Hamilton creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda appeared on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon last night to promote his upcoming hosting duties on Saturday Night Live. As is his wont, Fallon made Miranda participate in one of those games designed to go viral in a stand-alone YouTube clip, but thankfully this one played to Miranda’s natural talents: rapping.
Miranda was paired up against the Roots’ Tariq Trotter in a round of Wheel of Freestyle and asked to create a rap about three random words/phrases on the spot. His first three phrases were robot, corn maze, and Harry Potter. His verse went as follows: “Once again, I’m in a very tricky spot/I’m going to win the Emmy like Mr. Robot/And I could go for days and days/and though I’m lost/there’s plenty to eat in this corn maze/I’m going above and beyond/I’m serious, black/I’ve got my magic wand/there’s nothing you can harm us/abracadabra yo, expelliarmus.” Not bad.
Trotter had to rhyme guacamole, lumberjack, and Super Bowl. His rap’s highlight—“set em up, chop em down like a lumberjack”—elicited a strong response from the crowd, but it was Miranda’s final line in the next round, which rhymed “election” with “erection,” that really brought the house down.
Watch the clip below.
And here’s the promo for this weekend’s Saturday Night Live, which reveals that Miranda does a decent Carrie from Sex in the City impersonation and that he’s never actually seen Hamilton.
