'Tonight Show': Conan O'Brien's final show
Zap2it is here to bring you all the moments from Conan O'Brien's final "Tonight Show."Tune here at 11:30 p.m. ET, 8:30 p.m. PT for a live blog of Conan O'Brien's final time hosting "The Tonight Show."
Here we go, gang. Conan's final time on "Tonight." Do you suppose they got Bette Midler to sing "One for My Baby (and One for the Road)?" Prolly not.
11:35 p.m. -- Tom Hanks, Will Ferrell and Neil Young are all on the docket. Must've been weird to go from taping "The Tonight Show" to the Haiti telethon.
11:37 p.m. -- Conan's standing ovation finally ceases as Conan points to his watch and says "We gotta go. You don't get it. We really gotta go. Ladies and gentlemen, we have exactly one hour to steal every single item in this studio." Andy Richter: "I'm gonna push this podium home."
11:38 p.m. -- Conan can't host another show for seven months, so next week look for "The Andy Richter Show" with sidekick Conan. It's going to be on Animal Planet and Conan is in charge of Kitten Korner. Hey, we'd watch that!
11:39 p.m. -- Conan asks HBO that when they make the movie about this whole debacle, Conan wants to be played by Tilda Swinton. Andy Richter wants Val Kilmer. Heeee.
11:40 p.m. -- Conan runs down a list of possible uses for the studio when he's gone. My favorite is: Leave the studio cold and empty and leave it standing as the greatest metaphor for NBC programming.
11:43 p.m. -- "We didn't rehearse today because we didn't care. We're all been drinking."
11:48 p.m. -- Okay, the Karen from "Will & Grace" "Turn the Tub Around" commercial is TERRIFYING. Just as an aside.
11:53 p.m. -- Steve Carell from "The Office" conducts Conan's exit interview from NBC with questions about whether his experience was positive or if something influenced his decision to leave and would he consider working for NBC in the future.
11:56 p.m. -- Carell shreds Conan's ID badge. Awww.
12:01 a.m. -- Tom Hanks joins the show, drink in hand and one for Conan. Nice. Around Hanks' house they call scotch, "Daddy's little reward." I wonder what he likes?
12:02 a.m. -- It is revealed to be cream soda. Snerk. I like Glenmorangie for the more reasonably-priced stuff. I like Edradour with a rum cask finish for the fancy stuff. But Weller Antique bourbon is my favorite.
12:03 a.m. -- Tom Hanks says Conan will always be the host of "The Tonight Show" in his house, so if Conan could show up in Hanks' bedroom every night by 10:45 p.m., that would be great. Hahaha. Now that we would totally pay to watch too.
12:08 p.m. -- Hanks and Conan reminisce about when they met on "SNL." Hanks refers to Conan's trio of writers as "short guy, short guy, Irish Elvis."
12:12 a.m. -- "The internet is wrong about almost everything." Hmmm.
12:17 a.m. -- Neil Young performs "Pants on the Ground!" No, he performs "Long May You Run" and it's much better than his performance with Dave Matthews on the "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon. The telethon was great and I donated, but that doesn't mean I had to love every performance, thank you.
12:26 a.m. -- Conan gets choked up as he says, "Between my time at 'SNL,' the 'Late Night' show and my brief run on 'The Tonight Show,' I've worked with NBC for over 20 years. Yes, we have our differences right now and yes, we're going our separate ways, but this place has been my home for most of my adult life and I want to thank NBC for making it all possible ... A lot of people have been asking me about my state of mind ... walking away from 'The Tonight Show' is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. But despite this sense of loss, this should be a happy moment. Every comedian dreams of hosting 'The Tonight Show' and for seven months I got to do it. I did it my way and I do not regret anything we have done here."
12:29 a.m. -- Conan gets even more choked as he thanks his fans for the huge outpouring of support and says, "Please do not by cynical, I hate cynicism. 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. I'm telling you -- amazing things will happen."
12:31 a.m. -- Will Ferrell closes the show with "Freebird" while Conan plays the guitar. It's the Johnny Carson-Bette Midler of the 21st century and I'm so sad. Watch video of the "Freebird" send-off here.
12:35 a.m. -- I really enjoy Will Ferrell rocking the cow bell and Conan is playing a mean guitar.
12:37 a.m. -- Okay, well that's it. Sad to see you go, Conan.
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Conan failed cause all you whiners didn't tune in.
Going to miss having Conan on the Tonight Show. I actually did watch his show a lot and DVR'd it in addition to watching it live. But no more time for bickering, let's just enjoy this show.
@Anonymous
Actually, Conan didn't fail. Jay's ratings were awful when he took over the Tonight Show the first time around. Jay, however, was given time to find an audience. Conan was given 7 months. Also, Jay's lead in consisted of many popular 10pm dramas. Conan's lead in was the Jay Leno's show, which failed in an epic fasion.
This doesn't have anything to do with who was funnier. This has to do with the fact that what NBC and also what Jay Leno did to Conan and his staff was wrong. They screwed Conan over royally. I think that both Jay and Conan are both funny, but I no longer have any respect for Jay or the executives a NBC.
Coco has personality and is creative. Jay is just a stand up comic.
NBC is floundering now with worthless programming.
I don't feel sorry for any of them. They all make more in an episode than I'm likely to see in a lifetime, but ratings will continue to be bad for late night TV on NBC now.
It is an irrefutable fact that Leno beat Letterman in the ratings from the show with the Hugh Grant interview and onwards.
When Leno comes back to the Tonight Show, he better hope for some kind of scandal or 'something' similar to get high ratings because if he does, then he'll be safe (the executive(s) who originated this mess too) and this will all be looked back as a messy 'win' and it will have many 'fathers' claiming success.
But if Leno's ratings stay low (or drop drastically) after the initial bump of the first show - it will be perceived as bad blood by the viewing public for how the entire Tonight Show debacle played out.
He'll be the thrown off the air without the dignified 'ceremony' he enjoyed the first time. And, in essence, he'll find himself an 'orphan' with no great support from the industry and the executive (or executives) who spearheaded this mess will be properly identified and unemployed too.
Good luck Jay.
Hmm ... I honestly never imagined Andrea as a scotch drinker. Me personally, my favorite was my first - Highland Park, the older the better. Currently working on an 18, 25 was awesome (and it was much better in England, where it was much cheaper). Not many scotches I don't drink, though.
Ahh, surprises at every turn with me, Tony. : )
Love a gal who can enjoy her scotch (and not just drink it ... sounds like you know what you like).
Arsenio hall will replaces Conan
Oh, I do. I know I don't like the real peaty scotches and in fact, I prefer bourbon to scotch if you get right down to it.
I don't like blends. Kind of a purist. I want my stuff from Scotland or Kentucky.