Lin-Manuel Miranda didn't recognize his 'Encanto' hit in a hilariously relatable 'Tonight Show' moment

We don't talk about that time on Fallon.
 By 
Adam Rosenberg
 on 
A still from "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon". Host Jimmy Fallon sits at his desk while Lin-Manuel Miranda, appearing remotely on a screen positioned next to Fallon's desk, presses his face against his palm in a show of embarrassment.
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As any career-minded person will tell you, if you work long enough and hard enough, you'll inevitably forget about a few things along the way.

Lin-Manuel Miranda had exactly that experience during a Friday appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Fallon challenged the Hamilton creator to a Disney-themed game of "One Second Songs," a late show game in which — you've probably figured this out already based on the title alone — competitors must guess the title of a particular song after hearing a one-second clip.

The Disney theme introduced a similarly obvious twist: The competition focused solely on musical numbers from Disney movies. Miranda had a solid showing right off the bat, correctly spotting a popular number from Moana for which he has a writing credit. He and Fallon both had no troubles breezing through an easy stretch of clues to start things off. But then Miranda faced his third clue.

The one-second clip has no words, just some jangly slice of melody that sounds like it's coming from a vibraphone. Miranda is immediately stumped and asks to hear the clip again. Nothing. Then Fallon tries to figure it out, and quickly fails. So he accepts defeat and asks for the answer. As the familiar melody starts to play and the lyrics "I can always hear him sort of mumbling and mumbling" play, Miranda buries his face in his hands. Clearly this is "We Don't Talk About Bruno," the chart-topping Encanto hit that Miranda wrote.

He's understandably embarrassed, but that clip is ridiculously non-specific and difficult to decode compared to the ones that preceded it. The Tonight Show producers knew who their guest was, too, so you can bet this was intentionally built to be a stumper. The result is a very funny and relatable TV moment where Miranda's impressive and ever-growing resume finally catches up with him.

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Adam Rosenberg

Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.


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