Jack Black Actually Gets Hurt While Pretending to Be Hurt in Final ‘Conan’ Episode

Conan O’Brien ended his show, Conan, on Thursday, ending an 11 year run on TBS, reflecting on his 28 years on late-night television. “Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get,” the ginger comedian said. “But if you work really hard, and you’re kind, I’m telling you, amazing things will happen.” To help wrap up his final episode, Jumanji actor Jack Black stopped by as a guest and shared a hilarious and apt anecdote during their conversation.

Black came out for his interview with his foot in a cast and using a cane, and was visibly in pain as he walked across the stage. After Black thanked O’Brien for his support over the years, he admitted that he had been planning on a big musical number to send off Conan in style. “We came up with this musical number that was gonna involve a lot of like, physicality, and I was gonna get injured in the middle of the musical,” Black explained. “Fake an injury?” O’Brien asked. “Fake an injury,” Black reiterated. “And then the paramedics were gonna come in, take me on a gurney out to the ambulance.”

Black explained that for the bit, he was going to scream “Hell no, I love Conan too much!” before ripping his way free from the medical equipment and running back to the theater where they were filming. However, while they were filming on Wednesday, Black twisted his ankle while running during one of the takes. O’Brien then revealed when he went out to help Black, he had to be reminded that the EMTs on set were actors and the ambulance was not real and in medical shape. “I was so bummed because I wanted to be the best guest of all time for your final show and instead, I am literally the lamest,” bemoaned Black.

However, O’Brien saw this as in line with the legacy of Conan. “To me, and I’m sorry you got hurt, and I know you’re gonna get better soon, I felt so terrible when you fell, but also, I have to say, it felt fitting, for our show,” O’Brien joked. “Here we are, when Carson and Letterman and all these legends go off the air, everything is meticulous. Of course we would think of a bit with Jack, where Jack pretends to get hurt, and while shooting it, Jack gets hurt. We’re the only show that would ever do that.” O’Brien’s longtime sidekick Andy Richter quipped, “Johnny would have had Jack shot.” Black still got to perform a rock n’ roll parody version of “My Way” to wrap up the show, so all in all, it was a fitting end to an off-beat show.