Jay Leno has filmed his last ever episode of ‘The Tonight Show’.
The TV host wrapped filming on the chat show last night after over 20 years at its helm last night (06.02.14) and fought back tears as he thanked viewers for their loyalty.
He said towards the end of the show: "Boy this is the hard part … The first year of this show I lost my mom; the second year I lost my dad. Then my brother died and after that I was pretty much out of family.
"The folks here became my family. When people say to me, ‘Hey, why don’t you go to ABC, why don’t you go to Fox?’ – [but] I didn’t know anybody over there. These are the only people I know."
The 63-year-old funny man was joined by a galaxy of stars for his last ever broadcast at the Burbank Studios in California, including Kim Kardashian and Billy Crystal, who led everyone in a comedic rendition of The Sound of Music’s ‘So Long, Farewell’ along with Jack Black, ‘The Big Bang Theory’ star Jim Parsons and chat show legend Oprah Winfrey, who warbled the line "you really raised the bar if you were me you’d buy them all a car".
Sheryl Crow came out at the end to finish the song.
During his opening monologue, Leno referenced his 22 years at the helm of the programme, saying: "Tonight is our last show for real. See I don’t need to be fired three times, I get the hint. Being together all these years, it’s kind of like graduating high school. A high school for very stupid people that have been together for 22 years … You know, 22 years, that’s a long time. Here’s how long ago it was. When I started hosting marijuana was illegal and you could smoke cigarettes anywhere you wanted; 22 years ago there was no Craigslist, serial killers had to meet their victims the old fashioned way, at a bus station at midnight; 22 years ago guys actually had to go to the news stand for porn. Can you imagine, you had to pay for it! You know the saddest part of all, OJ (Simpson) never found the real killers … When I started Justin Bieber wasn’t even born yet, that’s why we called it the good old days."
Many of the guests took to Twitter to thank the host for having them on his last ever show.
Kim tweeted: "What an amazing night! Honored to be a part of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on his last show with Sheryl Crow, Carol Burnett, Oprah, Jack Black, Chris Paul, Billy Crystal & Jim Parsons. THANK YOU. (sic0
‘Soak Up the Sun’ singer Sheryl also took to the social networking site prior to her appearance on ‘The Tonight Show’, saying: "Excited to be a part of @jayleno ‘s last #TonightShow tonite! We will miss you, Jay! (sic)"
Jimmy Fallon will take over presenting duties on ‘The Tonight Show’ from next week.
Jay Leno says goodbye to Tonight Show
