Jimmy Fallon has been a hero of mine as long as I can remember. From Saturday Night Live to The Tonight Show, Jimmy has been making me laugh for a very long time. I've always wanted to go a taping of The Tonight Show, and I never thought it would happen...but it did. Here's the story of how my dream came true.
At 6:30 a.m., we arrived in New York City.
Taking a Greyhound bus from Tennessee to New York City was honestly the worst road trip ever. I was exhausted. I needed to shower and go to bed immediately. But, I remembered that Niall Horan was going to be on The Tonight Show later that day. So, I forgot all about going to sleep and decided that waiting for standby tickets to the show was way more important. We dropped off our luggage at our hotel and headed to wait outside NBC Studios.
At 7:00 a.m., we stood in line for standby tickets and almost froze to death.
The weather was pretty chilly the morning we arrived to NYC. But, I was determined to get tickets to the show. Waiting in the freezing cold for tickets to a talk show may sound absurd to some. You have to understand that Jimmy Fallon means everything to me. He's all that I want to be when I grow up. Plus, Niall Horan (aka the love my of life) was going to be the musical guest on the show. I seriously would have stood in line for days to get into the show.
At 9:00 a.m., we finally received our standby tickets.
It was such a relief to receive our standby tickets, but of course, we still had no guarantee that we would get to see the show later that night. As we received our tickets, I saw that my standby number was 36. All I could remember thinking was there was no way that 36 people would not show up to the show. I was devastated. But, there was still a little part of me that had hope that a miracle would happen. I wasn't ready to give up just yet.
At 3:30 p.m., we headed back to NBC studies to wait once more.
By this point, I was a nervous wreck. As Eminem would say, my palms were sweaty, knees week, and arms were heavy. I was literally sick to my stomach. The NBC staff came out and explained that we would wait in line until they knew how many more people that were needed. The show started at 5 p.m., so we would know if we got to see the show by 4:50 p.m.
At 4:00 p.m., I thought my dream was never going to come true.
The Tonight Show's staff came out and called tickets 1-35 to come into the show. 1-35. My number was 36. 36. I was one away from getting to see Jimmy Fallon. One ticket away. At this point, I just had to sit down to process what was going on. I was in tears. I could not believe my luck. A NBC page came up to me and said not to give up hope. It wasn't 4:50 p.m. just yet...there was still time for more people to be called back.
At 4:50 p.m., I found out I was going to get to see The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Dreams do come true kids. They called seven more tickets to come back. My friends and I were an emotional wreck. We had no time to process what was happening because the show was about to start. As we ran upstairs to the show, I could not believe I was seeing my hero. The amazing Jimmy Fallon was going to be in the same room as me. I was going to see Niall Horan perform. I needed to take my inhaler, but there was no time. We were taken to our seats and the show began.
At 5:00 p.m., Jimmy Fallon entered the room, and I could not contain my excitement.
Our seats were in the very back row, but that did not stop me from waving and trying to get Jimmy Fallon to see me. I was having the time of my life. He did his interviews. They were amazing. Then, while they were setting up for Niall, he came up into the crowd for a Q and A session. That's when I got to talk to my hero. Yes, I talked to Jimmy Fallon. We had a conversation. He knows I exist. To make it even better, Niall Horan came out. I yelled Niall. He waved. The two celebrities I love most both found out I exist in the same night.
So, the moral of the story is never give up. After the show, we stood outside NBC Studies, trying to process what happened. I looked at my best friend Alley. We couldn't stop saying "omg we actually saw Jimmy Fallon". A few weeks later, we are still not over it.
