Conan's Tonight Show Finale Was An "Awesome" Party
Jan. 22 2010, Published 6:22 a.m. ET
Conan O'Brien did his Tonight Show swan song on Friday and despite the undercurrent of sadness over his departure from the show and NBC, the mood in the studio was overwhelmingly festive.
"It was awesome in there!" audience member Laurie Wolf from Austin, TX, told RadarOnline.com. "He got choked up when he thanked the crew and he thanked NBC for the 20 years and said don't be cynical, he hates cynisism."
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Benevolent as he said goodbye, the host even told the guests they could take everything from the studio.
Will Ferrell, who was Conan's first guest when he took over for Jay Leno, stopped by to bid the host farewell as did Steve Carell, Beck and Neil Young.
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Young performed Long May You Run that Wolf said had an effect on O'Brien. "It was a great song, perfect for the moment. Conan was sad, you could see he got choked up a little."
Ferrell, as one of the guys from ZZ Top played in the band, sang Free Bird which got everybody on their feet.
Carell got the the heart of the matter, conducting a fake interview with Conan. Audience member Mellisa Perry from Texas said the actor asked Conan if he would work for NBC again and whether his experience was positive, very positive or extremely positive.
Conan said it was just positive and as for whether he would return to NBC, he responded that he "couldn't answer right now."
O'Brien added that while he cannot host a show for 7 months, he would be his right-hand man Andy Richter's sidekick.