Jay Leno say goodbye to The Tonight Show last night in a final episode that was full of laughs, tears and music. Among the segments was a heartfelt speech given from his desk near the end of the episode, in which he said his time on The Tonight Show was "the greatest 22 years of my life." You can watch the video above to see Jay tear up as he talks about the crew and the fans, and then eventually introduces Garth Brooks, who performed earlier, to close out the show with a performance of his classic "Friends in Low Places." It was a great way to conclude the episode, as it left the audience in good spirits before the credits rolled.
We're getting ahead of ourselves here, however, as the episode began with Jay's final monologue, which was full of humor as he reflects on the time that's past since he started...
And then Jay brought it all full circle by having Billy Crystal on to be interviewed. The actor and comedian was one of Jay's first ever guests on The Tonight Show...
And then Billy surprised Leno with a celebrity-filled performance of The Sound of Music's "So Long, Farewell," which included appearances by Jack Black, Oprah, Carol Burnett, Kim Kardashian and others...
There were even more celebrities on hand in this "What's Next" segment, which features celebrities from Steve Carell to Mark Wahlberg and Miley Cyrus offering Jay advice on what to do next. And Bill Maher also took some extra time to record a "Welcome back to the Tonight Show!" video just in case. (This is the extended version of the segment):
Here's the first performance Garth Brooks did, which helped shift the tone of the episode leading in to Jay's desk-set goodbye...
The episode felt like a sad but fair send-off to the comedian who's spent the last two decades helping people close out their day with a smile. He won't soon be forgotten for that.
