NEW YORK -- On a night that also featured segments and interviews with "Us" star Lupita Nyong'o and comedian Dane Cook, the Overwatch League's San Francisco Shock players Jay "Sinatraa" Won and Matthew "Super" DeLisi appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on Monday at NBC Studios in Manhattan.
Fresh off an Overwatch League championship victory eight days earlier at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, the two 19-year-old competitors spoke with Fallon about the life of a pro gamer, shared how they convinced their parents to let them pursue their careers and offered advice to other young people with similar aspirations.
"Basically, when I got my first esports contract, my dad had to co-sign it because I was under 18," Super told Fallon. "I explained to him what esports was. The first thing he does is looks up esports and finds a Forbes article about the growth of esports, he reads about it, and he lets me do it.
"The easiest way to explain to people is if you were to compare it to an NFL team. They have their team practice, their scrimmages, their game tape, stuff they go over. But individually, they do weight training to keep their physical performance up and their strength up. That's kind of what the individual performance is for us. We like, make sure our movement is still good and our aim is still good."
"I play personally maybe like 10 to 12 hours [a day]," Sinatraa said.
Sinatraa and Super became the second and third esports professionals to appear on "The Tonight Show." In late July, 16-year-old Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf -- who had just won $3 million as the solo division champion at the Fortnite World Cup, which took place at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens -- appeared on the show to discuss Fortnite.
Sinatraa told ESPN his appearance on "The Tonight Show," at first, made him nervous -- similar to how he feels when he walks out on stage in front of crowds. More than 12,000 people were in attendance at Wells Fargo Center on Sept. 29 for the Overwatch League grand final. But Sinatraa quickly settled in, to Fallon's left on an armchair, which made him more comfortable and calm, akin to when he sits down and prepares to play.
"I never get nervous playing on stage," Sinatraa said. "I only get nervous walking out onto the stage. That's the most nervous part about everything. Once I'm finally sitting, I feel nothing. It was actually the exact same. When I sat down on the couch, I felt really comfortable, and Jimmy Fallon made it very comfortable for us."
Sinatraa and Super said they felt they represented esports well, something they were worried about going into the day, which included being prepared by Activision Blizzard and Ketchum public relations teams.
"I feel like a lot of time esports players give interviews and most of the times they come off, especially when they're really mainstream interviews, people like to criticize them and say they come off as 'cringey' or they're not a good representation of what esports is and what it could be," Super said. "People say that sets esports back. So we tried not to embarrass ourselves on 'The Tonight Show.'"
"I think we did good, other than my voice crack. That was it," Sinatraa said.