Jack Black brought a little Mushroom Kingdom mischief to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Wednesday night, performing an original tune dubbed “The Ballad of Super Mario” timed to Super Mario Galaxy’s theatrical debut.
The pretaped segment featured Black fully embracing his villainous Bowser persona, delivering a theatrical, tongue-in-cheek recap of Mario lore in song. As he worked his way through the franchise’s familiar characters—Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Toad—members of the film’s voice cast popped in one by one to whisper their character names, adding a playful, almost storybook rhythm to the performance.
Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Keegan-Michael Key, Brie Larson, Benny Safdie, and Donald Glover all made brief appearances during the number.
The song itself plays like a comedic villain’s lament, with Black’s Bowser recounting past defeats while plotting his next move alongside Bowser Jr. The performance escalates as the setting shifts to outer space—a nod to the new film’s premise—before culminating in a bombastic declaration that Mario and his allies will ultimately “bow to me in the galaxy.”
The appearance marks a return to familiar territory for Fallon, who previously staged a viral Mario-themed musical moment in 2023. In that segment, Fallon and The Roots teamed up with much of the original Super Mario Bros. Movie voice cast for an a cappella rendition of the franchise’s iconic theme music in celebration of MAR10 Day.
Fallon—whose affection for Super Mario is well documented—welcomed Super Mario Galaxy stars Chris Pratt and Charlie Day to his couch last week, and is set to sit down with Jack Black Thursday night ahead of Black’s Saturday Night Live return this weekend.
Watch Black’s full “Ballad of Super Mario” Tonight Show performance at the top of this post.