Jimmy Fallon experienced “the most dangerous thing” he’s ever done during the Thanksgiving edition of the “Tonight Show,” when he allowed a baby porcupine to sit in his lap for a full two minutes. Luckily, Steve Irwin’s son Robert was standing by the whole time to make sure the little guy didn’t stick the late-night host.
“Now, you wanna hold the sweet potato just here so they don’t bite your fingers,” the animal expert said, before he brought out Quill Smith and Quilly Nelson to play.
“Oh, no! What do you mean they don’t bite my fingers!” Fallon said, preparing to hold the African Crested porcupines — the largest rodent in the continent of Africa — in his lap. Spines and all.
“If a predator is gonna get ’em, they’ll actually sink them right down into their skin,” Irwin told Fallon, describing his new friend’s defense mechanism, while promoting his family’s new Animal Planet series, “Crikey! It’s the Irwins.”
OK, that was pretty much it for Fallon, who spent the rest of his encounter with the quill-covered guests fearing for his life, until Irwin saved him by sending the animals backstage.
Oh, this visit also included baby otters, an aardvark and baby zebra, enjoy.
Watch the clip above. The baby porcupines come out around the 3:30 mark.