David Bowie will be missed.
Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon and Trevor Noah paid tribute to the 69-year-old music legend on TBS' Conan, NBC's The Tonight Show and Comedy Central's The Daily Show Monday. Bowie died Sunday following a private 18-month-battle with cancer. Dozens of stars had already honored the British rock musician via social media, including Madonna, Kanye West and Gene Simmons.
"Obviously this is a very sad day," O'Brien told his audience. "Everyone found out that David Bowie passed away yesterday—incredibly sad news. He was on our show several times over the years, and the man was always outstanding. People are remembering today what a phenomenal musician David Bowie was, and of course that was the case. He was just mind-blowingly talented. But in my experience he was also an incredibly nice person. He was fun. He was always funny. And we wanted to take a second here and just look back at a few of the fun moments I had with David Bowie over the years."
O'Brien then showed excerpts from three interviews he conducted with Bowie.
"Such a lovely man," the host said.
Meanwhile, Fallon took time out of his show to bring a little levity to the tragedy. "Before we begin, I'd like to say, 'Rest in peace, David Bowie.' Great artist, one of a kind singer, songwriter, actor, fashion icon, mad genius who also had one of the greatest senses of humor of anyone I've ever met. We would actually e-mail each other jokes every now and then. He was brilliant and sharp and dark and funny. We were just talking about him last week. We wished him happy birthday, showed a clip of his video and now he's not with us. I was trying to think of something funny to say, but it just wouldn't come out right, so I'm just going to e-mail you, David Bowie, and if you check your e-mail in space or heaven or wherever you are, you don't have to e-mail me back. In fact, don't. It'd be weird for me. Don't even consider it," he joked. "Just read it and enjoy what I put in there. But we should all celebrate him for all the fantastic work he's done."
Fallon encouraged fans to "download all his albums," including the "fantastic" Black Star, released Jan. 8. "Play it loudly and just thank him. Thank you, thank, thank you, David Bowie," he said. "Thank you."
Noah waited until The Daily Show ended to pay his respects. "Before we get into our zen, though, I guess everybody heard the news and it hit us all in different ways," he said. "So, in remembrance and I guess to remember the man David Bowie, here it is, your moment of zen."
He then played a clip of Bowie sharing some words of wisdom.
"The other thing I would say is that if you feel safe in the area you're working in, you're not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you're capable of being in," Bowie said. "Go a little bit out of your depth, and when you don't feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you're just about in the right place to do something exciting."
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