Conan O'Brien Signs Off from TBS Talk Show with Poignant Message - Watch His Farewell Video!

The series finale of Conan O’Brien‘s TBS series Conan just aired and he signed off with a poignant message for his viewers.

The final guest to wrap up Conan‘s 11-year run on the network was Jack Black, who showed up with a boot on his foot because of a sprained ankle. Turns out, he injured himself while rehearsing a song and dance number that was planned for the finale.

“Today I went and just to be safe I got an MRI and they were like, ‘it’s a real sprain, you got some damage there. You’re gonna have to take it easy, no dancing, no running, no physical craziness for a while,’” Jack said. “I was so bummed because I wanted to be the best guest of all time for your final episode and instead I am literally the lamest!”

Conan ended the episode by giving thanks to some special people and he sent a message to fans.

Click inside to watch the farewell and read the speech…

Keep reading to check out the speech and video…

First of all, I’m the beneficiary of literally hundreds and hundreds of really talented, amazing people. And then I’m just the nose cone of the rocket. And there’s so many people to thank. Eleven years ago, I made the decision to come to TBS. At the time, people really surprised that I did that. They didn’t think that would be the move. I did it for one reason: a guy named Steve Koonin came to me, and he’s one of the loveliest people I’ve ever met in show business. He’s what the Irish call a mensch. (We take words that we like!) Anyway, he came to me and he said, ‘I will protect you, I will let you and your people do whatever you want. I’ll never interfere and we’ll support you 100%.’ They did that. They did that in every single way. They never went back on their word. They were extraordinary. And lovely.

The people at TBS were nothing short of remarkable. None of this would have happened. I’d have gone away a long time ago if it weren’t for them. So Steve Koonin, I thank you. David Levy, Kevin Reilly, Dave Wolkis, Sandra Dewey, Brett Weitz, Jen Cohen. Love you. Thank you all so much for making this happen. I want to thank my squad. They’ve been with me forever: Rick Rosen and Gavin Polone, they are the best at what they do and they take really good care of me.

I’ve got to bring up the guy who I met back in 1993. I was paired with him to try this crazy thing. No one thought it would work. And he’s been my executive producer since then. And we are brothers from different mothers. Our executive producer, our hefe, Jeff Ross.

Jack Black brought up something really important. In another era. a sidekick was someone who sat next to the host and laughed along and just sort of supported them. And they were great in their way, they all had their special skills. And when I found Andy Richter, he is one of the funniest people that I ever met. And I put him next to me and I never said to Andy, ‘give me room, you can’t get the laugh. I’ve got to get the laugh.’ The rule was always, if you think of the funniest thing, just say it and that’ll get us out and he did it 100,000 times. He’s a brilliant man. And I love him forever. Andy Richter.

I started as a comedy writer, so I always took it as a point of pride. I always wanted to have the very best comedy writers and I did. Starting in 1993 until now. I cannot express how brilliant these people are. And I don’t often know that writers are appreciated as much as they should be. I know that there are awards for them, but they’re behind the scenes. You have no idea the courage of many of my writers. The ingenuity, the beauty of their minds, how they work, and they’re also really good people. I’ve been blessed with the best writing in television, in my opinion for 28 years.

I’ve got a call out two in particular right now because they’re just amazing people who still have kept the show going all through the TBS years and that is Mr. Michael Sweeney. He’s amazing. And he’s always in the trenches, and he goes with me on all the travel shows, and we’ve been we’ve been having fights all over the world, it’s just absolutely absurd and half the time he’s wearing his pajamas. Someone else, Mr. Matt O’Brien, who I have to point out, he’s no relation to me at all. He’s just a brilliant writer in his own right. But I always tell people that he’s my uncle’s son, and we had to hire him. And so many interns think it’s true. And they don’t give him the respect he’s due and I think it’s the funniest thing in the world.

There’s a guy on our show who never gets any recognition. I think he started with me way back in the early 90s as an intern, and he is the guy who travels the world with me. He’s the guy that makes things happen. When people try and shut us down and try and stop a shoot, he does some crazy thing that’s illegal. He gets shot in the leg but doesn’t say anything about it till later. He is the truest warrior I’ve ever met Jason Chillemi. A brilliant woman who is our line producer and makes everything happen. If she left us tomorrow, I would leave show business. And Jeff would leave. She just makes everything work. She’s genius. Sarah Federowicz.

This is very hard for young people to understand. But in 1993 when I was chosen to replace David Letterman, people thought it was a batshit crazy, stupid idea. They didn’t know me the way you do. I had no experience. I really shouldn’t have had the job. One guy changed my life. Lorne Michaels at ‘Saturday Night Live’ said, ‘I think that guy’ and NBC said, ‘the writer with the weird hair?’ And he was like, ‘trust me, he’s got something.” And Lorne put his credibility on the line. I remember reading an article that said Lorne Michaels has taken like the biggest gamble of his career with this complete unknown for such a big job. Lorne saw something in me. I’d like to think he was right. And he changed my life and I owe him forever. He’s a great man.

Quick shout out to Lisa Kudrow who I met right outside these doors in a little improv actors space. And in 1985, I immediately sized her up as one of the coolest, most talented people I’d ever meet. And a lovely person. When I started to go through the possibility that I might get this job, which was I must repeat a completely insane idea. And nobody except Lorne thought it could work. Lisa Kudrow had more faith in me than I did. And she said, ‘You’ve got to do it, you have to do it. You’re like the only one that can do it.’ I thought she was nuts. But you wouldn’t know me if it wasn’t for Lisa Kudrow.

And now just close with this one thought I have devoted all of my adult life, all of it, to pursuing this strange phantom intersection between smart and stupid. And there’s a lot of people that believe the two cannot coexist. But God, I will tell you, it is something that I believe religiously. I think when smart and stupid come together, it’s very difficult. But if you can make it happen, I think it’s the most beautiful thing in the world. I am so grateful to all my staff and the fans in this country and around the world who have joined me in this really crazy and seemingly pointless pursuit to do things that are kind of stupid, but have something smart in there somewhere. And then there’s a little tiny sort of flicker of what is a kind of a magic. I think that’s what I believe. So my advice to anyone watching right now, and it’s not easy to do, but try. Try and do what you love with people you love. And if you can manage that it’s the definition of heaven on earth. I swear to God, it really is. So good night. Thank you very much.