Conan O’Brien’s Farewell to Late Night: The 6 Best Moments With Will Ferrell, Jack Black and… Homer Simpson?

THE COLD OPEN

Before he hosted NBC’s Late Night, O’Brien was a writer on Fox’s The Simpsons. And at the start of Thursday’s broadcast, the former scribe was reunited with none other than Homer Simpson himself. The animated bit saw Simpson conduct a TBS exit interview, which got fully underway once Simpson realized that O’Brien was a talk show host and not one of the Impractical Jokers.

During their back-and-forth, O’Brien called attention to Homer’s many careers over the past three decades. “At one point, I was a monorail director,” Simpson said, alluding to the classic Simpsons episode “Marge vs. the Monorail,” which was written by O’Brien. “What a stupid idea that was!”

During his monologue, O’Brien took a moment to thank everyone over at The Simpsons — including executive producers Al Jean, James L. Brooks and Matt Groening — for going through all the trouble to create something for his final show.

THE FINAL MONOLOGUE

“It’s hard to believe… that it’s our final show on TBS,” O’Brien began, to which sidekick Andy Richter responded with a pitch-perfect “What?!?”

“I’ve done over 4,000 hours of television in my life, and every night I always said, ‘Tonight, we have a really great show.’ And I have to tell you, I was often lying,” O’Brien said. “But tonight… Tonight we really do have a great show. We really do. And if we don’t, what’re you going to do about it? I’ll be long gone!”

WILL FERRELL'S 'EXHAUSTING' TRADITION

Surprise guest Will Ferrell appeared via satellite from Boston, where he’s allegedly filming a new Batman movie — “and guess what? In this version, Batman does oral!” the comedian exclaimed.

Having appeared on the final episodes of O’Brien’s Late Night and The Tonight Show, it was only appropriate that Ferrell appear on his final TBS show. But the tradition, he said, was just “f—king exhausting.” So Ferrell went ahead and pre-taped a series of goodbyes to use “whenever your next several shows flame out.”

What followed were several farewells, including one for O’Brien’s forthcoming HBO Max variety show; a late-night talk show for Al Jazeera; an MTV3 reality show called Videos of People Dry-Humping in Trucks; a Delta in-flight talk show called Wheels Up With Conan O’Brien (available only on select flights from Atlanta to Tampa); a string of YouTube boxing videos; and a reality competition show entitled Celebrity Room Temperature Oyster Eating Contest (which is poised to be cancelled after Ken Jeong drowns in a river of diarrhea).

INJURED JACK BLACK DOES IT 'CONAN'S WAY'

O’Brien’s very last guest came out with a cane, having sprained his ankle while pre-taping a grandiose finale segment on Wednesday afternoon.

“We wanted it to be extra special,” Black explained. “So we came up with this big musical number that was going to involve a lot of physicality, and I was going to fake an injury… The paramedics were going to come in and take me out on a gurney, into the ambulance… and I was going to run back [and perform anyway].”

Ironically, Black rolled his angle as he ran back into the theater, which forced them to put the kibosh on the whole bit. But that didn’t stop the School of Rock actor from serenading O’Brien with a retooled, rock-and-roll rendition of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” aptly titled “Conan‘s Way.”

ANDY RICHTER GETS HIS DUE

O’Brien took a moment during his farewell to pay tribute to his right-hand man, who has been with him on all three shows.

“In another era, a sidekick was someone who sat next to the host and laughed along, and just sort of supported them. They were great in their own way and all had their special skills,” O’Brien explained. “When I found Andy Richter, he was one of the funniest people that I ever met. Then I put him next to me, and I never said to Andy, ‘You can’t get the laugh. I have to get the laugh.’ The rule was always, ‘If you think of the funniest thing, just say it,’ and he did it a thousand times. He’s a brilliant man and I love him forever.”

As the longtime duo embraced, the studio audience chanted Richter’s name.

A FOND FAREWELL... FOR NOW

O’Brien thanked the fine folks at TBS for bringing him over following the Tonight Show debacle of 2010, followed by his supportive staff and family. He also gave a special shout-out to two of his earliest supporters: Saturday Night Live boss Lorne Michaels, who convinced NBC that he was the guy to replace David Letterman; and ex-girlfriend Lisa Kudrow, who “had more faith in me than I did” and encouraged him to take over Late Night in 1993.

What followed were O’Brien’s closing remarks, which read as follows:

“I have devoted all of my adult life — all of it — to pursuing this strange, phantom intersection between smart and stupid. There are a lot of people that believe the two cannot coexist — but God, I will tell you, it is something I believe religiously. When smart and stupid come together — it’s very difficult, but when you can make it happen — I think it’s the most beautiful thing in the world.

I am so grateful to all my staff and all my fans, in this country and around the world, who have joined me in this crazy, and really, seemingly pointless pursuit, to do things that are kind of stupid but have something smart in them somewhere. And then there’s a flicker… a kind of a magic. That’s what I believe. So my advice to anyone watching right now — and it’s not easy to do: Try and do what you love, with people you love. And if you can manage that, it’s the definition of heaven on Earth. I swear to God, it really is.”

All told, O’Brien has hosted 4,369 episodes across NBC’s Late Night, The Tonight Show and TBS’ Conan. He will continue to host his signature Conan Without Borders travel specials for TBS, and launch a new, weekly variety series for HBO Max in 2022.

What did you think of O’Brien’s TBS farewell? Grade it via the above poll, then drop a comment with your full review.