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The hair was high, the laughs were big and the good-bye was as bittersweet as it was expensive. Conan O’Brien said sayonara as only a jilted talk-show genius can: With an hour of barbs, extensive cowbell and really, really, really pricey tunes (“Lovely Rita!”). You can watch the full episode here.

Of course, money has been the name of the game since NBC decided just days ago to chose former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno over its current “Tonight Show” host O’Brien. In a short-sighted move that upset more viewers than it seemed to excite, the network sided with the safer Leno than the edgier Conan and offered to push back “The Tonight Show” to midnight as part of a last-ditch effort to save Leno’s troubled prime time “Jay Leno Show.”

Since then, the talk show hosts have traded barbs, NBC has been characterized as an out-of-touch bureaucracy and O’Brien has made it a point to run up NBC’s credit card bill just like a ex-girlfriend going for the scorched-earth look. Or at least he’s making it look that way — “spending” millions of the network’s money on frivolous, not-so-silly skits that cost more than any American could dream to make in their lifetimes.

His final really, really expensive skit underwritten by NBC? Rare fossil skeleton of a giant ground sloth, spraying beluga caviar on an original Picasso. Estimated “cost”??? $65 million.

Worth more than that, though, was a truly sweet panel of final guests/cameo folks: Tom Hanks, Steve Carell, Will Ferrell, Neil Young, Beck, ZZ Top, Ben Harper and some random pregnant lady. Very cool.

But what was really memorable was Conan’s final speech. Touching, mature, classy and clearly from the heart.

It’s true, as Coco says, “Like everything in life, the fun has to come to an end a decade too early.”

Genius … if only NBC could see that.