Stewart, 52, announced last winter that he was getting restless and it was time to move on. But there also seemed to be a surprise for Stewart, as Colbert went off script to deliver a heartfelt thank-you take-off on Stewart’s insistence that his former co-stars don’t owe him anything. Noah showed up with a measuring tape, and Stewart asked, “Could you give me, like, 20 more minutes?” “You are infuriatingly good at your job”, he added, at which point the crowd goes wild, because it’s true.

A crying Jon Stewart repeated quietly, “We’ll be right back”. Also weighing in were CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer and Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly, a frequent Stewart nemesis. “What a bummer”.

“So long jackass”, said McCain in a video shown in the episode.

“You can’t say that many negative things about people unless you’re really unhappy about something“, he said. “The world is demonstrably worse than when I started”, he said.

As his final words of commentary, he told the audience, “The best defense against bulls-t is vigilance – if you smell something, say something”.

Springsteen wished Stewart “happy and safe travels”, and then, at Stewart’s request, the band played “Land of Hope and Dreams”, followed by “Born to Run”.

Springsteen and his E Street bandmates were seen at the studio early Thursday afternoon, possibly for a rehearsal.

Said Stewart: “I’m not going to say that didn’t sting a little bit”.

“From start to finish, it was fantastic”, said audience member Randy Gunnell in an interview with the Associated Press.

Other guests appearing during the telecast included actor Josh Gad and current The Nightly Show host Larry Wilmore.

It was the third major farewell for a late-night television personality in eight months. David Letterman signed off from CBS in May, to be replaced by Colbert. Stewart never passed up a chance to make fun of the fast-food chain, and one of the ads showed a series of the comedian’s insults, along with the song “Thank You For Being A Friend“. Liberals loved him, while some conservatives despised him, but they all had to pay attention.

“It’s a pause in the conversation”, Stewart said in his last remarks at the end of the finale.

It came from the heart, without tears but with a few cracks in his voice.