Jack Black got down to his Tenacious D musical roots on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” Wednesday, performing a high-energy acoustic rock number called “The Ballad of Super Mario” alongside his “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” co-stars Chris Pratt, Glen Powell, Anya Taylor-Joy and more.
“We’re so excited for this. ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ hits theaters today,” Fallon said while wrapping up his monologue. “So we teamed up with the entire cast to do something fun. This is ‘The Ballad of Super Mario.’ Check it out.”
That’s when the show pivoted to “Somewhere in Tokyo,” where Black, who voices Bowser in the film, came out rocking a full in-character costume and playing a guitar designed to look like a flame.
“There once was a an named Mario. Yes, you know who I mean. He had a brother, Luigi, who was always wearing green,” Black sang while strumming the guitar. As he named each of the characters, the voice actors behind them popped up over his left shoulder to whisper their names in unison with Black. “There was also Princess Peach, who made my heart explode.”
It looked like Pratt (Mario), Charlie Day (Luigi) and Taylor-Joy (Princess Peach) were all having a fun time. Watch the clip below:
“But they defeated me with the help of tiny little mushroom man named Toad,” Black continued to sing as Keegan Michael-Key and Benny Safdie appeared. “They locked me up and shrunk me down. Oh, Bowser he was done. But they’re facing Bowser Jr., and he is my son.”
He carried on: “Mario and Luigi are now in outer space, and Peach and Toad and Rosalina’s all up in my face. But me and Bowser Jr. will get Mario once more. But Yoshi is now in the crew. He’s a cool little freaky dinosaur.”
By the end of the song, Brie Larson, Donald Glover and Powell had all come in for the track, as well.
While “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” which hit theaters Wednesday, was lampooned in TheWrap’s review as “lazy junk” that will probably make a billion dollars, the latter half of that claim is already shaping up. Opening day box office totaled $34.5 million from 3,821 locations.
