Jimmy Fallon Helps Launch Ben & Jerry's Newest Flavor Late Night Snack in NYC!

By: Anne M. Raso

On March 2nd, Ben & Jerry launched their newest flavor, Late Night Snack on the set of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon at the famous "30 Rock" building. Late Night Snack is flavor that is unusual not only because it stemmed out of a comic song about Ben & Jerry's performed by Jimmy Fallon and The Roots on his late-night talk show, but because it contains chocolate covered potato chips.

Fallon (center) with Ben & Jerry Founders

At the event, Fallon told us that he is a long time fan of Ben & Jerry's, so when they approached him to do a flavor in his honor that was sweet and salty at the same time, he jumped on it. Fallon said that when he got an advanced tasting of Late Night Snack recently, he ate two pints in one sitting! Despite his slender physique, he also told us that his late night snack is often a pint of Ben & Jerry's classic vanilla over a pile of Fig Newtons. He said, "It takes a bit of strength to cut through the Fig Newtons--I need both a spoon and a knife to eat that!" (We somehow have the feeling that Fallon might be creating yet another B&J flavor based on this unique combo!)

The Ben & Jerry PR stafff invited not only financefoodie.com to this launch--but folks from sixty other foodie and pop culture sites. We were all very happy to get first dibs on the new flavor (well, it was really"second dibs" since Fallon and his staff got some a couple of hours before us). After sampling Late Night Snack in the NBC commissary, we headed to the legendary Studio 6B where Fallon tapes his show before a live audience (it's the same studio formerly used by Jack Parr, Johnny Carson and Conan O' Brien).

The studio has kept the same look for years but now features the old seats taken out of Radio City when it was refurbished, green carpeting that is made out of recycled bottles and a bamboo stage--making it overall more "green." B&J founders and namesakes Ben Cohen & Jerry Greenfield showed up and joined Jimmy Fallon for a press conference and short Q&A about the new flavor and how it was developed. Fallon showed we bloggers the original clip of the song he and the Roots performed about Ben & Jerry's called "Ladysmith Snack Mambazo." As a special promotion, Fallon will be giving out Fallon Gallons of Late Night Snack to audience members, as well as promotional T-shirts and other items.

We had fun and it was hard to not go back for seconds (we couldn't forget our new year's diet and stuck to one scoop). For those of you who want to know exactly what Late Night Snack is made of, well it is classic vanilla bean ice cream mixed with (at Fallon's suggestion), crunchy fudge covered potato chip clusters and a salty caramel swirl. It arrives in the stores this week and for more info on it (or to find a Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shop near you, go to www.benjerry.com

[Photos: Anne Raso, Cone Inc./Ben&Jerry's]