Jack Black Needed A Cane After Conan Sendoff Goes Hilariously Wrong

Jack Black, the featured guest on last night's last-ever episode of TBS's Conan, came on stage [...]

By Russ Burlingame

Jack Black, the featured guest on last night's last-ever episode of TBS's Conan, came on stage with a cane and a boot on his right foot. Many fans assumed he was doing a bit --but no. In fact, it appears as though the opposite happened. Last night featured a cold open with Homer Simpson doing Conan O'Brien's TBS exit interview, as well as a Zoom call from Will Ferrell, who claimed he was playing Batman in a new movie. Then, it was time for Jack Black to appear, and the plan was to have an epic, crazy musical tribute to O'Brien's 28 years on late night.

Unfortunately for Black, the show apparently attained sentience. The sketch was supposed to include the actor feigning an injury while singing an energetic farewell to Conan. Instead, Black apparently injured himself -- for real -- in rehearsal, and appeared on the finale with his ankle in a splint.

O'Brien recalled the rehearsal; there were even actors there dressed as paramedics and driving an ambulance -- but they couldn't help, because they were actors and the ambulance lights didn't work. Conan says that the production sent those extras to a pharmacy, where they presumably confused and delighted the employees, too.

You can see them discussing the event above.

Conan launched on November 8, 2010, and stars O'Brien alongside his longtime sidekick, Andy Richter. After the end of this show, O'Brien will move to a weekly variety show on HBO Max.

This is the first time in O'Brien's 30-year talk show career that he begins a new chapter that isn't surrounded by controversy. When he took over Late Night With Conan O'Brien from the departing David Letterman in 1993, Letterman was moving from NBC to CBS after a lengthy battle with NBC, who passed him over to give The Tonight Show to Jay Leno after the retirement of Johnny Carson. With Leno's retirement, O'Brien got The Tonight Show, but Leno wasn't ready to retire, and instead moved to a 10 p.m. show, which bombed, creating low lead-in ratings for O'Brien. When the series was cancelled, NBC gave Leno The Tonight Show back, citing disappointing ratings from O'Brien and a desire to keep Leno in their stable. O'Brien stepped away from the show, from NBC, and ultimately took on the Conan show at TBS.

O'Brien's young fan base followed him to TBS, giving him great long-term potential, big numbers for a network like TBS, and making him, eventually, the longest-serving late night host on TV.

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