The next Tonight Show Digital Original sketch is the Empire parody we should have gotten months ago when SNL didn’t quite hit the mark with theirs. This short is nothing short of hysterical.

Jimmy Fallon stars as Lyon patriarch Lucious. His Terrence Howard impression is one of his best to date; he’s got Howard’s shaky voice cadence down to a science. The premise borrows from the Fox soap. Jimmy’s vetting his inner circle to pick his heir to The Tonight Show, or as it’s aptly called here, the “Jimpire.” The late-night talk show host is self-deprecating at the top of the pre-taped sketch–he makes fun of his finger injury that’s seemingly taking forever to heal.

So who are Jimmy’s possible successors? There’s Questlove of The Roots, the Tonight Show‘s bandleader who harbors “a little secret.” Clearly this is a take on Empire‘s Jamal, but the secret isn’t what you think. Roots MC Tariq is another candidate, and he channels Hakeem with some drip-dripitty-drop-ing. Andre, the eldest Lyon, is also accounted for and the sketch has fun with the character’s temperamental mood swings. And finally there’s Tonight Show announcer Steve Higgins playing Higgy, the Cookie sendup here. He’s just as outrageous in the role as you think he’d be, and more.

There are a couple exciting Empire cameos sprinkled in, but I won’t ruin those for you. Who do you think has what it takes to run the Jimpire? Mash play and find out! (In case you’re wondering, the real Empire returns for its second season this Wednesday, Sept. 23 on Fox.) Continue reading Jimmy Fallon & ‘The Tonight Show’ present the quintessential ‘Empire’ parody, “Jimpire” →