A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Questlove’s First Day of Work on ‘The Tonight Show’

Part One

My whole goal for the day is to treat this like any other day. We’ve done this show 969 times. What I don’t want to do is to treat it like it’s show number one.

Questlove, the distinctive dj, drummer and co-founder of The Roots gave Okayplayer (the music site he launched in 1999) full access as they documented a behind-the-scenes look at his first day of work on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon at the helm. Questlove was very open with his interviewers about his workout, his apartment, the theme song (which took 9 months to develop), the rehearsal and his own personal hygiene.

There’s always speculation on why, whenever I walk the halls of 30 Rock, why does it always smell like french toast and breakfast in the hallways. This right here is the secret to my success that I never revealed before. This is like lyrics to a Ghostface Killer song where he’s always talking about coconut frosted vanilla cake, gingerbread, caramel, french toast. That’s why ladies think I’m so edible. You know, there’s a stigma that big guys smell like…are all smelly and ew, get away from me, don’t hug me. No, I’m the opposite. My hugs are world-famous because it’s like hugging a bakery…I’m the best smellingest person on earf – E A R F – earf

The best moment however, was when a smile broke out on Quest’s face from behind the drums when Bono and The Edge from U2 sang his name.

Part Two

via Consequence of Sound, Gothamist