Conan’s Final Bow
UNIVERSAL CITY, CA - JANUARY 22: In this handout photo provided by NBC Universal Inc., O'Brien appears on the final episode of "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien."
A wigged Will Farrell accompanied by the Tonight Show band, Beck, Conan on guitar and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top performed Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” bringing The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien to a close.
Will Farrell performs
After weeks of speculation, rumors and long negotiations the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien has come to an end. The episode kicked off with Conan stating, “Ladies and gentlemen, we have one hour to steal every single item in this studio.” Prior to taking a commercial break a montage of his brief tenure on the Tonight Show was aired along to Cheap Trick’s “Surrender” and as the song came to a close the words “To Be Continued” appeared on screen before fading to black.
Steve Carell made a brief appearance performing Conan’s exit interview and ending his skit by shredding Conan’s work ID which the audience booed. Then Tom Hanks, who coined the name Coco on his first appearance; the second episode of Conan’s stint, made his entrance donning dark shades and holding two glasses of what appeared to be rum. Once Conan took a swig he announced it was Vanilla root beer. A performance by Neil Young followed who after singing “Long May You Run” thanked the host for doing great things for new music.
The most touching moment came prior to the Farrell send off, Conan took a moment to address his fans who he thanked profusely for “The massive outpouring of support and passion from so many people has been overwhelming. The rallies, the signs, all the goofy, outrageous creativity on the internet, and the fact that people have traveled long distances and camped out all night in the pouring rain to be in our audience, made a sad situation joyous and inspirational.”
“To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I’ll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask of you is one thing: Please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism — it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere.”
“Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”
He also thanked NBC, the company who employed him 20 years ago and went on to say, “Yes, we have our differences right now. And, yes, we’re going to go our separate ways. But this company has been my home for most of my adult life. I am enormously proud of the work we have done together, and I want to thank NBC for making it all possible.”
