Nearly 50 students gathered at Old Main on Sunday morning hoping to see late-night talk show host Jimmy Fallon, but he never appeared.
Fallon will perform a post-Super Bowl show at the Orpheum Theatre in Phoenix, and tickets sold out within four minutes of becoming available online. Tempe's Undergraduate Student Government began a Twitter-based initiative, using the hashtag #ASUTonight, to bring Fallon to ASU. The 942 Crew, an unofficial student group that promotes attendance at sporting events, started a separate Twitter campaign, using the hashtag #FallontoFargo to invite the comedian to a home basketball game.
During an interview with 12 News earlier this week, Fallon said, "I might make a little cameo over at ASU. ... Maybe they should put a spot somewhere on the quad that I just have to go to, and at one point, could be day, could be nighttime, I'll make it to that spot and take a picture on that spot."
Hey, @ASU! Where are you guys? #ASUTonight pic.twitter.com/V1IWIkKYdb
— jimmy fallon (@jimmyfallon) February 1, 2015
Tempe USG and students continued tweeting, asking Fallon to be there at 11 a.m. Sunday. He tweeted a picture of himself at Old Main shortly after midnight, and students soon showed up.
PHOTOS: ASU students recreate Fallon's Old Main pose
Fallon's team had been concerned about security if he came to ASU, Tempe USG President Cass Possehl said, adding that USG had never confirmed that Fallon would be at ASU. They assumed after seeing Fallon's tweet that he wouldn't be at ASU on Sunday morning, she said.
"He did what he said he was going to do," Possehl said. "He just didn't do it on our time."
Political science sophomore Austin Marshall had been at Old Main earlier that night and left around 10:30. He was getting ready for bed when he saw Fallon's post, and he ran out immediately.
At least 50 other students showed up, and the search for Jimmy Fallon was on. While he wasn't at Old Main, students searched neighboring buildings, including the Memorial Union, Hayden Library and the Palo Verde dorms and even scoped out "A" Mountain.
See the hunt unfold in our Storify
Marshall left around 2:30 a.m., and was back at Old Main before 11 a.m. to see if Fallon returned. He said he could understand security issues, but wished Fallon would have stayed for even a few minutes the night before and seen students who wanted to see him.
"Honestly, if he was going to post that photo, it would have been cool to stick around," Marshall said.
Marshall and about 50 fellow students stayed waiting for Fallon until a little after 11, when the comedian shared a photo of himself at University of Phoenix stadium.
While Fallon didn't return the next morning, about 50 ASU students shot a quick video of themselves yelling "We love you, Jimmy" and throwing the pitchfork to air before and after "The Tonight Show" on 12 News.
Communications junior Mat Sherman, who shot a similar video the night before, said he was planning to organize a dance-off with Fallon. Sherman was one of the first people back at Old Main on Sunday morning, arriving around 8 a.m.
"I'm really disappointed that I wasn't smart enough to know that he was going to come early, and I wasn't here," Sherman said.
Tempe USG plans on continuing to reach out to Fallon and schedule an appearance at ASU, Possehl said.
Reach the editor-in-chief at julia.shumway@asu.edu or follow @JMShumway on Twitter.
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