In a moment both embarrassing and hilarious, Jimmy Fallon recently looked back on his very first appearance hosting The Late Show with David Letterman — and it all came down to one thing: a pair of “vampire collars.”

“The first time I met Heidi Klum, she looked at me and said, ‘You look like a vampire.’” Fallon told the audience, sparking laughter. What he thought was just a playful jab turned out to be painfully accurate. When Jimmy pulled up an old photo from that night, even he cringed: “I’m sorry… but yeah, I really looked like Dracula.”

The Collar Disaster

Fallon admitted he was so nervous about the gig that he hired a stylist — something he “had no idea about at the time.” The result? A shirt with oversized collars that refused to stay tucked in.

“I was telling jokes, trying to keep it cool, and then I caught a glimpse of myself on the monitor,” Fallon recalled. “Those collars were flying out like bat wings. I tried to shove them back in, but they just popped right out again. I had to do the whole show like that.”

The studio erupted when he quipped: “It ruined my whole career!”

NBC Tried to Stop Him

Adding another twist, NBC — Fallon’s home network — had actually warned him not to host for CBS. “They even sent me a letter saying, ‘Please don’t do this.’ But I couldn’t say no. It was Dave!” Fallon explained.

And the humiliation didn’t stop there. After the show, Fallon went out to dinner with a friend — only to run into Heidi Klum again. Her verdict? “You look like a vampire.”

From Nightmare to Golden Memory

Though Fallon calls it a “fashion nightmare,” he still remembers it fondly: “Even with the vampire collars, it was an incredible honor to be on Dave’s stage.”

Years later, Fallon has become one of late night’s biggest stars. And the lesson he’s carried with him? “Please — never let your collars stick out unless you’re playing Dracula on Halloween.”