When Jimmy Fallon Took Bob Dylan to the Circus

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Bob Dylan and Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, November 22, 2018

He was about to begin a seven-show residency at the historic Beacon Theatre on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. And on November 22, 2018, while in Fun City, Bob Dylan appeared in a pre-taped sketch on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

On the episode, that aired on Thanksgiving night, Fallon told his audience that the Big Apple Circus was in town for its annual residency and offered him a private preview. In the sketch, the host is shown seated alone when he’s suddenly joined by Dylan, dressed in a black shirt and white evening jacket, and brandishing a bottle and two glasses.

It turns out to be a bottle of Heaven’s Door, the whiskey introduced earlier that year in which Dylan is a partner. The unique product placement continues as a silent Dylan pours them each a drink – neat. They toast and for the next minute the camera alternates between trapeze artists and the pair’s watchful gaze.

Another 30 seconds passes, Fallon rises to applaud, and then…

Watch the sketch, “Jimmy Takes Bob Dylan to the Circus”

The featured guest of the Thanksgiving episode of The Tonight Show was Jerry Seinfeld, who himself was set to begin his own 2019 residency at the Beacon Theatre the following January.

The Beacon Theatre marquee on Nov. 23, 2018

Dylan’s Facebook page promoted Heaven’s Door with a post on Nov. 23: After selling out of the first bottling and being out-of-stock for several months, the full Heaven’s Door collection is back and available for purchase online at Reserve Bar. Each bottle of Heaven’s Door showcases Dylan’s welded iron gates that he created in his studio, Black Buffalo Iron Works.

“We wanted to create a collection of American Whiskeys that, in their own way, told a story.” – Bob Dylan

Tickets for Dylan’s “Rough and Rowdy Ways” tour can be purchased here and here.

An expanded edition of Bob Dylan at Budokan was released on Nov. 17, 2023.