ABOVE: Watch the official invitation to bring Jimmy Fallon to Niagara Falls, Ont.
TORONTO — A social media campaign is underway to bring Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon to Niagara Falls, Ont. — and it includes a personal message from the city’s mayor.
“Jimmy Fallon coming to Niagara Falls, Canada? That would be an honour,” exclaims Jim Diodati in a video posted to YouTube.
“But I have to warn you. If you do come, you may never want to leave.”
The initiative was sparked by the Jan. 6 episode of The Tonight Show, when guest Nicole Kidman mentioned that she spent New Year’s Eve in Niagara Falls (her husband Keith Urban headlined the ET Canada New Year’s Eve show).
Fallon then raved about Niagara Falls, Ont.
“The Canada side is like lights and it’s almost like Vegas. It’s fun. The New York side looks like a Lemony Snicket book cover,” he said. “Canada side, that’s the place to do it. It’s amazing. We’ve got to work on that side of Niagara Falls.”
The Tonight Show is taped in New York City, only 675 kilometres southeast of Niagara Falls.
The video invitation for Fallon to come to the Falls, which Diodati said was produced using services donated by a local resident, was viewed more than 17,000 times in its first three days.
“It seemed like the perfect opportunity,” Diodati told Global News. “I was approached by a lot of people who wanted to help out.”
The mayor said there are three more videos to come. “Each one gets a little bit sillier, a little more fun,” he said.
A Facebook page for the campaign has more than 2,700 “likes.”
Facebook visitors have suggested places like the Avalon Ballroom at Fallsview Casino Resort and the Scotiabank Convention Centre as ideal locations for Tonight Show tapings.
Diodati said the ideal is for the Tonight Show to tape a whole week of shows in the Falls but he would be satisfied if Fallon came up to tape a segment.
Fallon, currently taping a week of shows in Los Angeles, has so far not commented publicly on the campaign.
If the Tonight Show comes to Niagara Falls, it wouldn’t be the first time a late night show has come to Ontario. Conan O’Brien brought his former Late Night to Toronto’s Elgin Theatre for a week of shows in February 2004.
Jimmy Kimmel and his sidekick Guillermo visited Toronto in 2011 for a taped segment that aired on his show.
The outdoor Oakes Garden Theatre in Niagara Falls, Ont. was the site of tapings of Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee in 1996 and Live! with Regis and Kelly in 2006.
Diodati said 14 million people a year visit Niagara Falls.
– with a file by Mark Carcasole of Global News.
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