[Illustration by ALEX FINE]
According to ?uestlove, Tom Hanks’ walkout song on the finale of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien — the Beatles’ “Lovely Rita”, in honor of Hanks’ wife Rita Wilson — cost NBC $500,000.
?UESTLOVE: yo i hate spoiling but i will have you know that walk on song we just heard was half a milli. i know cause i got the list rate at nbc…tom’s walkon music on conan is on my “restricted” list—wow a $500,000 walkon song lol. [via TWITTER]
CONAN O’BRIEN: “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, I’m telling you, amazing things will happen.”MORE
TIME: And then, as Conan said, something truly amazing did happen. Conan called onstage Will Ferrell, in bell-bottoms and a Lynyrd Skynyrd wig (and cowbell!), to lead a band including ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Ben Harper, Beck and Ferrell’s own pregnant wife—plus Max Weinberg and the crew—in a full version of “Free Bird.” And in what must be a first in talk-show-host farewells, Conan—who’s wielded an axe numerous times on his shows—played himself off the air by ripping a guitar solo, to a balls-out Southern Rock power ballad about getting out of a relationship with no future. MORE
PREVIOUSLY: Coco Goes Out With His Pimp Hand Strong
PREVIOUSLY: Conan Vs. The Barbarians