Conan's last NBC hurrah...."To Be Continued"

The crowd for Friday's last taping of "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" went absolutely screaming bonkers — and that was after a clip reel. Probably that was because the reel (taken from highlights of Conan's seven whole months on "Tonight") ended with the words, "To Be Continued."

Then in the next segment, Steve Carell conducted an "exit interview" with the soon-to-be NBC employee, Conan O'Brien. (Question: "Would you consider working at NBC in the future?").

Then in the next two segments, Tom Hanks was Tom Hanks. Apparently he has supplanted Bill Murray as our national master of ceremonies for all transitional talk show events.

Then Neil Young sang, inevitably, "Long May You Run."

Then Conan gave a heartfelt final address.

"Before we end this rodeo, a few things need to be said. There has been a lot of speculation in the press about what I legally can and can't say about NBC. 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 twenty 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.

"Walking away from The Tonight Show is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Making this choice has been enormously difficult. This is the best job in the world, I absolutely love doing it, and I have the best staff and crew in the history of the medium. But despite this sense of loss, I really feel this should be a happy moment. Every comedian dreams of hosting The Tonight Show and, for seven months, I got to. I did it my way, with people I love, and I do not regret a second. I've had more good fortune than anyone I know and if our next gig is doing a show in a 7-11 parking lot, we'll find a way to make it fun.

"And finally, I have to say something to our fans. 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, 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.

"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.
As proof, let's make an amazing thing happen right now."

And with that, Conan strapped on a guitar and joined Will Farrell, in some kind of Lynryd Skynyrd-Allman Brothers getup, in a rousing rendition of "Free Bird."

And at the end we were all screaming: MORE COWBELL.

The show did not go overtime by seven minutes, as it did when David Letterman closed out his run at NBC and walked across Manhattan to CBS in 1993. (On the other hand, he had Bruce Springsteen doing a jamming version of "Glory Days." Conan has Bruce's drummer every single night.)

On the internets, Team Leno member Kevin Smith continued whining that Jay had been "forced out" in 2004, despite readily available video evidence to the contrary, and ESPN acquired taste Bill Simmons argued implausibly that Conan had "damaged his brand" and screeched something about his buddy Jimmy Kimmel not getting enough credit for stuff.

Oh, and immediately after Conan's show ended, in a cold open, Jimmy Fallon started his "Late Night" show by strolling across the hall to Studio 6A in New York — Conan's old stomping grounds — while saying some kind things about the previous occupant. Then he went inside and joined The Roots in paying musical tribute to the master ... before Dr. Oz chased them out (his show's taped there now).