Jimmy Fallon is packing up his desk and heading to the Motor City. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon will tape a one-night-only special episode at the Detroit Opera House on Sunday, Sept. 14, airing the following evening on NBC and streaming Sept. 16 on Peacock. It will mark the show’s first-ever visit to Detroit.

The episode, presented in partnership with Ford Motor Company, is set to highlight Fallon’s ongoing collaboration with the Detroit-based automaker. Now in its fifth year, the partnership has featured branded integrations on Tonight Show episodes—some of them quite elaborate.

In this case, with late-night budgets tightening and travel episodes becoming rare, Ford appears to be subsidizing the Detroit production. That likely means the broadcast will also include some sort of Ford showcase woven into the comedy, games, and musical performances that define Fallon’s style.

Ford’s support carries local resonance: the company and Ford Philanthropy have backed the Detroit Opera House for more than two decades, helping expand access to the arts across the community.

Road episodes have become increasingly uncommon in the current late-night economy. The last high-profile examples came in 2024, when The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Daily Show both decamped to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention. Coincidentally, Jimmy Kimmel Live! is set to make its first return to Brooklyn since before COVID, staging a run of episodes in late September.

Fallon’s Tonight Show has previously broadcast special episodes from Super Bowl host cities Phoenix, Arizona (in 2015) and Minneapolis, Minnesota (in 2018). Its most recent road show was taped in Puerto Rico in 2019. The show has also taped week-long stints in Los Angeles (in 2015) and Orlando (in 2017).

For Detroit, though, Fallon’s visit is a first—and the Opera House audience will get a rare taste of late-night TV in their own backyard.

Free tickets for The Tonight Show's one-night-only Detroit episode will be made available at tonightshowtix.com.