Editor's Note: Tim Farley, an Atlanta software engineer and creator of Whatstheharm.net, requested tickets for a "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" show last month. Much to his surprise, he received two tickets for the February 20 program, O'Brien's very last "Late Night," as the host is moving to the "Tonight" show in a few months. Here is Tim's report.
Warning: The following is light on spoilers, but there are a couple. – Todd Leopold, CNN.com Entertainment Producer
This past January 20 was a great day for many people, but I had an extra reason to celebrate. On that day I received an unusual e-mail from NBC. There had been a special lottery announced to obtain tickets to the final tapings of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." I had sent in a single request to enter my name. I was rewarded with a pair of tickets to tonight's broadcast, his final show in New York.
I made arrangements to fly from Atlanta to New York with my brother. As long-time fans of the program, we were not going to miss it. Others were equally enthusiastic. Hundreds waited on line in the frigid February New York weather for a mere chance at a standby ticket. We talked to several who had actually camped overnight - one of whom got in line so early he had to figure out how he'd watch THURSDAY night's show. (He finally watched on his laptop, tapping into a wi-fi connection.)
Some 31 standby tickets were issued.
Taping began at 5:30 p.m. Eastern. We met others in the audience who had traveled from Minneapolis, Alaska and Canada to see the broadcast. It was a fantastic ending sure to please fans of the show. The White Stripes performed, but the other guests on the program were left as a last-minute surprise. One recognizable gentleman stripped to lime-green short shorts and danced to some music, to Conan's horror. (Those of you who watch the show regularly will know who this is already.)
One thing you won't see on air was the crowd of almost a dozen friends of the show, including current and former writers, gathered by the stage door to watch the taping from up close. This included former head writer Robert Smigel, who was snapping photos of the proceedings with a digital camera.
Conan continued his trend (started on Monday) of demolishing his set and handing out hunks to the audience. Some of the pieces were so large they had to be further chopped up with an axe. And he ended the program with an off-the-cuff and teary "thank you" to everyone who had helped him.
It was all well worth the price of admission (to reference an old Johnny Carson joke) - and well worth the plane ticket, too.
–Tim Farley