Grande, Stiller and De Niro Take Over 'The Tonight Show'

Ariana Grande, Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro hijacked Jimmy Fallon's monologue on The Tonight Show, singing "O Christmas Tree" before promoting their new comedy Focker In-Law.

The film, the fourth installment of the Meet the Parents franchise, reaches theaters on Thanksgiving. Grande plays Olivia Jones. Stiller and De Niro reprise their roles as Greg Focker and Jack Byrnes. Owen Wilson, Blythe Danner and Teri Polo also return, with Beanie Feldstein and Skyler Gisondo joining as newcomers.

What did Grande say about joining the franchise?

"It was very surreal," Grande told Fallon. She first met Stiller when he directed her in an orgy scene in Zoolander 2. "So right off the bat we had a comfortability," she quipped.

Her first day on Focker In-Law set a tone. The scene required her to give Stiller the Heimlich maneuver (the abdominal squeeze used on choking victims). She expected introductions; she got a stunt team instead.

"We met the stunts team and they were amazing and they were like, 'Alright Ben, bend over. Ariana you'll get behind and just put your arms around him,'" Grande recalled. "My mom was like, 'How was your first day honey?' I was like, 'Well, I gave Ben Stiller the Heimlich for a few hours.' It was crazy."

Hollywood onboarding rarely involves a choreographed chokehold. This one did.

Which games and skits filled the episode?

The trio didn't restrict themselves to the interview chairs.

• Monologue crash: De Niro, Stiller and Grande interrupted Fallon's opening with their rendition of "O Christmas Tree."
• "True Confessions": Grande convinced the group that she fell into a tank at the Boca Aquarium at age four. The game asks contestants to sell plausible lies; she apparently has the gift.
• "Slow Clap Soap Opera": a skit dramatically parodying the slow clap, that tired trope of triumph cinema can't quit.

Why does this visit matter?

The stop is standard machinery for a Thanksgiving release: stacked cast, late-night couch, skits engineered for clips. De Niro doing soap-opera melodrama is, however, its own small event.

For Grande, the film marks another comic role following her Zoolander 2 cameo and Wicked run, and the Fallon appearance put her front and center among two franchise veterans. Whether Focker In-Law revives a series dormant for over a decade will be settled at the Thanksgiving box office, where family comedies traditionally feast.