Dua Lipa was at the center of a heartwarming viral moment late last year when an 80-year-old superfan was filmed having an excited reaction — “Are you sh*tting me,” he repeatedly exclaimed — to getting Lipa concert tickets as a birthday gift. Lipa herself shared the video and wrote, “OMG THIS MELTS MY HEART!!!” The fan was happy about that, as he said in a follow-up video, “Five minutes of fame is the greatest thing to ever happen.”
It appeared that was the end of the saga, but the story actually continued last night.
Lipa guested on The Tonight Show yesterday, where Jimmy Fallon arranged for Lipa and the fan (Papa Richy, as he’s known) to meet. Fallon got Richy to the studio by telling him he won a radio contest for the year’s best TikTok video. Instead of being interviewed on the radio like he thought, though, Richy was escorted to the Tonight Show stage.
When he emerged, he was surprised by the audience and happy to meet Fallon and shake his hand. He actually didn’t recognize Lipa, who was standing right next to Fallon, immediately. It was only after Fallon told him who she was that it clicked for him, causing him to put his hands on his head, take a step back, and exclaim, “Oh my god! Holy sh*t!” Fallon then pointed out how it was Richy’s dream to dance with Lipa, so with some music from The Roots, they got their groove on.
The YouTube clip of the segment also includes some off-air footage of Richy and Lipa in conversation on stage, with Richy telling her he was at her concert in Miami and that he loved it. He started to note one of the outfits Lipa wore during the show, which prompted Fallon to playfully get between Richy and Lipa and protectively shoo him away. As Richy left the stage, he shouted, “I got to dance with Dua! Oh! Oh! Oh!”
Elsewhere on the show, Lipa and Fallon talked about touring and some other things she has going on, so check out clips from Lipa’s Tonight Show appearance above and below.
Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.