Doobie Brothers singer/keyboardist Michael McDonald visited The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday, May 20, to promote his new memoir, What a Fool Believes. McDonald was joined by his friend, actor Paul Reiser, who co-wrote the book with him.
Videos by American Songwriter
At the end of the appearance, host Jimmy Fallon handed McDonald and Reiser cordless microphones, as The Roots, The Tonight Show’s house band, kicked into the 1976 Doobies Brothers hit “Takin’ It to the Streets.”
[Buy Doobie Brothers Concert Tickets]
As McDonald prepared to start singing, he commented to the audience to “sing along if you feel the spirit.” After he crooned the lines, “You don’t know me but I’m your brother / I was raised here in this living hell,” McDonald quipped, “with my gold-plated microphone.”
Fallon then joined in, doing his best impression of Michael’s smooth and throaty voice. McDonald and Fallon then harmonized together, with Reiser also singing a bit.
McDonald’s Previous Tonight Show Performance with Fallon & Justin Timberlake
Before the “Takin’ It to the Streets” performance, Fallon brought up a previous appearance McDonald had made on The Tonight Show where he sang “Row Your Boat” with Fallon and Justin Timberlake, who were both made up to look like Michael.
McDonald on Playing with Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers
During the interview, Fallon asked McDonald how he wound up as a member of both Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers.
“The key to that is being fired by one so that [you’re available for] the other one,” McDonald joked.
He then explained that he’d been in Steely Dan when Donald Fagen and Walter Becker “decided they weren’t going to tour anymore, [which] kind of opened the door for the rest of us to just kind of wander out there in the marketplace.”
McDonald added that Jeff “Skunk” Baxter had gone from playing in Steely Dan to becoming a Doobie Brothers member, paving the way for him to be invited to join the latter group.
Reiser on Co-Writing McDonald’s Book
The 72-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer also credited Reiser for being the motivating factor in the book being written.
Reiser then explained to Fallon, “Everybody’s a big fan of Michael McDonald. But … I’ll go, ‘I don’t know anything. How did this happen?’ And luckily … all those questions get answered [in the book], and I find out, ‘Oh, I get it now. I get how you got to where you are.’ But in the midst of that, there’s all these personal stories that are really beautiful and funny … and very universal.”
McDonald and Reiser Also Played a Game with Fallon
Earlier in the show, McDonald and Reiser played a game of Password against Fallon and Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne. McDonald and Reiser were the winners, correctly coming up with the words “espresso,” “mullet,” and “guacamole.”
McDonald’s Plans for a Book Tour
As previously reported, What a Fool Believes, named after the chart-topping Doobie Brothers hit McDonald co-wrote with Kenny Loggins, was released Tuesday, May 21.
To promote the memoir, McDonald and Reiser will appear together at a series of book-tour events. They’re scheduled for May 21 in New York City, May 22 in Nashville, May 23 in St. Louis, and May 29 in Los Angeles.
McDonald’s 2024 Tour Plans with The Doobie Brothers
McDonald, who rejoined The Doobie Brothers in 2019, will hit the road with the band for its 2024 trek. First up for The Doobies are a series of European concerts opening for the Eagles in late May and June. They include five concerts in Manchester, U.K., and two in Arnhem, Netherlands.
After the European dates, The Doobie Brothers will launch a North American headlining tour. That trek runs from a June 23 concert in Inglewood, California, through an October 16 show in Saint John, Canada.
Tickets for The Doobie Brothers’ concerts are available now via various outlets, including StubHub.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
