Late-Night Hosts – and Homer Simpson – Pay Tribute to Conan O’Brien (Videos)
Conan O’Brien took his final late-night bow on TBS last night. His time slot competition — and Homer Simpson — paid tribute to the outgoing “Conan” host.
Stephen Colbert dedicated an entire segment to his “dear friend.” We put that phrase in quotes because that’s how the “Late Show” host qualified their relationship, and not because we don’t buy the sincerity of its use.
Watch Colbert’s tribute to Conan via the video above.
O’Brien wrote for “The Simpsons” in the early ’90s after writing on “SNL.” He left “The Simpsons” when Lorne Michael pitched him to take “Late Night” over from David Letterman.
The long-running Fox animated comedy put together the below “exit interview” for O’Brien’s final TBS episode.
Seth Meyers, the current host of NBC’s “Late Night,” signed off with a salute to O’Brien, though that moment didn’t make YouTube.
“Hey everyone, earlier tonight over on TBS, Conan O’Brien had the final episode of his talk show,” Meyers said. “We are huge fans of Conan. Conan was the first person that showed ‘Late Night’ was something that could continue with different guests after he did it post-David Letterman. We are huge beneficiaries of him. We wish him the best of luck, Andy the best of luck, everybody over on their crew the best of luck and we want to thank him for everything he’s done over the years as one of the greatest talk show hosts you could ever hope to see.”
Jimmy Kimmel shared some sweet words on Twitter. “Tonight, two men I respect tremendously close a chapter of their brilliant careers,” he wrote. “Conan made doing his job the hard way look easy. He & Andy are among the funniest of the many funny people I’ve met. Congratulations to you & your co-workers on a remarkable achievement.”
Tonight, two men I respect tremendously close a chapter of their brilliant careers. Conan made doing his job the hard way look easy. He & Andy are among the funniest of the many funny people I’ve met. Congratulations to you & your co-workers on a remarkable achievement.
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) June 24, 2021
Like Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon leaned on Twitter to pay his respects on “The Tonight Show.”
Congratulations @ConanOBrien. One of the funniest brains in comedy. Without you, I wouldn’t have a job. Thank you for everything. I’ve always said – you can’t spell HBO without at least one of the letters from CONAN. pic.twitter.com/dVSPHfTEuw
— jimmy fallon (@jimmyfallon) June 25, 2021
Readers can watch Conan O’Brien’s farewell to his nightly TBS show here.
“My advice to anyone watching right now — and it’s not easy to do, it is not easy to do, it’s not easy to do. But try– try and do what you love with people you love,” a semi-emotional O’Brien signed off. “And if you can manage that, it’s the definition of heaven on Earth. I swear to God, it really is.”
He wrapped up his legendary run with a simple “goodnight” and “thank you very much!” One more hug with Richter and the 11-year “Conan” run was over.
Conan may be leaving cable, but he’ll be back via streaming soon with a weekly HBO Max series.