The spirit of New Yorkers was in full force last night on Jimmy Kimmel’s late night chat show. Despite having to cancel Monday night’s filming, owing to Hurricane Sandy’s devastating arrival in the city, Kimmel managed to snag himself an audience for Tuesday night’s filming.

Kimmel kicked off the show with a thank you to those who made it out “I was born in Bay Ridge. I grew up in Mill Basin. Tonight, I have returned to save my people from the storm… Thank you for ignoring the local authorities to be here tonight for our first show...Mayor Bloomberg will be here shortly to have you arrested.” It wasn’t just the audience that had ventured across town for the special filming, either. Guests Howard Stern and Tracy Morgan both made it to the studio, though Stern was something of a reluctant attendee, telling the audience “I was begging Jimmy to cancel the show! I'm driving along and I'm trying to get here, and I thought, 'Why am I really trying to be here tonight?'

Jimmy Fallon was also grateful to get a live audience in their seats for his own late night filming. He told last night’s participants “I'm so glad you're here because last night's audience was the worst," Fallon said. "Last night we had to do the show in front of a bunch of empty seats—or as Clint Eastwood calls that, a full house." Sandy may have wreaked destruction across New York – and, of course, beyond – but the entertainment industry is a bullish one and won’t be brought to a halt for very long, as the kings of late night chat shows have proven.

Watch Fallon's opening monologue below: