• 10 Best Late-Night Performances of '14: Ryan Adams, Bobby Shmurda, Kendrick Lamar, More [WATCH]

    The late-night performance has become a rite of passage in recent years for up-and-coming bands. For more established acts, it is a chance to play some songs from a new record. There is no denying that the moves made in 2014 in the late-night realm affected the quality of the performances. David Letterman is retiring in May, so he has just been enjoying it all — he really dug Ryan Adams. Jimmy Fallon took over "The Tonight Show," which meant The Roots adding their Philly funk to acts like Bobby Shmurda. And Stephen Colbert ended his tenure on "The Colbert Report" recently, wisely booking Kendrick Lamar for his final week. The last year was filled with great performances that may have been on past your bedtime. Here are a few of our favorites.

  • Nicki Minaj High School Acting Clip Surfaces [WATCH]

    Nicki Minaj, previously known as "Onika Maraj," was once a budding acting student at New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. She has shown her acting chops in "The Other Woman" and numerous music videos, but in a recently surfaced clip, fans can see how it all started for "The Pinkprint" rapper, "Vibe" noted. Aspiring actors and artists need to pay attention here: You have to start somewhere. For Minaj, somewhere was in a high-school classroom portraying "Angry Phone Girl." The brief scene has the hip-hop superstar demanding another woman make a call so she gets her baby back. Minaj gets so into the role that the teacher has to remind her to be careful when she throws the phone toward the other actor. Check it out below. Although "The Other Woman" received mostly negative reviews, critics fell in love with Minaj's performance.

  • Jerry Seinfeld Performs on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,' Delivers Hilarious Holiday Set [WATCH]

    Jerry Seinfeld unleashed his signature brand of observational brilliance on The Tonight Show earlier this week, taking aim at everyone's love of possessions. Jimmy Fallon gave the comedian the fuel he needed after announcing that the audience members would be receiving TVs as a Christmas gift. Seinfeld then sat down with Fallon to talk about their episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and also outlined his worst set for a web exclusive.

  • One Direction, Jimmy Fallon & The Roots Get Festive with "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" on Classroom Instruments [WATCH]

    One Direction may not be coming to your town until 2015, but Santa Claus' worldwide tour is later this week (Dec. 25). To help make Directioners and fans of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon aware that Santa is, in fact, coming to town, the "Night Changes" band teamed up with Fallon and The Roots last night (Dec. 22) to play, you guessed it, "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" on classroom instruments.

  • Foo Fighters Perform "I Am a River" from 'Sonic Highways' on The Tonight Show with a Full String Orchestra [WATCH]

    We all can agree that the last few months were marked by Foo Fighters overload. They released their eighth studio effort, 'Sonic Highways,' in November while the companion HBO series was already underway. Dave Grohl and Co. jammed for an entire week on "The Late Show with David Letterman" and, just last night (Dec. 18), they joined Jimmy Fallon on "The Tonight Show" for a thumping rendition of "I Am a River."

  • Paul McCartney Talks Ringo Starr's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Honor on 'The Tonight Show' [WATCH]

    Ringo Starr was recently announced as one of the members of 2015's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class. He is the last Beatle to be inducted into the institution as a solo act. Paul McCartney, who was inducted as a solo act in 1999, had the pleasure of breaking the news to his bandmate, "Rolling Stone" reports. Macca also stopped by "The Tonight Show" to talk about his pal's recent honor. Jimmy Fallon took it as a chance to try all his Beatles impressions. "I was talking to a friend and he said 'Brian Epstein is getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.' I said 'That's great, because he's the Beatles manager,'" McCartney says in the video below. "He says, 'Yeah, but Ringo's not in yet.' I said, 'Whoa. Wait a minute. We can't have that ...' Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, you got to put Ringo in. He's very famous." Starr's 2015 classmates include Green Day, Lou Reed, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Bill Withers. McCartney also told Fallon that his favorite solo tracks by his former drummer are "Back Off Boogaloo" and "It Don't Come Easy" — he seems like he is about to say "Photograph" before Fallon cuts him off. Fallon jumped at the opportunity to show off his impressions of the Fab Four, nailing Starr, McCartney and John Lennon before fumbling through George Harrison.

  • Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett Perform 'Cheek to Cheek' Medley on 'The Tonight Show' [WATCH]

    Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett stopped by "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" to promote their new collaboration "Cheek to Cheek." The pair performed the title track and "It Don't Mean a Thing" for the show while Gaga went solo for a Web exclusive performance of "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye." The whole affair was jazzy, classy and sparkly — thanks to Gaga's outfit. Fallon pressed the duo prior to the performance about how the album came together. Gaga said she sang some standards for a charity event in New York that Bennett attended. "And then after the show was over, they said that Mr. Bennett would like to meet you and I said, 'Oh, I can't believe that Tony Bennett watched me sing a standard. What was I thinking!'" Mother Monster recalled. Bennett asked her after that performance if she would like to make the record that would eventually become "Cheek to Cheek."

  • Nicki Minaj Talks Working at Red Lobster, Performs 'Bed of Lies' on 'The Tonight Show' [WATCH]

    Nicki Minaj was not always the chart-topping rapper she is today. Prior to finding success as a female wordsmith, Minaj was working odd jobs and studying to become an actress. Jimmy Fallon pressed the rapper on her former jobs on "The Tonight Show" last night, Dec. 16, eventually finding out that "The Pinkprint" mastermind used to work at Red Lobster. Skylar Grey then joined Minaj for "Bed of Lies." Fallon complimented Minaj on her acting chops in "The Other Woman," in which she played Cameron Diaz's assistant with a "terrible attitude." Minaj admitted that she was not always the most hospitable waitress before hitting it big.

  • Idina Menzel Performs Joni Mitchell's 'River' on 'The Tonight Show' [WATCH]

    Idina Menzel put out a Christmas album titled "Holiday Wishes" in October. The singer takes on the usual standards like "White Christmas," "Silent Night" and "Baby It's Cold Outside," but her shining moment comes closer to the end of the album. Menzel decided to include a breathtaking version of Joni Mitchell's Christmas-themed classic "River." Her performance of the tune on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" blew viewers away. Yes, we know you can sing, Idina. We have all heard "Let It Go" a million times, but this performance is devastatingly beautiful. Menzel lends her Broadway pipes and pop sensibilities to Mitchell's tune and lets the songwriter's words do the rest. "I wish I had a river so long / I would teach my feet to fly / Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on / I made my baby say goodbye," she sings in the video below. Check it out. "River" is off Mitchell's 1971 release "Blue." It is regarded as one of the folk artist's best pieces.

  • 10 Best Cover Songs Of 2014

    Because cover songs don't garner nearly as much traction on the radio or the charts as they once did, artists these days treat them more like fun little experiments, where they can try out things they normally wouldn't on one of their albums or original singles. This has resulted in plenty of inventive and fascinating covers, especially this past year. Here are the year's 10 best cover songs (in no particular order).

  • NBC Signs Brian Williams to New Deal to Continue Anchoring 'Nightly News'

    Head honchos at NBC News are breathing a bit easier after officially signing NBC's "Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams to a new, multi-year contract that is sure to keep him around the halls of 30 Rock for a long time to come. Williams first took over the anchor seat from the legendary Tom Brokaw in 2004 and has pretty much dominated the evening news race from Day 1. In recent months ABC's David Muir has begun to challenge him in the ratings race, but Williams seems to be taking the competition in stride. NBC News President Deborah Turness announced Williams's new deal in a memo, which read, "Brian is one of the most trusted journalists of our time. He has led this organization through every major news event for the last decade, from Hurricane Katrina in his first year in the anchor chair to his exclusive interview with Edward Snowden this year, through elections, wars, natural disasters, tragedies and triumphs. In all of those cases he's taken 'Nightly News's' viewers to the heart of the stories that matter most in a way that's uniquely his."

  • Jay Leno's a Fan of Jimmy Fallon's 'Tonight Show'

    In under a year Jimmy Fallon has transformed the art of late-night television. Gone are the days when people chose their show based on the guest-star lineup on any particular evening. Fallon is the entertainment and the reason that people are tuning in to "The Tonight Show" on a regular basis. The guest stars are kind of like icing on the cake. "Entertainment Weekly" got it right in naming Fallon the 2014 Entertainer of the Year, and as it turns out, even Jay Leno agrees. It was rumored at first that NBC was shoving Leno out to make room for Fallon, but there was never any animosity between these two. Instead, Leno took his exit with a shred of grace and now he gets the appeal of Fallon just like all the rest of us. Leno told "EW" in an interview: "I don't watch every night, but I watch and I enjoy — and I enjoy Seth [Meyers], too. Jimmy's a really great mimic. When I saw him do Neil Young, I just thought he was lip-syncing the song. But no — he really captures the nuances really well. It's different. Everybody has their strengths and weaknesses. I could never do a musical parody — it's just not what's in me. You know, I got out at the right time. When you're 40 and you're talking to the 25-year-old supermodel, it's sexy. When you're 64, you're the creepy old guy, you know? At some point, you can't pretend to know all of Jay-Z's music. You can only live in the time you live in."

  • 'South Park' Holiday Special Trailer: Taylor Swift, Iggy Azalea, Miley Cyrus Targets for Tomorrow's Season Finale [WATCH]

    The good people behind "South Park" look to have saved their most ruthless episode for last. No one is safe during tomorrow's Dec. 10 season finale. The new trailer for "The Washington Redskins' Go F--k Yourself Holiday Special" features cartoon appearances by Iggy Azalea, U2, Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift. The show will also take aim at Al Pacino, Bill Cosby and the recent hologram craze with Kurt Cobain, Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley. Like I said, no one is safe. As "Consequence of Sound" notes, this season has been full of special appearances by artists and celebrities who have dominated the news in 2014. Most notably, Randy Marsh revealed that he is actually New Zealand singer Lorde. Even deceased musicians will be dug up, appearing in the show as holograms (social media: #HappyHolograms). The show is bound to be full of laughs with Cartman commentating and Jackson's hologram performing as Peter Pan. Check out the trailer below. "South Park" is currently in its 18th season and, by all accounts, the creative partnership of Trey Parker and Matt Stone has yet to lose steam.
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