Conan O’Brien took the high road as his seven-month run hosting “The Tonight Show” came to an end last night — offering some kind words for the network that gave him the boot.
“Between my time at ‘Saturday Night Live,’ the ‘Late Night’ show and my brief run here on ‘The Tonight Show,’ I have worked with NBC for over 20 years,” he said from his desk as he closed out the final show, which finished taping at 9 p.m. New York time.
“Yes, we have our differences right now and, yes, we’re going to go our separate ways,” he said. “But this company has been my home for most of my adult life. I am enormously proud of the work we have done together, and I want to thank NBC for making it all possible.”
The generous thoughts came after O’Brien’s camp and NBC brass waged an intensely public battle over his departure. The redheaded host decided to walk after the network moved to put former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno back in his old 11:30 p.m. time slot.
But the blow was softened by a $45 million settlement that the network reached with O’Brien this week.
Nevertheless, the parting was mostly sorrow, he said.
“Walking away from ‘The Tonight Show’ is the hardest thing I have ever had to do,” he said.
Fans who attended the show last night told The Post they noticed what a strain the end was for O’Brien, who took his family and staff out to California from New York, where he had hosted “Late Night” from 1993 to last Feb. 20.
O’Brien’s family was in the audience, and fans said that they could be seen crying. Still, the show had to go on and the comedian still managed to crack a few jokes.
“Ladies and gentleman, we have exactly one hour to steal every single item in this studio,” he quipped to kick off the finale.
“As I set off for exciting new career opportunities,” he said. “I just want to make one thing clear to everyone listening out there: I will do nudity.”
He also joked that if a documentary were ever filmed about “this whole NBC late-night fiasco, I’d like to be played by. . .Tilda Swinton,” who also has red hair.
Tickets were hard to come by for the finale with Tom Hanks, Neil Young and Will Ferrell, as fans camped out overnight to get in.
“He definitely handled it in a very classy way,” said Emily Gadek, of Los Angeles, who was in attendance. “He had a great opportunity to bash NBC but he didn’t. He set a really good tone.”
To close out the show, Conan strapped on a guitar and rocked out to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird.”
WATCH CONAN’S FINAL SHOW: