Conan’s “Tonight Show” Farewell Earns Twitterville’s Applause

Posted by Jennifer Stasak on 1/23/10 • Categorized as Celebrities, Television

With twists and turns usually reserved for scripted television shows, late-night television has seen more than its fair share of drama the past few weeks. It came to a memorable climax Friday night, as Conan O’Brien, who has hosted “The Tonight Show” for the past seven months, had his farewell show. O’Brien will be replaced by the show’s former host, Jay Leno, in March.

Even before the decision by NBC to bring Leno back was formally made, there were campaigns of support for O’Brien and many jabs directed towards the network by other late-night hosts. Nevertheless, O’Brien vowed to present the best show he could.

Conan opened his final show to a thunderous round of applause, complete with numerous standing ovations. His opening monologue poked fun at NBC, listing all of the possible ways the network could use the set for after his departure. Throughout the first few minutes, O’Brien had to pause multiple times, as the audience was so loud in displaying their appreciation. The host humbly repeated “thank you” over and over. The Twitterverse commended O’Brien for his hilarity, but despite the humor, many found themselves in tears, especially when a montage of moments from the past seven months was shown.

vanessaalfano watching conan. must admit the opening monologue WAS funny! Pressure’s off!!

mjenkins Not ashamed to admit that Conan’s little montage and monologue brought tears to my eyes. I’ll miss you CoCo.

pinojo Conan’s monologue was classic; it sucks pretty bad that a guy with that much respect for past comics gets booted.

mikesolakian That montage was awesome. Great way to finish the monologue of the last Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. #Team Coco

jxchu Ok, the little highlights montage during Conan’s monologue made me tear up just a little bit.

BrunnaRae Man, Conan O’Brien is ripping NBC apart in his monologue. Serves them right. I’m a proud member of #teamCOCO. Conan, you rock!!!!!

JeffElder Conan opens last monologue with: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have exactly one hour to steal every single item in this studio.”

SerialBlonde just read Conan O’Brien’s opening monologue for his last show tonight & am pretty sure I’ll cry hearing it. I cried reading it.

Surprise guest Steve Carrell was introduced as an “NBC employee” sent to conduct an exit survey with O’Brien. The host and Twitterverse laughed along with “The Office” star:

Aaroncast86 I loved that STEVE F’N CARELL was a surprise guest on the final episode of Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show.

AshmiNYC Brilliant – Steve Carrell, NBC employee, conducts Conan O’Brien exit interview. #TV #TeamConan

Bowl_the_Bunny Steve Carell’s glasses are hilariously ADORABLE. <3 I love him conducting Conan O’Brien’s exit interview. LOL! <3 #TeamConan

toyabjuicy LMAO @ Conan O’Brien exit interview with Steve Carell

producerjb watching conan o’brien.. steve cracks me up!

nuzhatnaoreen Steve Carell conducting an NBC exit interview on the last episode of the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. Love it!

LtRandazzo Steve Carrell conducting Conan O’Brien’s exit interview. Oh, man.

nessapaige Steve Carrell is giving Conan O’Brien an exit interview and it’s hilarious

O’Brien later brought out Tom Hanks as another guest. The actor got the audience to chant “CoCo,” repeatedly–the nickname that he had given to O’Brien that had caught on with fans. Tweets rolled in voicing appreciation for Hanks’ support:

quapet Tom Hanks coined “Coco” for Conan. he was on Coco’s first and last show (on NBC). #teamcoco

seconddrink tom hanks is unabashedly on team conan. i knew there was a reason why i love this man. #conan

LianaRamos Tom Hanks at Conan O’Brien last show… brilliant! LOL!!! #teamconan

SVUwnyxER Love Conan. Love Steve Carrell. Love Tom Hanks.

alishamrie DITTO. “Conan, you will always be the host of the Tonight Show in our house.” – Tom Hanks

johnnylazarus How about that. A pledge of allegiance of sorts to Conan from Mr. Tom Hanks. Well played, Senor Hanks.

Conan introduced musical guest Neil Young as the first person to call him and voice support once news of the “Tonight Show” drama unfolded. The musician appropriately sang “Long May You Run.” The Twitterverse seemed to appreciate the heartfelt song.

campants Neil Young playing Long May You Run on Conan. Genius. Beautiful. #teamconan

JonboyHoffman Watching the Conan O’Brien show…Neil Young just about had me crying.tonight This has got to be the best show ever .

randomrecs RT @inthewry: Neil Young with a wonderful performance of “Long May You Run” as a tribute to Conan. You’ll want to look that one up, people.

TimothyS Wow – Very classy & moving statement from Conan at the very end. And incredible performance by Neil Young.

DGfromMTL Neil Young gave a beautiful performance: Long May You Run #Conan

Before Will Ferrell was brought out as the last guest, Conan spoke of the NBC controversy. Rather than angrily attacking the network, he genuinely thanked NBC for the opportunities they had given him through the years. The host thanked his staff for being the best in the world and also addressed his fans, saying they made a “sad situation…joyous.” Conan went on to urge his audience, especially the younger viewers, to avoid from cynicism. The heartfelt and sincere speech touched many tweeps.

BamaDave81 I have a lot of respect for Conan O’brien after his classy speech.

mikefilms What an amazing speech by Conan

kreidy_b Conan’s exit speech is all class. All class. NBC, you messed this one up more than you’ll ever know. #teamconan all the way!

mechellemabelle Conan is about to make me cry. His speech was amazing! FREEBIRD! Woo!

johnvalerio Wow. Great goodbye speech from Conan. Forget everything else from tonight, that’s the highlight. Classiest guy in this whole sordid saga.

SA_4_Geeks Conan O’Brien you are one classy man and your speech made me tear up.

TheJonMarshall a fantastic, emotional and very humble goodbye speech by one of the funniest men in showbiz, Conan O’Brien! We’ll miss you CoCo #teamconan

rooneyplanet Conan’s speech was inspiring, moving, and classy. AKA perfect. #teamconan

killahcole16 #teamconan, WOW Conan’s final speech was true, honest, and brought a tear or few to my eye!

kevinnorman Wow, amazing parting speech from Conan – LOVED his advice about not being cynical. #coco is a class act.

Will Ferrell, dressed as Ronnie Van Zant, closed out the show singing “Freebird” with the “Tonight Show” band and a few other musical guests such as ZZ Top, Ben Harper and Beck, along with Conan on guitar. The act was hailed as a wonderful way to end the night and the show:

hastymaestro The last 20 mins of tonight’s Conan was some of the best tv I have ever seen. Conan showed grace & class & Will Ferrell played MORE COWBELL!

msouravady @AmyLeeEV I loved the way Conan ended his last show too. Will Ferrell pulling out the cow bell was priceless. It totally made my night. =)

MikeDavis88 Will Ferrell singing Freebird with a cowbell was priceless… classic ending for #Conan.

morphinapg Awesome end to Conan’s show. Free Bird with Will Ferrell, Conan, ZZ Top, Max Weinberg and others with Will Ferrell on Vocals and COW BELL!

tball Will Ferrell, BECK (!), Ben Harper, ZZ Top, Tonight Show Band… What a way to go out. Conan had to be having the time of his life.

injuryrisk Thanks for everything Conan. Wow, zz top, will ferrell, beck, tom hanks, etc. Srsly got teary.

odam Billy gibbons, beck, ben Harper, will ferrell and conan rocking Freebird. Now THAT is how you end a show. Seeya on Fox in the Fall, Conan.

AdamZagoria Classic TV moment will Will Ferrell doing a rousing rendition of “Free Bird” to close Conan’s run on “Late Night.”