The week of May 25th will be Jay Leno’s last as the host of The Tonight Show, and in what was likely his final chat with Ellen DeGeneres as the face of NBC’s late night lineup, the comedian spoke about transitioning the legendary show over to former Late Night host Conan O’Brien.

“‘The Tonight Show’ is sort of like the ‘America’s Cup,’ you don’t want to be the guy to screw it up and lose it. So I just wanted to make sure the next person that got it, Conan most deserving, and it was an easy transition and it will be and it has been.”

Jay, who celebrated his 58th birthday last month, also discussed taking his first sick day from work in 17 years after being hospitalized for exhaustion last month.

“I was only in the hospital because my show makes money for NBC. We have an ODN at the show. An overly dramatic nurse,” Jay joked. “If I was on ‘Lipstick Jungle’ I could have had a bullet in my head and they wouldn’t of taken me to the hospital.”