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Mick Jagger Turns Shopkeeper With Mannequin Arms on Jimmy Fallon Ahead of Stones’ New Album
Mick Jagger turned up on Jimmy Fallon as a mannequin-armed Hackney Diamonds shopkeeper ahead of the Rolling Stones' new album Foreign Tongues.
Mick Jagger showed up on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this week not to demonstrate his famous strut but to play Tony, a mannequin-armed shopkeeper in a jokey British soap sketch — and he did it quoting his own band in the first line.
Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones perform onstage during the No Filter Tour at SoFi Stadium on October 14, 2021 in Inglewood, California. Christopher Polk/Variety
On Wednesday night, May 6, Jagger, 82, staged a cameo in a British soapie parody called Jacob’s Patience, playing the owner of Hackney Diamonds who speaks in Stones lyrics and hoists mannequin arms like a prop from his own stage show. “Pleased to meet you, I hope you guess my name,” he declares — an inline wink to 1968’s “Sympathy for the Devil” — even as a nametag removes any mystery.
Playfulness and the long shadow of rock stardom
The sketch lands as more than a late-night gag. Jagger’s Fallon visit arrives amid the Rolling Stones’ slow-career sprint: the band is preparing to release its 25th studio album, Foreign Tongues, on July 10. The record reunites the trio of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood with a raft of guest players, from Paul McCartney and Steve Winwood to Robert Smith and Chad Smith.
Those collaborators and the speed of the sessions are part of the album’s narrative. As previously reported, Foreign Tongues was knocked out in less than a month at Metropolis Studios in West London, with Hackney Diamonds collaborator Andrew Watt returning to the producer’s chair. Two previews — album opener “Rough and Twisted” and lead single “In the Stars” — have already surfaced as the band shapes the record’s rollout.
Foreign Tongues follows 2023’s Hackney Diamonds, the Stones’ first album in nearly two decades. That collection reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200, spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart and took home a Grammy for best rock album; its momentum helps frame the expectations around this new release.
Jagger’s Tonight Show turn also reminds viewers that his extra-musical life has long included acting. His film credits stretch back to playing the titular bushranger in 1970’s Ned Kelly and include roles in 1992’s Freejack. He was even cast by Werner Herzog for Fitzcarraldo in 1982, a part that ultimately did not materialize because band obligations prevented him from finishing filming.
Late-night viewers get another Stones-related appointment the following night: Keith Richards was set to appear on NBC’s The Tonight Show on Thursday, May 7.
Watch Mick Jagger’s sketch with Jimmy Fallon below.
The Fallon appearance is small in duration but telling in tone: at 82, Jagger still trades in theatricality, whether it’s stadium moves, studio marathons or a bit of shopkeeping silliness. It underlines how, for the Stones, image and play remain as much a part of their practice as melody and riff.
