Lenny Kravitz followed Alec Baldwin and Joe Namath, but he and his band were so on last night that he may as well have followed a full show of Stupid Pet Tricks. Performing single “Stand” on the eve of the release of his album Black and White America, Kravitz had the audience in the palm of his hand. It’s not often that a late-night show will cut away from a band to show the audience, but when Kravitz shouted “C’mon, y’all!” and entreated them to clap along, the show’s director couldn’t help but briefly feature the entire audience clapping along. Kravitz could have had the most notable performance of the night with his eyes closed, but we’re glad he didn’t settle for that.

That said, we’re also glad we clicked over to Late Night With Jimmy Fallon afterward, because his show turned out to feature a panoply of musical performances. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks closed out the show by performing “Senator”?during which Malkmus blurted out an obscenity, and after which he failed to hide the smirk that indicated that the appearance was the most fun he’d had on television since Pavement was on Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. But Dungeon Family A-lister Killer Mike was also sitting in with the Roots all night, and guest Will Forte invited Jimmy Fallon to join him in singing backup for a friend of Forte’s: Tony Orlando. Apparently Orlando is fond of observing young talent and telling them to follow their dreams, as Forte and Questlove shared similar stories of being encouraged in a manner that the Roots drummer compared to the Mean Joe Green Coke ad. In any case, Forte and Fallon provided backing vocals and a bit of percussion, and the Roots provided the rest, in a rendition of “Knock Three Times” that had Orlando quipping, a minute in, “Dawn who?”

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