National Basketball Association

Lakers' Kobe Bryant and Jimmy Fallon recall their epic beer run from 1996

Published Feb. 5, 2015 3:23 p.m. ET

Jovan Buha

Before they were at the top of their respective fields, Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant and "The Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon were relative "nobodies" trying to find their way in Los Angeles.

With "The Tonight Show" spending the week in the City of Angels, Fallon used the opportunity to reconnect with the Lakers superstar Wednesday night and reminisce about their first encounter.

As Fallon and Bryant recalled, the two met at a party in Los Angeles in 1996 -- when Bryant was riding the Lakers' bench as a rookie, and Fallon was an up-and-coming comedian -- and decided to go on a beer run.

Sounds normal, right?

After arguing with the clerk for a while, Fallon recalled Bryant pulled the ultimate trump card: He took out his I.D. and said, "I'm a Laker."

And left the store that night with five cases of beer.

It wasn't until almost two decades later that Bryant and Fallon were reunited as icons in basketball and comedic television, respectively, to tell the tale on national television.

Watch the full video below: