‘Last Call With Carson Daly’ Airs Its Final Episode Ahead of New Lilly Singh Late Night Talk Show

Carson Daly’s late-night show Last Call With Carson Daly aired its final episode Friday, after 18 seasons and 2,000 episodes.

The Voice host’s final episode in the late night show comes a few months after he announced he would be stepping away from the show, with YouTube star Lilly Singh set to take over the time slot with her own talk show.

“I am proud as hell of Last Call,” Daly said at the beginning of Friday’s show, PEOPLE reported. “The littlest, scrappiest show on late night, it’s been my home and personal playground for almost two decades, and I’m eternally grateful for the opportunities, the friendships and all the lasting memories I’ve made along the way.”

The 45-year-old shared his gratitude to NBC for giving him a chance 20 years ago when the show first began.

“In 2002, I was a 28-year-old kid, working at MTV, hosting TRL, NBC wisely thought that the kid who was known for wearing black fingernail polish and talking Limp Bizkit every day was perfect late-night host material, and so they gave me a shot,” he remembered.

The show started in 2002 and featured many big names including Busta Rhymes, P Diddy and Gwyneth Paltrow as guests in its first year. Justin Timberlake, Angelina Jolie and many others have made appearances throughout the years.

“I wanted a late night show that felt like it was happening late at night, and I wanted to feature great guests, important conversations, killer music, and if at all possible, alcohol. And like that, yes, Last Call was born,” he said.

“This show has taken on many shapes and forms over the years, we went from borrowing SNL studio space in New York in the early days, we moved to LA and had our own studio, to taking the show completely out of the studio and onto the streets of LA. The new format ushered Last Call into a new era and allowed the show to really shine,” he added, also referring to Last Call as the little show that could.

NBC announced plans to wrap up the show in February, with Daly saying he wanted to spend more time with his family. The network revealed in March that Singh would take over the timeslot with her own show, making her the only woman late-night talk show host on a broadcast network.

“I’m so excited because I truly get to create a show from scratch, I get to make it inclusive, I get to create comedy segments and interview people and really create something that I believe in,” Singh said.