Ahead of the release of her 34th studio album Partners, singing legend Barbra Streisand was Jimmy Fallon’s guest on Monday evening’s ‘The Tonight Show’. The entire programme was given over to Streisand as Fallon got the opportunity to duet with her on a number of tracks that appear on the new record.

Barbra Streisand The Tonight Show
Barbra Streisand made an ultra-rare chat show appearance to promote Partners, a new album of duets, out Sept 16

Fallon quickly dispensed with his customary monologue at the start of the show, acknowledging that they were a “hot crowd” and finishing off by saying “I know you’re not here for me, you’re here for Barbra”. He then accompanied Streisand on a medley of three tracks from the new album, dressing up as Elvis for ‘Love Me Tender’, ‘The Voice’ judge Blake Shelton for ‘I’d Want It To Be You’ and Michael Bublé for ‘It Had To Be You’.

During the laid-back interview, the two swapped places so that Streisand was behind Fallon’s desk and he on the armchair. They also shared some gentle banter: Streisand teased Fallon about his singing “I wouldn’t give up your night job, you know what I mean?”, and later Fallon joked “what have you done with Barbra Streisand?” after he’d commented that she’d behaved impeccably towards him and his crew, a reference to Streisand’s reputation as something of a diva.

More: Behind the scenes of Streisand’s update of ‘It Had To Be You’ with Michael Bublé.

This appearance was particularly notable as Streisand hasn’t been a late night talk show guest for a very long time – 51 years in fact, since she appeared in 1963 on, funnily enough, ‘The Tonight Show’. Partners, released on 16th September, sees Streisand sing duets with an all-male line-up, including Michael Bublé, John Mayer, John Legend, Stevie Wonder and even an updated recording of Elvis Presley.

The songs are all updates of ones that Streisand has already sung or made famous on her own, including ‘It Had To Be You’ and ‘Come Rain Or Come Shine’. A cover of ‘How Deep Is The Ocean’ is notable as the first time Streisand has duetted on record with her son Jason Gould.

More: Behind the scenes of Streisand’s update of ‘Come Rain Or Come Shine’ with John Mayer.

Streisand is one of the most successful recording artists ever, having sold more than 245 million albums worldwide. That success is reflected in her haul of awards down the years: she is one of only sixteen people to have won all four of America’s major entertainment awards (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony).