Farewell, CoCo: Conan O'Brien's last Tonight Show
monologue. NBC photo
It was a caviar-spewing, CoCo chanting emotional night for Conan O'Brien as he said farewell to NBC and The Tonight Show Friday.
To a thunderous reception from the audience (as it had been all week), O'Brien kept the mood light in his monologue. Some snippets:
- "Ladies and gentleman, we have exactly one hour to steal every single item in this studio. It's yours; take it."
- "As I set off for exciting new career opportunities, I just want to make one thing clear to everyone listening out there: I will do nudity, whether you want me to or not."
- "Now that this mess is almost behind me – I just have one last request: HBO, when you make the movie about this whole NBC late night fiasco, I would like to be played by Academy-Award winning actress Tilda Swinton."
- "We didn't rehearse tonight because we didn't care -- we've all been drinking."
After a show that featured actor Tom Hanks leading the crowd in a chant of "CoCo" (Hanks coined the nickname), a surprise visit from "exit interviewer" Steve Carell and Neil Young singing Long May You Run (oh, and a dinosaur shooting beluga caviar onto a Picasso -- not real), O'Brien said a few words before introducing a band featuring Will Ferrell (with extra cowbell!) his pregnant wife, Viveca Paulin, dressed as a hippie, Beck, Ben Harper and Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top, who all played Freebird with O'Brien joining in on guitar. Some of his final comments:
- "To set the record straight, tonight I am allowed to say anything I want. And what I want to say is this: between my time at Saturday Night Live, the Late Night show, and my brief run here on The Tonight Show, I have worked with NBC for over 20 years. 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."
- "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. Here is what you've done -- 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."
Coolest sendoff ever.
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