Justin Timberlake Avoids Talk of DWI Plea, Hypes New Tour Dates, Christmas Song on ‘Tonight Show’

17 September, 2024

Justin Timberlake was back in comfortable confines on Monday night (Sept. 16) when he visited The Tonight Show to hang with his good pal and frequent sketch partner host Jimmy Fallon. After a lengthy, laudatory pre-interview wind-up running down the multi-hyphenate singer’s resumé, Timberlake took a seat as Fallon assured his friend “you’re well-liked here.”

The visit was Timberlake’s first public appearance since pleading guilty to impaired driving in New York’s Sag Harbor Village Court on Friday, where he was sentenced to 25 hours of community service and hit with $760 in fines and court fees. “I did not live up to the standards that I try to hold for myself,” he told the court, before addressing the judge, “I should’ve had better judgment. I understand the seriousness of this.”

Timberlake did not address the plea deal or the DWI incident during the visit, which focused on the singer’s Forget Tomorrow world tour; on Tuesday morning (Sept. 17), JT announced a string of 10 new 2025 dates for the outing (see below).

The friends mostly joked around, with Fallon demurring when Timberlake repeatedly suggested that the host would come out and do a mandatory warm-up set before Justin’s upcoming Barclays Center show in New York on Oct. 7. “I’m not doing anything,” Fallon assured him. “I’m going as a fan… screaming.”

“Shouldn’t Jimmy come out and do a 15-minute set?” JT baited Fallon as the studio audience howled at the idea.

Fallon also noted that he’s always giving Timberlake advice about touring, for example, suggesting he sit on a stool and play for 45 minutes. Instead, Timberlake plays for more than two hours and as Fallon noted, does a dramatic bit during “Mirrors” where he flies out over the crowd on a giant robotic arm that looks cool, but has led to some regrets from the singer.

“I’m going to say that was my idea… After 53-54 shows,” Timberlake said haltingly before standing up and getting into an arms wide open, leaning forward pose, “I was up there one time, just, like, suspended over everyone. I was like, ‘I could be on a stool right now.'”

“Yes! I told you that!” Fallon said enthusiastically, requesting that when he comes to the show he would like to not be able to see Timberlake that well. Clarifying, Jimmy said he doesn’t want such good seats next time, getting up from his desk and standing within a foot of JT to demonstrate his usual VIP status.

“I don’t know what to do with myself,” Fallon admitted of being so up-close-and-personal. “I don’t dance… and so I just stand there and I bore your wife (actress Jessica Biel), so she leaves me [and] I’m by myself. It’s too much pressure for me.”

“Do you not want to come to the show?” Timberlake wondered. Amid the giggles and the inside jokes, Fallon teased a new holiday song the pair recorded for the host’s upcoming Christmas album, tracked at New York’s Electric Lady studio. “You’ll Be There,” described as a a “holiday bromance” tune, mixes sleigh bells and ukulele for a chilled-out island vibe, with JT singing, “The only thing on my wish list/ Is that you’ll be home for Christmas.”

The pair also played a round of “Playlist Playoff,” in which Fallon and Timberlake competed to pick the perfect song for different scenarios, including a pre-workout jam and the track they’d want on repeat if stuck in an elevator together, which prompted Justin to pay tribute to recently deceased R&B icon Maze frontman Frankie Beverly.

Check out Timberlake on The Tonight Show below.