10:35 p.m.: Conan O’Brien enters to raucous applause and can’t even kick off the show due to an extended cheer. He can sense that the clock is ticking. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he announces, “we have one hour to steal every single last item in this studio.” After only seven months of running The Tonight Show, this will be Conan’s last bow (on NBC, at least). Tim McGovern, the Communication senior who caught Conan’s attention by deeming today “Conan O’Brien Day” at Northwestern, is feeling good. “I am looking forward to the surprises,” he says. Conan, meanwhile is playing things by ear. “We didn’t rehearse today, we didn’t care,” he says. “We’ve been drinking all day.”
Conan’s seven month highlight reel set up great feelings amongst the audience. In such a short time, Conan has established a great late-night legacy — or at least continued his previous one. But old memories made way for new surprises when Steve Carell entered as an NBC employee, firing Conan a la Up in the Air. Soon to follow was Tom Hanks — founder of the name “Coco” — who sashayed onto the stage with two glasses of scotch. Even with all the fanfare for the final show, Conan and Hanks spent plenty of time representing the charity Hope for Haiti.
Choked up, Conan admitted that he was able to say anything he wanted to about NBC. His choice of words: “I’ve worked with NBC for over 20 years. Yes, we have our differences, but this has been my home for most of my adult life, and I want to thank NBC for making it all possible. Every comedian wants to host the Tonight Show, and here I did it for seven months.”
And finally, out came a few good friends lead by Will Ferrell. The band played a epic rendition of “Freebird” with Beck, Billy Gibbons, Ben Harper and Conan himself ripping up the solo. Once Ferrell brought out his cowbell, that was the end of Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show. Glasses clinked in the room as students toasted: “Here’s to Conan’s future new show on FOX.”