Thoughts on Conan's Last Show

I watched the debut of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien back in June.

This is what I wrote at the time:

But he held the fort at 12:30 for 15 plus years. I'm sure he'll have similar success at 11:30.

So what do I know?

Tonight, I watched its finale.

I did not watch any episodes in between.

Although we'll always have Sarah Palin and William Shatner.

Tonight's finale included an "exit interview" and who better to give than Steve Carell who was in Michael Scott mode from The Office. Tom Hanks dropped by and Neil Young sang "Long May You Run."

A $45 million severance package aside, Conan is leaving NBC with a heavy heart ending an association that has lasted more than two decades. But he left things on a positive note. Will Farrell (who was his first guest on June 1st) was dressed up in full Lynyrd Skynyrd regalia and sang a rendition of "Free Bird"with Conan on lead guitar. I'm not a big Farrell fan but it did hit all the right notes.

So where does he go from here?

There's FOX but they've not shown much enthusiasm for Conan. Maybe Conan doesn't go the late night talk show route. He was a writer before he became an onstage performer. Perhaps he creates a sitcom or brings back the weekly variety show. As always we'll see.