"It's about time!" said Joan Rivers on The Tonight Show

80-year-old comedian and reality TV personality, Joan Rivers was just one of several stars who helped christen Jimmy Fallon‘s new digs popping by The Tonight Show on Monday to pay off a $100 “bet” that Jimmy would never get to be host of the late-night talker (Robert De Niro, Mariah Carey, Rudy Giuliani, Lady Gaga to name a few, plus Stephen Colbert, who shouted “Welcome to 11:30, bitch,” before snapping a selfie).  

Rivers, who got her big break as Johnny Carson‘s first permanent Tonight Show guest host, returned to NBC’s storied late-night show for the first time in more than 25 years after being banned in 1986 by Carson from appearing on the program when she left her role as permanent guest host to star in a competing show on Fox, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers.

Coincidentally, Fallon’s Feb. 17 debut marked the 49th anniversary of Rivers’ first Tonight Show appearance on Feb. 17, 1965.  ”It’s about time!” said Rivers in a statement. “I’ve been sitting in a taxi outside NBC with the meter running since 1987.”

"It's about time!" said Joan Rivers on The Tonight Show