Jonathan Groff straddled Keanu Reeves during a now-viral performance at the Tony Awards in June, and he revealed how the memorable moment came to be while appearing on Thursday’s episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
During the Tonys performance, Groff performed a medley of songs from his latest Broadway show Just in Time. He interacted with the audience and even stood up on Reeves’ chair, who put up two sign of the horns hands as he looked out at the camera from between Groff’s legs.
“He did not know it was gonna happen. I had picked him to be the person that I straddled ’cause obviously if Keanu Reeves is in the audience, you’re gonna want to straddle him,” Groff said.
He then explained that he knew Reeves after they worked together on the 2021 film The Matrix Resurrections, noting that they had “fought together in the movie.” Groff continued, “So we knew each other pretty intimately, but he’d never been between my legs.”
Groff went on to praise the “genius” of Reeves for embracing the moment with a “yes, and” mentality. “Some people would just laugh. He was like, ‘Rock and roll! Let’s go,’” Groff continued, mimicking Reeves’ reaction. “He was ‘Yes, and-ing’ it hard.”
Groff previously spoke about Reeves’ reaction to the moment to GQ in August. “His reaction was so priceless, the best reaction ever,” Groff said at the time. “An hour later, I was getting ready for the Hamilton performance backstage, and the stage manager was like, ‘Is Jonathan Groff in here? Keanu Reeves is looking for Jonathan Groff.’ And he came backstage to give me a hug and say, thank you for doing that, and how much fun it was to be a part of the number. We had such a great moment after!”
In addition to performing the Just in Time medley at the awards show, Groff also took the stage with the original cast of Hamilton to perform a medley from the beloved musical in honor of its 10th anniversary. Groff also attended the awards show as a nominee in the best performance by a leading actor in a musical category for his role as Bobby Darin in Just In Time. However, Darren Criss ending up taking the trophy home for his role in Maybe Happy Ending.
