Thirty years after “Footloose,” Kevin Bacon proved that he still has the moves on the “Tonight Show” on Friday night.
In the above clip, host Jimmy Fallon declares that dancing is illegal on the “Tonight Show.” Bacon, backstage, listens to the announcement and is appalled. This has happened to him before, but last time, it was in a small Midwestern town. “Dancing is illegal?” he asks himself, horrified. “This is the ‘Tonight Show’ – there has to be dancing.”
Bacon then dances soulfully behind the scenes at Fallon’s studio to “Never,” a “Footloose” classic. He’s a little leaner but Bacon can still pull off the white tank – something that unfortunately hasn’t quite gone out of style since 1984. He catches Fallon’s staffers watching him in the hallway when he echoes the first movie: “I thought this was a party. Let’s dance!”
Everyone else joins in the fun and the soundtrack changes to the dance film’s eponymous theme song. Fallon’s staffers, or rather, dancers pretending to be staffers, do a great job keeping up with Bacon – so much that they convince Fallon into ripping up his bill and declaring that dance is legal once again on the “Tonight Show.”
Watch our favorite moments from Bacon’s epic entrance in GIFs.
Kevin Bacon cycles through rage and an e-cigarette after he finds out dancing has been outlawed.
Credit: The Tonight Show
Bacon’s still got that fancy footwork down.
Credit: The Tonight Show
Bacon can’t take off his shirt without dancing.
Credit: The Tonight Show
Can people please outlaw dancing more often?
Credit: The Tonight Show
Bacon rounds up a gang to make his case to Fallon.
Credit: The Tonight Show
Fallon is convinced, and makes dancing on the “Tonight Show” legal again.
Credit: The Tonight Show
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