Watch Lionel Richie's Head Sing a Perfect "Hello" Duet with Jimmy Fallon
The Grammy-winning American Idol judge recreated the iconically-weird video for his hit "Hello" with Jimmy Fallon—with Richie playing the part of the clay bust.
Take a step back in time, and into the pottery studio, with Jimmy Fallon and Lionel Richie.
In a Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon clip from September 2015, the two recreated one of the most famous music videos from the 1980s: The visual for "Hello" from Richie's 1983 album, Can't Slow Down.
In the original 1984 music video, Richie plays Mr. Reynolds, an acting teacher, who becomes infatuated with his blind student. He ends up sculpting a bust of his head in her pottery class.
The "Hello" video has a reputation for being one of the strangest music videos from the decade, so of course Fallon couldn't pass up the opportunity to recreate it with the "All Night Long" singer. In The Tonight Show parody, Fallon dons a curly wig to play an artist, who is not only painting a portrait of Richie, but is also sculpting his head out of clay — and this time, Richie is playing his own singing sculpted head.
Come for Fallon and Richie's beautiful harmonies, stay to see if they can hold it together—or if the two end up breaking character during the hilarious sketch.
The Tonight Show "Hello" parody ends with a sort-of twist, which leaves the audience wondering if Richie's bust was ever singing at all. Was it all in Fallon's, ahem, head? Either way, it's good the clip ends before we're taken to the kiln. Let's just hope the two reunite to recreate "Dancing on the Ceiling" next.
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There's been a Richie resurgence of late. The music star is returning to the American Idol judges' panel for Season 22; he has been a judge on the competition series since Season 16. Richie was also recently featured in Netflix's hit new documentary, The Greatest Night in Pop, which tells the story of how some of the biggest names in music (and Dan Aykroyd) joined forces to record the massively successful charity single "We Are the World," which Richie co-wrote with Michael Jackson.
Watch Lionel Richie's original "Hello" music video
Watch Richie's high-concept "Hello" video below.
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