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Legendary bandleader and late night second banana Paul Shaffer<\/strong> made another appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon<\/em> on Friday night. But this time, he brought some guests with him\u2014The World\u2019s Most Dangerous Band.<\/p>\n The group filled in for The Roots on the broadcast, something of a homecoming considering they were the house band \u201cacross the hall\u201d for Late Night With David Letterman<\/em> at NBC. (Shaffer noted it was 41 years ago \u201cthis week.\u201d)\u00a0<\/p>\n Though the band has undergone a number of personnel changes\u2014drummer Steve Jordan<\/strong> split in the late 80s to play with everyone from Keith Richards<\/strong> to John Mayer<\/strong>, to be replaced by the rimshot-ready Anton Fig<\/strong>, and they even were forced to change their name to the CBS Orchestra when David Letterman<\/strong> created The Late Show<\/em> at that network\u2014it\u2019s fair to say that their brand of upbeat, bluesy rock became the de facto<\/em> style for all future late night shows. (A music theorist could maybe argue that there really isn\u2019t that<\/em> much difference between the old school Doc Severnisen<\/strong>-style of band and Shaffer\u2019s, but at the time, it did feel like a sea change.)\u00a0<\/p>\n While cutting back-and-forth to commercial, Jimmy Fallon<\/strong> didn\u2019t just pay homage to the group during this rare television appearance, but also (correctly) hailed Shaffer for his lasting legacy in comedy. It is Fallon\u2019s belief that the 73-year-old Toronto-born keyboardist is actually the lodestar for the way all comedians laugh.<\/p>\n \u201cYou changes the face of comedy, as well,\u201d Fallon told his guest bandleader. \u201cYou would laugh at a joke \u2026 and sometimes if the audience wouldn\u2019t really laugh, you would go \u2018Ahhhh!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s when you knew it was funny!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Fallon explained that Letterman\u2019s style of humor (sometimes intensely dry, sometimes cynical, sometimes intentionally unfunny for the purpose of being funny; it\u2019s hard to explain what made Letterman such an innovator) could zoom over the heads of the studio audience, but was loved by \u201ccomedy nerds.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBecause of you\u2014every comedian laughs like you,\u201d Fallon said. He cited Tina Fey<\/strong> specifically, but if you happen to have any comics in your life, you know that this is an insightful observation. It\u2019s as if those who create comedy can\u2019t just chuckle at something, they have to react in a way that says \u201cI acknowledge that this is a joke.\u201d<\/p>\n Elsewhere in the broadcast, Fallon took advantage of having the musical polymath Paul Shaffer with him to run down \u201cAs It Was\u201d by Harry Styles<\/strong> in a variety of styles. It\u2019s impossible to ever picture Letterman doing a wacky bit like this, but it\u2019s good to see Shaffer game for just about anything.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n