Final bow: Teary Leno departs 'Tonight Show' --- So Long, Farewell, Jay Leno --- As he bade farewell to "the best job in show business," Jay Leno cast aside his trademark stoicism Thursday night and broke down. It was a moving and unexpected turn of events, capping a week of shows that brought back favorite guests, carried "best of" packages and showed off his comedic achievements but, until now, had not struck much of a sentimental note. -- Calling himself "the luckiest guy in the world," who got to meet presidents and astronauts and movie stars, Leno told the audience that he lost his mother in 1992, the first year he hosted the show. The following year, he lost his father. Soon after, he lost his brother. -- "After that, I was pretty much out of family, and the folks here became my family," Leno said, trying to fight back his tears. "Consequently, when they went through hard times, I tried to be here for them. People say, 'Why don't you go to ABC or Fox?' But I didn't know anybody over there. These are the people I know." -- Leno, 63, took a breath and continued: "It's fun to kind of be the old guy and sit back here and see where the next generation takes this great institution.... It really is time to go and hand it off to the next guy. It really is." -- Leno tried to end his goodbye speech by quoting the famous farewell of his predecessor, Johnny Carson: "I bid you all a heartfelt goodbye." The words tumbled out awkardly, but the audience knew exactly where he was going. Leno then turned to his good friend Garth Brooks, the night's musical guest, to liven things up with his song "Friends in Low Places." --- Leno may have "brought the room down" momentarily, as he noted, but the whole night wasn't a sobfest. Billy Crystal, Leno's good friend for 40 years and his first guest, led a star-studded rendition of "So Long, Farewell" that packed in several surprises and a few laughs. -- Who were Crystal's "Shut Your Von Trapp Family Singers?" Jack Black, Kim Kardashian, NBA star Chris Paul, Sheryl Crowe, Jim Parsons, Carol Burnett and Oprah. Burnett brought the house down with her Tarzan yell, and Oprah killed it with her lyrics, "You really raised the bar, if you were me, you'd buy them all a car!" By the time Crystal finished the song off, Leno was visibly shaking. -- For weeks, it's been obvious that Leno doesn't really want to leave the show he loves so much, though this departure has been handled very differently this time. Leno was pushed out in 2009 when NBC replaced him with Conan O'Brien. Nine months later, after a huge ratings drop, a vindicated Leno was back at the helm. -- In his monologues, Leno hasn't been shy about expressing himself. Even on his last night, he got right to it: "I don't like goodbyes. NBC does. I don't care for them." -- Then he added: "I don't need to get fired three times. I get the hint. I get the hint." - More, Maria Elena Fernandez, nbcnews, at: http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/tv/so-long-farewell-jay-leno-n24041?