Jimmy Fallon pays emotional tribute to his dog Gary: ‘The house is so quiet’

Jimmy Fallon is saying farewell to his best friend.

The “Tonight Show” host took to Instagram to share a touching tribute after the death of his dog, Gary, a golden retriever who appeared on his late-night shows.

“She was our first baby, a therapist, a pillow, a big sister, a schoolmarm, a comedian, a party girl and a rebel,” Fallon wrote. “Definitely not a watchdog – she would have let burglars in and shown them where we kept the bacon and American cheese slices.”

The comedian went on to write that he and his family were “lucky to have” 13-and-a-half years with Gary and that he, his wife and his children all miss her. Fallon shares two daughters, 12-year-old Winnie and 10-year-old Frances, with his wife, Nancy Juvonen.

“The house is so quiet,” Fallon concluded his post. “The quiet is so loud. But that quiet is slowly being filled with stories about you and laughter amongst the sniffles. Thank you for everything. Gosh, we miss you so much. Goodnight, Gary.”

Fallon first announced to his Instagram followers that he had welcomed a “new member of the family,” Gary, in September 2012.

Speaking to People magazine in 2017, the comedian noted he first met Gary when the puppy was part of a bit on his previous late-night show, “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” where she was dressed in a suit to look like a political pundit. “We were trying to have kids at the time, so I think this was just a thing to kind of distract us while we’re working on that,” Fallon told the magazine, also explaining he named the female dog Gary because her political pundit character was named Gary Frick Jr.

In 2020, Gary made appearances on “The Tonight Show” when Fallon began broadcasting from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the first edition of his “home edition” of the show in March 2020, Fallon showed that Gary was in the room with him and declared the dog was “my first guest.”

In April, he interviewed Gary, who, in an amusing voiceover, urged him to get back to his studio as soon as possible. And in May, Fallon’s monologue was interrupted by Gary coming into the room.

Fallon’s fellow late-night host, Seth Meyers, previously mourned the death of his dog Frisbee in August.

“She was at her best curled in your lap and patient when we dressed her up like a pilgrim,” he wrote on Instagram. Frisbee was known to fans for a running gag where Andy Samberg made his dislike of the dog known.

The “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” star joked in an interview with Entertainment Tonight at the time, “I didn’t kill Frisbee, much as that would have delighted me.”