--- title: Idris Elba: Sings Endless Love Tonight Show VIDEO description: Idris Elba sings and dances on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. canonical: https://time.com/4414708/idris-elba-shows-off-his-sweet-dance-moves-on-the-tonight-show/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-20T14:54:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:34:34.465Z og:title: Idris Elba Shows Off His Dance Moves on The Tonight Show og:description: You deserve to watch this og:url: https://time.com/4414708/idris-elba-shows-off-his-sweet-dance-moves-on-the-tonight-show/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Idris Elba Shows Off His Dance Moves on The Tonight Show twitter:description: You deserve to watch this twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Idris Elba Shows Off His Sweet Dance Moves on _The Tonight Show_ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jul 20, 2016 2:54 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jul 20, 2016 2:54 PM UTC [Idris Elba](http://time.com/4299764/idris-elba-2016-time-100/?iid=sr-link1) stopped by _The Tonight Show_ to help promote _Star Trek Beyond_ and Jimmy Fallon convinced him to show off the dance moves he honed in Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s [“Dance Off” video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9LAzNMn8Ow). While [Elba](http://time.com/4127862/idris-elba-trailer-luther-bbc/?iid=sr-link5) didn’t take the dance recital too seriously at first, that changed when he realized that the audience was both excited and receptive. While the dance moves were the highlight, it’s worth sticking around to hear Elba’s excruciatingly embarrassing story about meeting legendary producer and Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers. Fallon isn’t one to let his guests off with just an interview (and a dance party) though, so he challenged the [_Dark Tower_ ](http://time.com/4242849/idris-elba-matthew-mcconaughey-stephen-king-the-dark-tower/?iid=sr-link9)actor, rapper, and [DJ](http://time.com/4378443/dj-idris-elba-spectacle-hiatus/?iid=sr-link6) to a [game](http://time.com/4412738/watch-chris-pine-totally-school-jimmy-fallon-at-inflatable-flip-cup/?iid=sr-link1) of Box of Microphones, which have built-in effects that transform their voices into wondrously odd entities. Elba set the bar high with his performance of Desiigner’s “Panda.” Fallon followed it up with a lugubrious take on Drake’s “One Dance.” It ended with an incredible if cacophonous duet of Lionel Richie’s and Diana Ross’s “Endless Love”, which will somehow make you love them both even more. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4414708/idris-elba-shows-off-his-sweet-dance-moves-on-the-tonight-show/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4414708/idris-elba-shows-off-his-sweet-dance-moves-on-the-tonight-show/"},"headline":"Idris Elba Shows Off His Sweet Dance Moves on The Tonight Show","datePublished":"2016-07-20T14:54:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:34:34.465Z","description":"You deserve to watch this","url":"https://time.com/4414708/idris-elba-shows-off-his-sweet-dance-moves-on-the-tonight-show/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","The Tonight Show","Idris Elba"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4414708/idris-elba-shows-off-his-sweet-dance-moves-on-the-tonight-show/","name":"Idris Elba Shows Off His Sweet Dance Moves on The Tonight Show"}}]}] ```