“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.”

- Conan O’Brien, The Tonight Show, Friday 1/22/10

Wow!  I just watched Conan O’Brien finish his last Tonight Show on NBC.  I was touched by his parting words (which he then followed by playing the electric guitar while Will Farrell in a blond Lynyrd Skynyrd wig sang ‘Freebyrd’ ).  Yesterday, I thought some of his skits, where he claimed he was ‘spending huge sums of NBC money’, were for real.  The joke was on me!

Conan went out with class.  He took the high road without giving much of his bargaining power away.  On one hand, I don’t feel sorry for him – anyone receiving the amount of money, fame and notoriety he does shouldn’t be pitied.  In addition, all of us know he will rise from the ashes somewhere and, NBC will most likely miss him (and maybe even regret his leaving).

What most touched me (more…)