# Best goodbye by an anchor or host **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 12, 2015, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504 "2015-04-12T18:24:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/1 "2015-04-12T18:24:15Z")
While wondering “what ever happened to Louis Rukeyser” (he died in 2006), I found [this video of his final appearance on “Wall Street Week”.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdHUhmU_2eU) Starting at 1:40, he tears into the Maryland Public TV executives who fired him and staunchly defends the show’s ratings. He even mentions he’ll start a show on another network. What other final episodes by a show host or anchor stick in your mind? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/2 "2015-04-12T18:33:38Z")
There’s [Christine Chubbuck](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Chubbuck). Maybe not the _best._ ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/3 "2015-04-12T18:34:21Z")
Johnny Carson’s last night on _The Tonight Show_ is the standard to be beat. Never anyone classier. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/4 "2015-04-12T18:35:41Z")
I’m gonna have to go with the end of Ted Koppel’s final episode of Nightline; [QUOTE=Ted Koppel] Trust me, the transition from one anchor to another is not that big a deal. Cronkite begat Rather, Chancellor begat Brokaw, Reynolds begat Jennings. And each of them did a pretty fair job in his own right. You’ve always been very nice to me, so give this new anchor team for Nightline a fair break. If you don’t, I promise you the network will just put another comedy show in this time slot. Then you’ll be sorry. And that’s our report for tonight. I’m Ted Koppel in Washington, and from all of us here at ABC News, good night. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/5 "2015-04-12T19:15:26Z")
I kinda like the marijuana broad who recently left with “Fuck it. I quit.” I think she might have been in Alaska. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/6 "2015-04-12T19:23:01Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I kinda like the marijuana broad who recently left with “Fuck it. I quit.” > > I think she might have been in Alaska. You are right. [Here’s the unedited footage.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0xB9uxKnec) ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/7 "2015-04-13T01:07:35Z")
I can’t remember a single detail of it but the last night of “Overnight” is it. I used to work 11pm to 8am and having that on was my “background noise”. She really impressed me more than any journalist before or since. That last episode/night I was caught by surprise as Linda Ellerbee started her usual closing remarks. All of a sudden it dawns on me that this is the end; it was almost as if I had lost a friend. Can’t name one story or repeat a single line, but the emotions I suddenly felt are still fresh in my brain. And so it goes. ---
**Author:** ![tenacious\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@tenacious\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tenacious_j)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/8 "2015-04-13T01:31:41Z")
Probably my favorite because it’s the freshest, or overly sentimental, but I loved Colbert’s goodbye to “We’ll meet again” with all his friends. That was fun and very memorable. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/9 "2015-04-13T01:40:16Z")
Does Howard Beale count? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/10 "2015-04-13T02:40:57Z")
[Walter Cronkite](http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/and-thats-the-way-it-is-walter-cronkites-final-sign-off/). I remember what a huge thing it was at the time. Cronkite was an icon. And this was back in 1981 when there was a lot less television on the air. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/11 "2015-04-13T02:45:45Z")
Conan O’Brien was [pretty damn classy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e35SVmdx9nY), considering what had happened. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/12 "2015-04-13T03:12:25Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I kinda like the marijuana broad who recently left with “Fuck it. I quit.” > > I think she might have been in Alaska. > [@installLSC](#): > > You are right. [Here’s the unedited footage.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0xB9uxKnec) > [@](#): > > Anchorage police served search warrants at marijuana activist Charlo Greene’s Alaska [Cannabis](http://www.theguardian.com/society/cannabis) Club after receiving reports of illegal marijuana sales. [Alaska police raid former TV anchor Charlo Greene's marijuana dispensary | Alaska | The Guardian](http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/22/alaska-police-raid-former-tv-anchor-marijuana-club) > [@](#): > > Charlo Greene, the Alaska marijuana advocate who quit her day job as a television reporter last year, is cotemplating an unofficial mayoral candidacy, she announced Sunday. [Marijuana activist Charlo Greene pondering mayoral run after raid on her Alaska Cannabis Club – New York Daily News](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/alaska-pot-activist-charlo-green-pondering-mayoral-run-article-1.2166685) ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/13 "2015-04-13T03:19:35Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > [Marijuana activist Charlo Greene pondering mayoral run after raid on her Alaska Cannabis Club – New York Daily News](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/alaska-pot-activist-charlo-green-pondering-mayoral-run-article-1.2166685) “Charlo Greene, the Alaska marijuana advocate who quit her day job as a television reporter last year, is **cotemplating** an unofficial mayoral candidacy, she announced Sunday.” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/14 "2015-04-13T09:23:17Z")
How about _The Two Ronnies_? Normally they ended each show with one saying “And it’s goodnight from me.” and the other saying, “And it’s goodnight from him.” but on their very last show, with Barker clearly not long to live, they just said, “Goodnight.” ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/15 "2015-04-13T14:05:35Z")
I really enjoyed Craig Ferguson’s final show, and I’m looking forward to Letterman’s final show as well. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/16 "2015-04-13T16:55:47Z")
Chet Huntley’s [final sign-off](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYf3eyRjfYA) from the Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC is quite memorable. Chet almost always came off as a quite solemn guy, but at times like this, when he let his emotions out, show what he was really like underneath. Note that this was mid-1970, so the reference to better news in the future reflects the troubles the US was going thru at that time: Vietnam, Kent State, etc. Chet died in 1974, just days before his Big Sky ski resort opened in Montana. His widow later married William “Cannon” Conrad. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/17 "2015-04-13T19:12:44Z")
[Here’s a post I did on Huntley’s last report several years ago.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12804427&postcount=1) ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/18 "2015-04-13T20:21:38Z")
\*\*Best goodbye by an anchor or host \*\* [Clarabell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZqe3Uo0heQ) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/19 "2015-04-13T21:28:24Z")
No Bud Dwyer yet? He went out with a bang. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504/20 "2015-04-14T15:49:03Z")
The one I thought of first was Jack Paar’s mid-broadcast walk-off in response to the censors cutting a joke of his, saying, “There has to be a better way than this to make a living.” (He did return a month later after the censors gave in; he started his return monologue with, “As I was saying…”.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-goodbye-by-an-anchor-or-host/717504.md?page=2)