Conan O'Brien was a class act in signing off of "Late Night" on Friday after 16 years. Hard to believe that he hosted that show longer than David Letterman did.

Conan spent the past 10 minutes of his final "Late Night" seg saying a heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped him on his way, from Letterman to Jay Leno to Lorne Michaels and Jeff Ross to his family to various regimes of NBC execs (and through it all, Rick Ludwin stands tall).

Variety's Michael Schneider has the skinny on it all right here, or watch the seg for yourself courtesy of Hulu. And then click here to check out a seven-minute clip of a very different, very gawky Conan from mid-1993, doing a guest stint as "the new guy" with Letterman on the show he would soon inherit.

This just in from the home office at the Ed Sullivan Theater in Manhattan. This is why we've always loved David Letterman. From his spokesman Steve Rubenstein:

“Next week's tapings of 'The Late Show' and 'The Late Late Show' have been cancelled and we will continue to make a week-by-week determination about future tapings. However, it is important to Dave that our staff members have some degree of support during this uncertain time. Therefore, Worldwide Pants, which independently produces both shows, will continue to pay the non-writing staff of the shows – fully compensating lower-salaried employees, and providing a substantial portion of salaries for those at the higher end -- at least through the end of the year.  Of course, we all want to get back to work as soon as possible, and it remains our hope that both sides in this dispute will make progress toward that end. In the meantime, we will continue monitoring this situation closely as we make decisions regarding our future production schedule.”

A writers strike could ruin your whole day. Or night.

My hard-working Variety colleagues spent all day Tuesday turning over rocks and looking into every aspect of what a scribe work stoppage would mean for this town, and none of it is good. TV editors Joe Adalian and Michael Schneider did a fine job of explaining how quickly a strike would KO our favorite latenight companions -- read their reportage by clicking here, and check out the rest of Variety's team coverage by clicking here.

Speaking of our fave latenight companions, here's a look at what David Letterman looked like the last time the WGA went out. While some part of Letterman might want to turn back the clock to those lazy-hazy days of July 1988 when this pic was snapped (actually, he seems so happy these days as little Harry's proud papa I'll be he wouldn't go back for nothin'), fans of quality television do not want to be deprived of our daily and weekly fixes of our fave primetime raves. (No more visits to "The Office," a dimming of "Friday Night Lights," a busted "Big Bang Theory," losing "Lost" in midstream, uprooted "Pushing Daisies," etc.)

So here's to hoping the federal mediator or somebody can bring about a meeting of the minds in the ultimate writers' room this week.

(Letterman pic by Ron Galella/WireImage)

Finally caught up with the David Letterman interview on Monday's season opener of "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

For Letterman-lovers it was a treat, well worth seeking out (I botched getting it in its premiere but was saved by a dub sent over by the good folks at CBS Paramount Domestic TV), if only to see him acting like a proud papa showing off adorable pics of his tow-headed 4-year-old, Harry. (Pic at left is from a "Late Show" promo spot Oprah and Dave did for CBS' Super Bowl  telecast in February.) Also happy to see that video from the Sept. 7 dedication ceremony of the David Letterman Communication and Media Building at Ball State U. in Muncie, Ind., is starting to pop up on YouTube.

Letterman was clearly in good spirits that day, talking about how much his late father, Harry, would have been proud of him for the school's brick-and-mortar tribute. By gum, Dave's gonna lose his reputation for being an interview-phobic recluse if he keeps up this nice-guy-in-public routine. Maybe it's just natural maturity (a hopeful sign that TV personalities can in fact mature gracefully). As Oprah informed him: "60 is the new 40."

In reality, I think Letterman's doing a burst of PR for good causes -- he owed it to Oprah for her having come on his show two years ago, and he owed to the mom and dad who put him through Ball State -- and he'll soon go back to keeping firmly out of the spotlight. He told Oprah that his idea of "kicking back" (her phrase) is spending time on a horse at his spread in Montana, not strolling red carpets. Anyway, here's the best quality vid I could find of Letterman's nine-minute address, complete with Top Ten list.

And for Letterman fans of the truly, madly, deeply variety, there's also vid clips on YouTube of a Q&A that Letterman and his "Late Show" exec producer Barbara Gaines and another "Late Show" staffer I can't identify (sounds like they're calling him "Bill") did with students on campus, presumably the same day as the dedication. Vid quality is pretty weak, so you'll have to be a devotee to get through it but IMHO it's worth it.

When asked about his fave moments on the show, he cites two that indicate he's not the same self-centered, insanely competitive neurotic of old. Dave's personal Top Two: The night he came back on air after his January 2000 quintuple heart bypass surgery, and the night in November 2003 after his son was born. Me thinks Dave's mentor and idol, Johnny Carson, would be proud of his protege.

The Q&A is broken up into three roughly 10-minute vids. Here's a link to Part 1 .... and Part 2 ... and Part 3.

You just know he did this for his mom. David Letterman's appearance on the campus of his alma mater Ball State University was big news in Muncie, Ind. today. He was there to attend the dedication of the school's new $21 million communications building, which is named after its famous alumnus.(Click here for Ball State's coverage)

As the pics on the (Muncie) Star Press website make clear, the normally press- and publicity-averse Letterman endured all the big to-do because it made his mom, Dorothy Mengering, proud. And given the fact that she's been a contributor to his latenight shows over the years (he sent her to cover the winter Olympics in Nagano, fer chrissakes) TV shows over the years, it's the least he could do.

Here's the Star Press' take on Friday's dedication ceremony ("If reasonable people can put my name on a $21 million building, anything is possible," Letterman observed to the SRO crowd, per the paper), but even more amusing is the paper's set-up story detailing all of the preparations and anticipation for this state visit from a beloved native son. It was covered live by local TV outlets and streamed live on the school's website.

(Full disclosure: Pic above was filched from the Ball State website.)

Among the guests on the next seg of CNBC's "Conversations with Michael Eisner" is the peacock's Ben Silverman. Episode is set to air Sept. 26 and also features L.A.'s hizzoner Antonio Villaraigosa and celeb blogger Perez Hilton....

Among the events of particular interest (to me) on the Paley Center for Media (fka the Museum of Television & Radio) sked of events for the 2007-08 season include seshes at the New York outposts with the writers from CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman," set for Nov. 9; a so-long-farewell-Auf-Weidersehn-etc. to "Scrubs" (Nov. 10); and an "Evening with" sitdown with the inimitable Angela Lansbury (Nov. 14), pictured left. At the Bev Hills branch, good times outta be had at the Oct. 1 "Inside 'Robot Chicken' panel -- that's gotta be a bizarre 90-minutes; the 100th-seg salute to "Two and a Half Men" (Oct. 3); and the "Lou Grant" reunion (Nov. 16)...

Kinda sad to see that Don Bellisario didn't appear to make it to the "NCIS" 100th-episode cake-cutting photo op on Tuesday. I never did figure out the story behind Bellisario's abrupt exit from the drama he created (one of many) at the start of last season -- some reports blamed it on a clash between him and star Mark Harmon. Oh well, Bellisario will soon (one day?) be able to take comfort in his syndie residual and profit-participation checks.

He is a very special young man. Muncie, Ind.-based Ball State University is naming its new communications building after its most famous alumni, David Letterman.

Letter-mom Dorothy Mengering was on hand Monday for the announcement with Ball State prexy Jo Ann Gora (click here for cute pic of Dorothy, known to viewers for her occasional work as a "Late Show"/"Late Night" correspondent). The $21 million, 75,000-square foot facility houses all kinds of state-of-the-art digital media stuff, a surround sound recording studio and post-production facility, is set to open on Sept. 7. Letterman and his mom are expected to attend the ceremony.

"I'm so thrilled that David finally let them do this for him," Mengering told the AP. "He's a very special young man, and I'm proud of him."

Gora noted that Letterman's frequent mentions of the school on his NBC and CBS late night shows have exposed Ball State to millions of people who otherwise never would've heard of it. He's also quietly been a huge supporter of its various institutions, from the Letterman Scholarships established in 1985 to the checks he's written to help launch the school's radio station, among other initiatives. Letterman graduated from Ball State in 1970.

"I'm proud to have been a student at Ball State, and I'm deeply honored to have this recognition for me and my family," Letterman said in a statement.

(Pictured above: Letterman, right, and George Clooney. No, Clooney didn't go to Ball State but I found this nice shot on the CBS press Web site and let's face it, Clooney livens up any post.)