By Vanessa Langdon
News Editor
Last week, two communication students from the College were featured in a segment on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The students, Rachel Dymond and Laura Flemming, completed their undergraduate degrees at Saint Rose in December and will walk the stage this May.
The two women were featured on camera Tuesday, March 24, in a segment called “Freestylin’ with The Roots,” Fallon’s house band.
Both Dymond and Flemming were sporting bright gold Saint Rose T-shirts in homage to their alma mater, and that of Fallon himself, when they caught the host’s attention. The segment featured the band creating a song on the spot about the two students.
Fallon attended the College but left just shy of graduation to pursue his comedy career. He earned his bachelor’s in Communications as well as an honorary degree from Saint Rose in 2009 and was the keynote speaker at the graduation ceremony.
Flemming, 24, found out that she would be attending a taping of “The Tonight Show” via a Snapchat Dymond sent her. Dymond, 22, had entered the random drawing to receive free tickets and she was awarded with two tickets for March 24 – coincidentally her favorite number.
The two then brainstormed on how to get the fellow Saint Rose alumnus to notice them.
“A couple of days before, we were thinking about what we could do to get attention- there’s nothing else besides bright yellow Saint Rose stuff. It’s a red flag to say, come talk to us,” Flemming said.
The specific show they attended had more audience participation than usual due to a previously-taped segment by one of the guests- Elizabeth Banks.
“I thought, there is no way he will not talk to us. There’s no way that this is random, the way the Roots were singing a song without an error. The flow was so good you thought it was rigged, and he started walking through the aisle and then I made eye contact and he said you guys got to stand up and it was the most surreal moment ever,” Flemming said.
The two have known each other for just over a year, after bonding in Professor Rosemary Sheridan’s class, but their personalities complement each other nicely.
“Laura had the answer that came to mind and she said pansy and all I could think of was the word potato. She’s quick on her feet,” Dymond said of being put on the spot by Fallon.
The two were asked to list a flower, and then asked the craziest thing they’d done on spring break.
“She was quick on her feet again and we just kind of played it from there. None of the answers were planned ahead of time and we just rolled with it,” Dymond said of Flemming announcing their candy corn tattoos on the show.
They decided to get the matching foot tattoos after finishing their degrees at Saint Rose. At first, Dymond was hesitant about the idea Flemming proposed be added to their shared bucket list.
“I said no, and then I decided life is short. It’s a fun, cute thing that symbolizes spontaneity and not taking life too seriously,” Dymond said.
She was hesitant about displaying the tattoo on the show because her father didn’t know she had gotten it.
“It was something I was going to try and hide forever, which is why it was so tiny and on our feet. With a story like that, though, who would believe it if we didn’t show it?” Dymond said. “That was only part I was nervous about, because at that point I thought I could go a long time without him knowing.”
Flemming was impressed with how “real” Fallon was with the audience.
“I feel like a lot of people have personas as celebrities and are disingenuine. The man that you see on television is the same exact man that you see in person- willing to just hug anybody,” said Flemming. “Just everything that you would hope that he would be, he’s even more than that.”
Dymond felt they had a special connection with Fallon because of the connection to the College.
“He came up to us and just stood next to us and said he loved us and held our hands. We had a more special interaction than some of the others,” Dymond said of their interaction with Fallon as he left the show.
Since their segment aired, the pair have been overwhelmed by support.
“The amount of love and support from people- friends on Facebook to people that I work with. It was a great way to wrap up the whole experience by sharing it with your friends and family,” Flemming said.
Getting chosen seemed to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“Laura had this joke going that we were going to meet him,” Dymond said.
According to Flemming, outlandish experiences abound when they get together.
“When me and Rachel get together, the craziest things happen. The universe conspires to make the most craziness happen when we’re together and it’s amazing,” Flemming said.
The two students are currently working after finishing their degrees in December and waiting to officially cross the stage in May. Dymond interns at the Make-A-Wish Foundation, while Flemming is in Massachusetts working until she can further pursue her interests in acting and as a jazz singer in July.
Flemming believes this is only her first appearance on The Tonight Show, not her last.
“Hopefully one day, I’ll be a guest with Jimmy Fallon. I can feel it in my bones and I can feel it in my soul. One day it’s going to happen,” Flemming said.
The segment featuring Dymond and Flemming is available to view on the “Tonight Show” website.
College president Dr. Carolyn Stefanco sent out a campus-wide email the morning after the segment aired, alerting the campus community to the event, which she called “some amazing publicity.”
“The College of Saint Rose is a special place, and I thank Rachel and Laura for helping us to spread the word!” Stefanco said.
