Jay Leno has said goodbye to The Tonight Show before, but not like on Thursday. The comedian became tearful and choked up on his show as he concluded what he called the "greatest 22 years of my life".
"I am the luckiest guy in the world," said an emotional Leno, stepping down for the second and presumably last time as host of the venerable US late-night program. "This is tricky."
Jimmy Fallon takes over Tonight in New York on February 17.
Leno shared that he'd lost his mother the first year he became Tonight's host, his dad the second year, and then his brother.
"And after that I was pretty much out of family," he said. "The folks here (at Tonight) became my family."
It was a tender finish to a farewell show that was mostly aiming for laughs, with traditional monologue jokes, clips from old shows and a wild assortment of celebrities helping to usher Leno out the door.
Leno's first departure came in 2009, when he was briefly replaced by Conan O'Brien but reclaimed the show after a messy transition and O'Brien's lacklustre ratings.
In 2009, he was moving to a prime-time show on NBC; this time he's out the door.
Looking sharp in a black suit and bright blue tie, Leno was greeted by an ovation from the VIP audience. The typically self-contained comic betrayed a bit of nervousness, stumbling over a few lines in his monologue.
He didn't trip over his opening line, though - a final dig at his employer.
"You're very kind," he told the audience. "I don't like goodbyes. NBC does."
Leno brought his show full circle with Billy Crystal, who was his first guest in May 1992 and his last guest on Thursday. Crystal played ringmaster at one point, calling on Oprah Winfrey, Jack Black, Kim Kardashian, Carol Burnett and others for a musical tribute to Leno with a Sound of Music song parody.
"So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye," Black sang.
"If Fallon tanks you'll be back here next year."
The Big Bang Theory star Jim Parson's contribution was: "We've watched you when we're weary.
"Your great success is called the big chin theory."
US President Barack Obama, like other politicians a favourite target of Leno's, struck back in a video clip.
"Jay, you've made a whole lot of jokes about me over the years, but don't worry, I'm not upset," Mr Obama said, before declaring he was going to make Leno the US ambassador to Antarctica.
"Hope you have a warm coat, man."
Crystal sang Leno's praises during the show, saying the late-night host made America feel a little better at bedtime and invoking his predecessor, Johnny Carson. Leno's Tonight tenure was second in length only to Carson's 30 years.
"You were handed the baton by one of the all-time greats," Crystal said. "But once it was in your grasp, you ran the race."
Garth Brooks' song, Friends in Low Places, closed the show.
Leno, 63, said he plans to focus on comedy clubs and his beloved car collection.
Fallon, 39, starts his Tonight Show on February 17, with NBC hoping he rides the promotional wave of its Winter Olympics coverage.
