Detail of Conan O'Brien from the 'I'm With CoCo' rally poster.

Late-night legend Conan O’Brien’s seven-month stint as the host of NBC’s the Tonight Show has come to an end, with the lanky redhead bowing out with class on Friday night. Acknowledging that it was “every comedian’s dream” to sit behind the desk once occupied by Johnny Carson, O’Brien conceded that leaving the show was the “hardest decision I’ve ever made”.

O’Brien, despite providing NBC with 20 years of service – including 16 years as host of Late Night – found himself the victim of sluggish ratings and the unflushable turdishness of late night overlord Jay Leno. In 2004, with Leno hosting the flagship Tonight Show, it was agreed that O’Brien would take over the 11.30pm slot in 2009. O’Brien did so in June, but Leno shocked the television world by returning to NBC in September at 10.00pm – prime time in the States – with The Jay Leno Show, an anodyne incarnation of his Tonight Show.

Leno’s program received the ratings it deserved, until NBC’s affiliates called time on the experiment, citing the poor lead-in the show was providing to their 11pm local news bulletins. O’Brien, who followed at 11.30pm, never stood, and was never really given a chance. Leno will return to the Tonight Show in March, following the conclusion of the Winter Olympics.

NBC’s original plan was to move The Jay Leno Show back to 11.30pm, and move O’Brien’s Tonight Show to 12.05am. Leno, while discussing the furore on his program last week, claimed he was told by NBC executives that O’Brien was happy with the move, apparently prompting Leno to agree to the plan. O’Brien, however, was fuming.

In a strongly worded statement, O’Brien announced that he wouldn’t go quietly. He said, “for 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12.05am simply isn’t the Tonight Show.”

If it was a bluff, NBC didn’t call it. They wanted Leno back at 11.30. And so began arguably the greatest middle-finger salute in the history of television, as O’Brien let rip on his soon-to-be former employer, all in its own broadcast space.

Highlights included:

“Everybody now wants to know what my plans are… all I can say is I plan to continue putting on a great show night after night, while stealing as many office supplies as humanly possible. I’m gonna rob this place blind.”

“Welcome to NBC where our slogan is ‘no longer just screwing up prime-time’.”

“When I was a little boy, I remember watching the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and thinking, one day I’m gonna host that show for seven months.”

“NBC has promised to have this whole late night situation sorted out before the Winter Olympics start. And trust me, when NBC promise something, you can take that to the bank. They’re very good people.”

“It’s been widely reported that I can’t say anything negative about NBC. Luckily folks, they’re not saying that I can’t sing anything negative about the network. [SINGS]: Morons, incompetent morons, these people are morons, la-dee-dee-dee…”

For his final show, which aired on Friday night in the States, O’Brien took a different, entirely classy tack. In his farewell speech, he noted that he was indeed allowed to say whatever he liked about NBC, and proceeded to thank them for employing him for 20 years. He choked up when he thanked his legion of supporters who had spent days rallying outside NBC’s studios in the pouring rain. And finally, he uttered a touching and memorable parting phrase:

“Every comedian dreams of hosting the Tonight Show and – for seven months – I got to. I did it my way, with people I love, and I do not regret a second … All I ask is one thing, and I’m asking this particularly of young people that watch: Please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism, for the record it’s my least favorite quality. 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.”

Then, in fitting with his aim to simply ‘have fun on television’ in his last week at NBC, O’Brien picked up his guitar and joined a Will Ferrell-fronted supergroup – including Beck, Ben Harper, Michael Cera and Billy Gibbons – for a rousing rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Free Bird’.

So, the battle endeth and Leno regains his 11.30pm slot. As part of his estimated $45 million severance package, O’Brien isn’t allowed to host a television program until September. The disarmament, we feel, will only be temporary. Long live CoCo!

Here’s the final episode of O’Brien’s Tonight Show. Apologies for the jerky images, but you know what those big television companies are like with their rebroadcasting rights … this is the best we could get!