Instagram/@fallontonight
Late night host Jimmy Fallon balances tension and laughter in recalling a famously random moment from television history. Fallon aired a clip from his Late Night days, in which Harrison Ford drilled a hole through his earlobe for an actual piercing. Indiana Jones gone bad! The internet still hasn’t quite recovered from the mayhem of 2013.
Advertisement
The chills continued rolling in as Harrison was coldly lining the needle up to the earlobe, and Fallon was nervously bracing himself. It looked more like a failed dare than some polished late-night segment. At some point, Ford said flatly: “This is gonna hurt,” right before he shoved the needle through. And indeed it did. Fallon’s reactions ranged from nervous laughter to outright yelps, which obviously showed that this wasn’t some Hollywood magic trick. Just a very sharp needle and one very trusting talk-show host.
The things beneath the people’s reactions involved a whole spectrum of opinions. Some viewers are obsessed about the idea of Ford going secretly into piercing, with one comment screaming, “Imagine Indiana Jones piercing your ears!!!” Meanwhile, another added that Ford was “the coolest cat ever.” Not all of them are totally convinced, though. Some people have pointed out how the needle looked “damn dirty,” while another user said, “Hell NO! It took decades! The most painful piercing eveeeer!”
Then we have the mystery of whether Fallon had the piercing before this stunt happened. Some eagle-eyed commenters saw that it looked as if Ford was reopening an old hole, instead of creating a fresh one. One observer mused, “It’s like the piercing had closed and Harrison just…re-punctured it.” Whether it was fresh or a redo, the universal agreement is that this looked like it hurt. A lot.
The strangeness of the whole thing deemed its worthy “90s TV type stuff,” back before talk shows used to throw caution (and sometimes safety) to the wind for a laugh. Others joked it felt like a “body horror episode,” fair enough. Meanwhile, everyone is marveling at Ford’s unfazed demeanor through the whole thing: “Harrison Ford is…he is…so…so…Harrison Ford!” one fan perfectly summarized.
And of course, the lingering question: Does Fallon still rock that piercing today? There’s been no follow-up on that, but given how much he squirmed during the process, our money’s on “probably not.”
Advertisement
One of the many things that make this clip infinitely entertaining is how it all was so unexpected and utterly unscripted. There was no slick production, no safety waiver scrolling at the bottom of the screen, nothing but two dudes and one suspiciously bad decision. It’s the kind of late-night nonsense we just don’t get anymore, and maybe that’s why this throwback hits so hard now. Either way, after ten years, we’re still wincing with Jimmy. Some wounds-and memories-are never truly healed.
This story originally appeared on Celebrityinsider
