NEW YORK — On his final “Tonight” show, Conan O’Brien said walking away instead of accepting a demotion is the hardest thing he has ever had to do.
Despite the rancor that led to his $45 million buyout, the red-haired comic urged fans not to be cynical and said their support made a sad situation “joyous and inspirational.”
He thanked his viewers and even thanked NBC for more than 20 years of employment — but not before getting in a few final jabs during his monologue.
O’Brien will be replaced March 1 by the man he replaced seven months ago — Jay Leno. In the interim, reruns will fill the slot, followed by Winter Olympics programming next month.
Faced with the flop of its prime-time Leno experiment, NBC sought to move him back to 10:35 p.m. MST and asked O’Brien to move “The Tonight Show” a half-hour later. O’Brien refused, opening negotiations that ended Thursday and triggering a remarkable period of late-night comics taking brutal shots at NBC and at one another.
Despite his sense of loss, O’Brien told fans Friday that “I really feel this should be a happy moment.”
“Every comedian dreams of hosting ‘The Tonight Show’ and, for seven months, I got to,” he said. “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-Eleven parking lot, we’ll find a way to make it fun.”
Some of O’Brien’s outspoken fans lined up in heavy rain early Friday at the studio to try to score tickets to the final broadcast. Tom Hanks, Will Ferrell and Neil Young joined O’Brien for his final show.
His future is uncertain. Fox has expressed interest in having him do a late-night show, but the network is checking with its affiliates to see whether they would support it.
Under his exit deal, O’Brien is free to start another show after Sept. 1. He is not allowed to give interviews or make other TV appearances for three months.
During his monologue, O’Brien tossed around a few ideas about what NBC might do with the studio it constructed for him when he moved to California from New York in the middle of last year.
One suggestion: “Leave the studio cold and empty and rename it ‘the world’s largest metaphor for NBC programming.’ “
