The Roots improvised songs about snow days, talking German Shepherds and the scourge of slow walkers on the latest installment of “Freestylin’ with The Roots” on The Tonight Show Wednesday.
As always, the bit found host Jimmy Fallon asking an audience member a few questions, then tasking the Roots with fitting those details into the style of a certain pop song. First, he spoke with a Venezuelan woman about spending snow days inside watching Netflix, and charged the Roots with recreating a Shawn Mendes-style song.
Next, he spoke with a man who said that if he could have any animal in the world as a pet – literally any animal – it would be a German Shepherd. And if he could teach the dog to say anything it would be, “I love you.” The Roots in turn offered up a play on Lady Gaga’s “Shallow,” with Black Thought belting, “You obviously think there’s no threat having a German Shepherd for a pet/If you could train that unusual animal/To say one single thing/You would teach it to say I love you, I think that’s amazing!”
For their grand finale, the Roots recreated Andrew Gold’s “Thank You for Being a Friend” – better known as the Golden Girls’ theme song – for a woman who said her first act as president would be to ban slow walkers, while her campaign slogan would be “Make America Fast Again.”