Cleveland, Curveballs and Common Sense Putting 2 and 2 together since 1987.

‘Cause I’m as free as a bird now…

Last night, I tuned in to The Tonight Show for Conan O’Brien’s final show. His last two weeks have been well-documented, well-sympathized and well-protested, so for the most part I’m going to focus on last night’s show.

• As usual (especially lately), Conan’s monologue was brilliant. He’s at his best when he’s berating himself, and while a lot of his jokes have come at NBC’s expense, it’s seemed that he’s saved the best stuff for himself, like joking about his unemployment (which is sure to be as brief as legally allowed) and suggestions for his next job.
• I loved the montage, set to “Surrender” by Cheap Trick, exactly like his cold open when he started hosting The Tonight Show. It was fun to watch and reminisce and gave the impression of a guy who loved his job.
• Conan’s last couple weeks were marked with some marquee guests, and Tom Hanks was no different. My favorite moment was when Hanks offered Conan a drink, and after taking a sip, Conan said, “This is creme soda. I think it’s diet creme soda.”
• Conan’s musical guest was Neil Young. I’m not familiar with much of his library, but his song choice was appropriate and reminded me heavily of Jay Leno’s last tonight show, when James Taylor played “Sweet Baby James”.
• Probably my favorite part of the whole episode was the thank you speech, particularly these lines:
  

  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 is one thing, and I’m asking this particularly of young people: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism, for the record, 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.

  The rest of his speech was a classy thank you and farewell, but this part seemed to say he wasn’t intending on becoming another David Letterman, who’s been bitter ever since being denied The Tonight Show years and years ago. For me, I couldn’t agree more with his statement.

• The final number was Will Ferrell and other musical guests covering “Free Bird” (with Ferrell in costume) and Conan rocking the guitar solo. A heartfelt, hilarious, epic ending to a show that was too short.

Wherever and whenever Conan decides to come back on television, I’ll be tuning in. But that’s not to say I’ll boycott NBC, Jay Leno or others. As Conan himself seemed to understand, sometimes bad things happen, and when they do, it’s best to count your blessings and make the best of a good situation.

In closing, here’s one of my favorite Tonight Show bits: