you lip sync.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, you're right.

[Michelle Yeoh]

I could lip sync. And then Cynthia came up to me. She literally just grabbed my hand and she goes, michelle. And she looked at me with those beautiful eyes. I know you can do this.

[Audience Member / Sidekick]

Oh, my God.

[Michelle Yeoh]

Just sing.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I was like, oh, now you have to do it. You're like, oh, my gosh, I'll do anything for Cynthia.

[Michelle Yeoh]

Yeah, I really. I would do anything for the two of you.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You crushed it. I got to see the wicked for good. You are fantastic in it. You play a villain. You're very evil. Yes.

Mm.

[Michelle Yeoh]

Madame Marble, Wicked witch.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah. Oh, my God, that's so good. Wicked witch. Madame Morable, Madam Marble, Madame Morrible, Wicked witch. Oh, I love that. Oh, my gosh, you have. I know we talked about your God children last time you were on the show. Are they psyched that. That you're in this?

[Michelle Yeoh]

My God children, fortunately, they're grown ups. You know, they're in their 20s, some 30s. But it was my grandgodchild, she calls me Grandma, Papa. And when we were making it, she was not even three years old then, so. But I zoom call her almost every day. She lives in Malaysia. And you know, when I don't pick up her call, she goes like, papa, Michelle, why you don't answer the phone? I angry. I'm like, hello.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's so cute. At two years old.

[Michelle Yeoh]

Yeah, that's sweet. It's like time difference. How do you explain to a 2 year old kid time difference? So one day I was with my silver hair. I mean, it's such a stunning wig. Thank you. Frances and Sarah, who did. Who made it?

[Jimmy Fallon]

And you look great.

[Ray]

Thank you.

[Michelle Yeoh]

But when I came on the call, she looked at me and she ran away.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Oh, really?

[Michelle Yeoh]

And I was like, raelyn, come back, come back. She goes like, I don't want, I don't like. She refused to talk to me. She would put her hand up like this, like to cover my head or something.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It's not Papa. It's not? No. It's not who his dad is.

[Michelle Yeoh]

No, not. And now she's six years old and so she understands what I'm doing.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I think you look stunning. I mean.

[Michelle Yeoh]

I think so too.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I love this look. You can rock it.

[Michelle Yeoh]

Thank you.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You can rock this look. I know that Madame Marble's known for. You can control the weather and.

[Hank Azaria]

Yes.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You can do all sorts. Yes. And all this. I love this move. Is that a choreographer or is that you?

[Michelle Yeoh]

Well, you know, Christopher Scott, who's our choreographer, and John M. Chu, you know, they are the music people and lovers, but they also understood that, you know, I've done dance. It's very much part of my being. And so what they did was they set up the place and it was in front of these big windows. And Paul Tell, well, his costumes. Oh, your costumes for Madame Marable.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I mean, he won the Oscar, didn't he?

[Michelle Yeoh]

Oh, yes, he did. Well, he did.

[Jimmy Fallon]

He did. Amazing costumes.

[Michelle Yeoh]

He should win it again.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yes, he should win it again.

[Michelle Yeoh]

He should win it again.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It was amazing.

[Michelle Yeoh]

Yeah. So he made this costume with these long sleeves and Jon M. Chu came up to me and said, I'm gonna play you the music so you get the vibe, Right. I don't want to give you like specific instructions. You have to. This is your time where you're generating your tempest, your storm. So I'll just play the music. I'll just get the wind machine going. And please, I want you to do this. So what you do is like, you channel right? First of all, bring all the energy in small ball Small ball.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Small ball.

[Michelle Yeoh]

Channeling and then.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Not bad. Oh, that's how you do it right there. Michelle Yeoh. Wicked for Good is in theaters and IMAX this Friday. We'll be right back with Hank Azaria. Stick around, everybody. I'll be crossing and talking. My stars are awesome.

Our next guest is a six time Emmy winner starring in the new series the Artist. The first three episodes will stream for free on the streaming platform the network November 27th. Please welcome Hank Gazaria.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the show.

Hank Azaria, you were phenomenal. I was just saying how many you won multiple Emmys for a lot of stuff. But your voiceover work and the Simpsons. 37 seasons.

[Hank Azaria]

Yeah. Season 37 right now.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's unbelievable. Did you ever think it would go. It would go that long when you first started?

[Hank Azaria]

You'd have to be psychotic to think that. Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Of course.

[Hank Azaria]

You would quadruple any other television show. It was the early days of Fox. You didn't even think that Fox was going to continue to exist.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's correct.

[Hank Azaria]

Let alone an adult cartoon cartoon show. But, yeah, here we are.

[Audience Member / Sidekick]

Wow.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And how many voices now? You've done over 100.

[Hank Azaria]

There's some website that says I've done over 100. I think that's probably accurate.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Oh, my gosh.

[Hank Azaria]

Yeah. Every sound I can make as a human being has been farmed at one point, harvested. Yes.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And it keeps it fresh and keeps it going at 37 years, some fresher.

[Hank Azaria]

Than others, some seasons fresh and others.

[Jimmy Fallon]

But yes, it's amazing. Do you remember the first voice that you did?

[Hank Azaria]

I do. A lot of my, you know, they're based on a lot of vocal impressions and a lot of that for me as a young person was hero worship. So I loved Al Pacino growing up. Young Al, Right. Godfather Al, Dog Day Afternoon. I'm dying here. Everybody's coming down on me here.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Thanks a lot.

[Hank Azaria]

Thanks for remembering. I'm dying. I'm dying here. So I get this audition for a cartoon show and I do that voice for them and they say, well, we want it to be gravelly. So to me, another hero of mine who was gravelly was Bruce Springsteen.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Wow.

[Hank Azaria]

So fun fact. You take Bruce Springsteen on one end and young Al Pacino on the other. Right in the middle there is Mo the bartender.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Oh, my God.

[Hank Azaria]

He's a masher.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's it.

[Hank Azaria]

Of them two people.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's unbelievable. That's fantastic.

[Hank Azaria]

Mo was born.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Mo was born.

[Hank Azaria]

Yeah. He never made it as good as Springsteen.

[Jimmy Fallon]

The picture. Yeah, he did. He's a Legend. He's a legend. I want to talk about your new series, the Artist. Yeah. How do we set up the series? And can we say who you play? We have to.

[Hank Azaria]

I play Thomas Edison very oddly in this thing.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Not a great career where you go, dude, do you ever think in your life you go play Thomas Edison? That's fantastic.

[Hank Azaria]

It was not on my bingo card. I kind of felt like I should have a different voice, so I sort of used the Superintendent Chalmers voice from the Simpsons for it.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It seemed to work, and it worked perfect.

[Hank Azaria]

Yeah. This show is like Downton Abbey on acid, kind of.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Okay. All right. Yeah.

[Hank Azaria]

It's really, really wild. I like it very much.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah. You have some great co stars in it as well. Yeah.

[Hank Azaria]

I'm Andy Patinkin and Janet McTeer and Zachary Quinto and Clark Gregg. Really? I'll tell them you applauded.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They watch, or some of them watch.

[Ray]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

They'll know. You were doing Springsteen earlier, and I know he's one of your favorites. He's one of my heroes, too.

[Hank Azaria]

I've seen you with him. I love Bruce on the show. Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I love Bruce Springsteen. But you were in a Bruce Springsteen tribute band.

[Hank Azaria]

I am currently in a Springsteen tribute band.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Street band.

[Hank Azaria]

We play all over the country now.

[Jimmy Fallon]

How do you end up. How does one end up in a Bruce Springsteen tribute band?

[Hank Azaria]

Well, Bruce, I'll tell you.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Thank you, Bruce.

[Hank Azaria]

I was turning 60 years old a couple years ago, and I was, as the kids say, feeling a certain way about that. So I decided to throw a reverse surprise party where I told all my friends, most of whom are Springsteen fans.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah.

[Hank Azaria]

That I had a Springsteen tribute band coming. I did not tell them that I'd been working for months to front the band.

[Michelle Yeoh]

Yes.

[Hank Azaria]

And I just got out in front of everybody and we played for an hour and a half.

[Jimmy Fallon]

No way.

[Ray]

Yeah.

[Hank Azaria]

And we raised.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You raised money?

[Hank Azaria]

We raised. I said, no gifts, but donate to my foundation if you like. We raised like 30k that night.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Hey, good for you.

[Hank Azaria]

And now we travel. That all goes. Net proceeds, all go to charity.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Has the Springsteen universe. Do they know about your tribute Ban?

[Hank Azaria]

A good friend of mine is a dentist.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Okay.

[Hank Azaria]

And I get a video from him one day, and Bruce is in a dentist chair, and he goes, hey, Hank, it's Bruce Springsteen. As if I didn't know. I'm sitting here with a terrible toothache. But while I have a terrible toothache, I've been fantastically entertained by your version of Prove It All Night, which I gotta say, Was pretty darn good.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Come on.

[Hank Azaria]

And I know I quietly cried to myself for three days.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Crying, of course.

[Hank Azaria]

I absolutely did. And so yeah, he's, he's seen it.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Oh my God. Our next guest is a Grammy nominated artist who released one of the biggest songs of the year called where is My Husband? In January, she'll kick off her 2026 tour called. This tour may contain new music. Everyone please welcome Ray.

Come on.

Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Tonight, I want to talk about your tour. Thanks for coming back on. Thanks for chatting with me.

[Ray]

Hello.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Since the last time you were here, it's been a couple years. Had a crazy couple of years. You became a four time Grammy nominee artist. Yeah. That's big time. I know you opened for Taylor Swift at the Eras tour. Not too shabby. And last year at the Grammys, you became the first artist ever to be nominated for both songwriter of the year and best new artist in the same year.

That's a big deal.

[Ray]

No, it's a big, huge deal. It's a huge deal.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah. Speaking of a huge deal, you're on the COVID of British Vogue. Ray, Ray, talk to me, talk to me. How are you feeling with everything?

[Ray]

Yeah, I'm really happy. Thanks for having me.

[Jimmy Fallon]

No, please. I'm a big fan but I just love watching all this stuff happening.

[Hank Azaria]

Thank you.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You're on the COVID of Vogue.

[Ray]

Yeah. That's insane.

[Jimmy Fallon]

No, it's all.

[Ray]

I don't know how.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, it's all well deserved.

[Ray]

Thank you.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I have a picture here. You sitting with Anna Wintour at a fashion show.

[Ray]

She's the queen of bobs. Yes. The queen of the bob.

[Audience Member / Sidekick]

Yes.

[Jimmy Fallon]

She's the queen of everything.

[Ray]

Yes.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Is it intimidating sitting next to Anna Wintour?

[Ray]

I was extremely nervous because I'm not the most chic, like fashion forward, you know, fashion, the fashion world. People are just very sophisticated. And so I was a bit scared, but actually I was so pleasantly surprised because she's actually so lovely. And I asked her what kind of music she was listening to at the moment. She told me she's listening to Bad Bunny and I was like, oh, I love that.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Anna.

Yeah.

[Ray]

So she's like got her ear to the ground. She's really nice.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Earlier this year you got to write a few songs with Mark Ronson.

[Ray]

Who?

[Jimmy Fallon]

Our pal. One of the best producers out there. And talented musicians as well.

[Ray]

He is.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Oh, he's the best. Did he share any stories with you about Amy Winehouse?

[Ray]

No. Do you know what he did when I was in his studio in New York. He was so funny. Not funny, but I mean, it was. I don't know what it was. I was rhymebrain.com, which is how I like, you know, look for rhymes. And he was like, rhymebrain? Yeah. And he was like, oh, check this out. And just got out of the. Out of the drawer, like a glass thing. And in it had a piece of paper of Amy's. Amy Winehouse's writing from Back to Black. And I was like, shook to my core. But also on that paper was like, her writing her rhymes. And she was like, I can't remember what the words were, but like, you know, and sand can ran. And she just wrote them all down like that. And I was like, oh, my God, I'm so.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's how she writes.

[Ray]

Yeah. I just stood. We paused the session for about 45 minutes just so that I could just stare at it.

[Jimmy Fallon]

You were like, I need a moment.

[Ray]

Yeah. I was like, these.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I need a moment.

[Ray]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Fallon]

That's wild.

[Ray]

It was.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And did you record in the same studio?

[Ray]

We did. We did. Actually. She had a room in the back that she was. Apparently she did all her writing, in which I actually was just like scared to go in there just. Cause it's just like, holy ground. You know what I mean? So I just looked at it and I was like, Mark's like, go in there. And I'm like, no, I'm just looking at it.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah. Yeah, I don't want to do that. Yeah.

[Ray]

It's just surreal to even know that she was in that bit. I'm such a huge fan of her art and I miss her dearly. And just everything that she did for music and how she's inspired me in my career as well.

[Jimmy Fallon]

So I hope rest in peace. Yeah. Your songs are everywhere. They've been streamed billions of times. But do you remember the very first song you ever wrote?

[Ray]

I do. Do you know what? This is a funny story, right? Because basically what I did was at the time, I thought what I was doing was so naughty because basically I stole a song from a TV show. I was about 8 years old, right? So imagine I'm watching a kid's TV show and I took a song that was a full on jazz standard and I put completely new lyrics to it. I called it Nothing Is As White as Snow. It's pretty awful. And I mean, the music's amazing, but the lyrics are pretty awful. And I was like, hey, dad, I've written a song, an original song. Do you know what I mean? And he thought I was this genius child and I actually stole the song from the TV show and took all the credit for it.

[Jimmy Fallon]

And he's like, my daughter's a genius.

[Ray]

But then, then this is what I found out. Right. This is what songwriters do. Sampling is actually a songwriting art. So actually I was kind of right. You know, I was kind of on the right lines from that age.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Yeah, we're sampling from sampling at the end from that children's TV show at the age of eight. Why? You are a genius. Next year you're gonna have another big year. You have a new album coming out.

[Ray]

Yes, that.

[Jimmy Fallon]

We don't have a title. We don't. We do have a title. We don't.

[Ray]

We don't have a title yet.

[Jimmy Fallon]

I feel like you do have a title, but you don't want to say what it is.

[Ray]

We kind of don't have a title.

[Jimmy Fallon]

This tour may contain new music. Is the name of the tour the album? We don't know yet.

[Ray]

But do you know what I'm hoping? I'm thinking like, definitely the first half of next year.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Okay.

[Ray]

Like just even the timeline wise.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Okay, yeah, first half. Then we will know. Yeah, okay, deal. This tour is called this tour Making New Music. It's hilarious. But also, look at all these details on the poster here. It also may contain dramatic endings, love and passion. At least one jazz cover live stream. I mean, it's fantastic. You were playing two sold out shows next door at Radio City Music hall on April 15th and 16th. Congratulations.

[Ray]

Thank you. Literally, dream venue. Dream venue.

[Jimmy Fallon]

It's a gorgeous spot.

[Ray]

There's something so special about Radio City, I feel.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Did I read something once that you said eventually in the future you'd like to open a little jazz bar? Yeah, that was.

[Ray]

Yeah, yeah. So that's like my long term plan. Right? So I want to do like the pop thing or whatever I'm doing now for like the next 10 years. Maybe 15.

[Audience Member / Sidekick]

Yeah.

[Ray]

And then I want to open a little jazz club in like south or just south of the river. I'll call it Rays or something. Do you know what I mean? Get good cocktails. Yeah, I would love that.

[Jimmy Fallon]

With cocktails.

[Ray]

Yeah, cocktails. Just 200 capacity. Like a little thing and just have like, like true musicians just pull up jam nights. We'll have a license so we can be open till 5am yeah, that's my plan.

[Jimmy Fallon]

Ray, everybody. This tour may contain new music.

Begins this January.

For tickets go to rayofficial.com stick around.

Come on back.

Just think, what if you could just, just flick yourself away.

[Hank Azaria]

Just think the job getting done.

[Jimmy Fallon]

What am I, the God of the microphone? Praise the Lord. Anybody disagree?

Praise the Lo. My thanks to Michelle Yeoh, Hank Azaria, Ray once again, and the Roots right there from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Good night, everybody. Thank you. Get involved, York City. Just let the hard working Mr. Yeah, baby. Going up, y'. All. Going up, y'. All. Let's get it back.

Work, work, work, work, work.

Get involved. Get into it.

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 podcast, watch the Tonight show starring Jimmy Fallon, weeknights on NBC and streaming on Peacock.