Fallon on Repeat Polar Plunge: “Absolutely Not”

"I'm happy to be alive," "The Tonight Show" host said on Monday night's program

Once was enough for Jimmy Fallon.

"The Tonight Show" host on Monday night told his audience that a repeat dip into an icy Lake Michigan is out of the question.

"Absolutely not. I'll donate money. I'll do whatever else. I'm not -- I mean, that was just crazy," the comedian said of Sunday's Polar Plunge.

His participation the annual event helped the Special Olympics reach a new record for donations -- $930,000 as of Monday evening.

"It was like 3,000 people. A great cause," Fallon said before launching into his hilarious first-person account of his plunge (his tale begins at the 7:50 mark in the video above).

"I think the water was 30 degrees or something. It's insane. And I'm just going like, 'This is just nuts,' and I go in .. and I took a ski hat off a kid. I didn't care," he told the studio audience in a recreation complete with grunts, groans and paralyzing gestures.

"I went under and, like, a couple bubbles came out and I froze ... I just stand up and I took my hat off and my hair immediately turned to icicles," he said.

Fallon's participation came about after a Twitter exchange with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Fallon openly expressed his desire to have Emanuel on the show, and the mayor agreed to do it if the talk show host took part in the Polar Plunge.

Emanuel got involved with the event after Chicago schoolchildren met his challenge to read two million books last summer.

The mayor and the Chicago City Council on Wednesday will sign a resolution proclaiming March 2014 to be "Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Month in Chicago."

There's still no word on when Emanuel will appear on "The Tonight Show."

NBC Chicago was a media sponsor of Sunday's event at North Avenue Beach.

[View the story "Jimmy Fallon's Polar Plunge" on Storify]

 

Contact Us