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Jimmy Fallon Explains How His Famous SNL Mirror Sketch with Mick Jagger Happened
The Tonight Show Host told Dan Patrick about pitching The Rolling Stones singer when he was a Saturday Night Live cast member in 2001.
Jimmy Fallon has some fond memories with rock legend Mick Jagger.
On September 11, 2024, The Tonight Show Host appeared on The Dan Patrick Show to talk about his golf challenge match against DJ Khaled, The Cardigan Classic: Fallon vs. Khaled, airing September 13 on NBC. During his chat with the Host and Saturday Night Live alum, Patrick asked Fallon about his days as an SNL cast member — specifically, which sketch he was most proud of.
Mentioning "More Cowbell" with Will Ferrell, Fallon revealed his actual favorite: When he played the reflection of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger in the "Mick is Pointing, Pointing, Pointing at Himself" sketch from December 8, 2001.
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Jimmy Fallon on his SNL sketch with Mick Jagger: "The place was shaking"
Fallon recalled how SNL creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels instructed Fallon to pitch Jagger some sketch ideas, one of which was doing an impression of Jagger in the mirror.
"Before the meeting I said to Lorne, 'Maybe I'll do an impression of Mick in the mirror, I'll be his reflection.' Lorne goes, 'Please don't do that, that's been done so many times,'" Fallon told Patrick.
During his meeting with Jagger, Fallon pitched concepts such as the two of them working at a Sunglass Hut together, or playing clones of fellow Rolling Stones rocker Keith Richards. Finally, in a moment of desperation, Fallon mentioned the idea of playing Jagger's reflection — which the singer loved.
"So I had to go into Lorne's office and say, 'Good news and bad news. Good news, he wants to do a sketch. Bad news, we're doing the reflection in the mirror,'" Fallon continued. "Then we wrote it on a Friday night, which is so rare. We rehearsed it once, and did it on Saturday night and the place erupted."
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"I was brand new on SNL, and I remember he loved it so much that he put his hand through the mirror and shook my hand, and the place was shaking," he said. "It was just a really exciting moment for me because I'm just such a fan of his. And I love that sketch — any of those ones where the place rocked."
Fallon's previously cited the original run of Rachel Dratch's first "Debbie Downer" sketch as another Studio 8H stage-shaking event.
Watch Fallon talk about his SNL days in the interview from The Dan Patrick Show below.
SNL has brought the mirror sketch back twice in Season 50
The impact of Fallon's sketch endures, as the premise was leveraged in no less than two sketches in SNL's most recent season.
Season 50, Episode 3's "Maybelline" sketch starred October 12 Host Ariana Grande as actress Jennifer Coolidge, who converses with her reflection (Chloe Fineman) before a third Jennifer Coolidge (Dana Carvey) shows up.
And in the first cameo from a presidential candidate since Nikki Haley's Season 49 appearance, Vice President Kamala Harris met her visual match in her impersonator Maya Rudolph when the two gave each other a pre-election pep talk in the mirror.
Watch "Mick is Pointing, Pointing, Pointing at Himself" from Season 27, Episode 8 of Saturday Night Live above, and stream every season on Peacock anytime.
Originally published Sep 12, 2024.
