<p>"bitterness and feelings of betrayal. "</p>
<p>The essence of show biz.</p>
<p>*And finally, I have to say something to our fans. The massive outpouring of support and passion from so many people has been overwhelming. The rallies, the signs, all the goofy, outrageous creativity on the Internet, and the fact that people have traveled long distances and camped out all night in the pouring rain to be in our audience, made a sad situation joyous and inspirational.</p>
<p>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 of you is one thing: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism — 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. As proof, let’s make an amazing thing happen right now.*</p>
<p>Conan is class act. No words needed.</p>
<p>I am just interested to see what happens if Conan goes to Fox. It would be the late-night irony of the decade if Conan takes off and crushes Leno and Letterman in the ratings. I think he would have more free reign at Fox and truly make the show his. I liked him better on the 12:35 show because he wasn’t conforming to the mold that Jay left behind. A fresh start would do him good IMHO.</p>
<p>I cried at that part.</p>
<p>If you watch his show regularly, you get a sense of appreciation for who he is as a person. He’s goofy and occasionally crass, he’s self-deprecating and awkward (I mean, c’mon, he’s a seven-foot leprechaun who drives a '92 Ford Taurus), but he is a boundlessly optimistic person who genuinely cares about other people. He’s had so much new music on his show and has brought so many tiny bands and struggling artists to light (as Neil Young said tonight, “Thank you for everything you’ve done for new music”), and he’s endlessly grateful to his guests. Late-night television will be a gloomier, more mean-spirited, more bitter place without him these next seven months.</p>
<p>I haven’t ever really been a fan of either Leno’s or Conan’s shows. </p>
<p>But, I think after seeing how Conan has handled this, with good natured charm and grace, I would probably tune into the next show he was hosting.</p>
<p>I agree that his closing remarks were remarkable. He was so well-spoken and open and genuine, especially his remark about not being cynical. (And post 82 left out part of that: he said “especially you young people out there.”)</p>
<p>This is a touching thought:
“If you work really hard, and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”</p>
<p>Conan handled the ending of his run in a way I always recommend to my H and D:
The high road is always the right road.</p>
<p>It could happen that he will overtake Leno and Letterman. If he goes to Fox with a show at 11, I would watch that (if I was awake). It would be a good alternative to the depressing gloom-and-doom local news.</p>
<p>I just watched the last show on the internet. My 16 year old watched it with me. I was thinking, wow, what a great message (about cynicism) to give to a kid about how to handle these things. May she take it to heart! A message that is different than so much that is part of the popular culture these days. I am a bigger fan now than I was before, definitely.</p>
<p>Exactly, mstee. I really don’t care for a lot of Conan’s “act” with the strange jumping around and all, but those ending remarks showed his true character, and I’m with you, I’ll look into what he does next.</p>
<p>He modeled excellent values with his words, thanking NBC for all the years he was their employee and for the opportunity to host the Tonight show, thanking his staff gracefully and really sharing the accolades with them as well. He turned what could have been a pity party or a nasty-fest into a celebration, also modeling great behavior for his young fans (and all of us). Another one of my quotes to live by:
“Take those negatives and turn them into positives.”
The lemons into lemonade approach.</p>
<p>I’ll have to find the clip and watch it. I’m not a Conan fan - I just don’t find most of what he does to be funny. I was happy to hear that ABC is not interested in bringing him on but he probably wouldn’t be interested in the time slot after Nightline anyway.</p>