Conan says goodbye to late night.
After nearly 30 years and a lot of hilariously bizarre moments, Conan O’Brien said goodbye to late night on Thursday night.
“Conan,” O’Brien’s longrunning TBS show, concluded on Thursday, bringing an end to a late night TV era.
The final “Conan” opened with an animated O’Brien doing an exit interview with Homer Simpson. O’Brien was a former writer on “The Simpsons,” and helped write some of the show’s most popular episodes.
“Homer, you work in H.R.?” the animated O’Brien asked.
“Well, over the years I’ve had hundreds of jobs,” Homer responded.
The exit interview between the two ended with O’Brien telling Homer that he meant the world to him.
“You mean the world to me, Conrad,” Homer responded.
O’Brien was tasked with replacing David Letterman on NBC’s “Late Night” in the early ’90s. After a bumpy start, he captured the love of a loyal audience while making a unique name for himself thanks to a mix of solid interviewing and silly humor.
After “Late Night,” O’Brien had a brief stint as the host of “The Tonight Show” before being replaced by the host he took over for, Jay Leno. Then he ended up on TBS, where he’s branched out to do travel specials.
As much as Thursday is an end, it’s also a beginning for O’Brien. He will host a new weekly variety series for HBOMax.
Will Ferrell, who was also a guest on O’Brien’s other final shows, Zoomed in to say goodbye to his friend.
“If you don’t mind, can I pre-tape a few goodbyes, and you can just use them when your next several shows flame out?” Ferrell said to laughs.
There was also an interview with his last guest, Jack Black. Black and O’Brien told a story that the show planned to do a big musical number for Conan’s goodbye in which Black would pretend to get injured. However, Black actually got hurt when he sprained his ankle.
“It felt fitting for our show,” O’Brien said. “When all of these legends go off the air, everything is meticulous. Of course, we would think of a bit with Jack where Jack pretends to get hurt and when shooting it, Jack gets hurt.”