The final episode of 'Busy Tonight' aired on Thursday.
Busy Philipps' best friend gave her quite a send-off!
On Thursday's final episode of Busy Tonight, Philipps invited her famous friends to help bring her show to an end. After introducing Linda Cardellini -- whom she called "the most thoughtful person" -- and the "love of my life" Michelle Williams, Philipps asked her guests, which also included Jennifer Carpenter, Whitney Cummings and Christa Miller to roast or toast her in celebration of her late-night show.
While Philipps got emotional over Cardellini gushing over her talent, spirit and courage, the tears really started flowing when Williams came up to the podium. Williams, whom Philipps starred alongside on Dawson's Creek, elicited the emotion by bringing up her 13-year-old daughter, Matilda, whom she shares with the late Heath Ledger.
"So when I was leaving to come here -- shoot," Williams exclaimed as she started tearing up. "Tonight is actually opening night of my daughter's school play. And when I said to her, 'Listen. Aunt Busy needs me. Are you cool if I just come to the middle and the ending?' She was like, 'Mom, absolutely get on that plane. Of course.'"
"And then she said to me, 'Why are you guys such good friends because you're so different?'" an emotional Williams continued as Philipps openly cried. "You're just always there. And I don't know how you do it because you look like you're living a really fabulous life for yourself, but the truth is that you show up for all of us, all of the time. And that you are the most selfless person that I know. And it's taught me everything that I know about being a friend. And so thank you for asking me to come here and be with you tonight."
"I love you," Philipps said as she jumped up to offer Williams a big hug. "And Matilda, I love you so much, my little buddy."
At the end of the show, which was canceled by E! earlier this month, Philipps gushed about all she has learned from helming the show.
"We have learned that you should meet your heroes. That competition kills creativity. That how you finish something is just as important as how you start it. That a career pivot is always a f**king option for everyone, just like Oprah told us it was when we were in elementary school," she said through tears. "That giving to people can be so much more rewarding and fun than receiving. That it is OK to be passionate about women's rights, but also care about face masks and Bradley Cooper's f**king bang. That fridge lights are great for selfies, but not this one because it's fake."
"That, if you feel like no one gets you, just keep being yourself, dude, and you will find someone, or maybe a lot of someones, who do. That a b**ch contains multitudes. And that taking big risks won't always pay off the way you think it's going to, but, I need you to trust me, it will pay off," she continued. "And finally, the most important lesson that we learned here, is that it is a marathon, not a sprint. And the real trick is figuring out what the f**k the marathon is that you're actually running. And I have to tell you something, guys, we haven't even broken a sweat yet."
In a tweet ahead of the final episode Philipps called the experience "surreal."
In a statement to ET following the show's cancellation, a spokesperson for E! called Philipps "hilarious and charismatic," and praised the work she did.
"Busy is a hilarious and charismatic talent and we are grateful to the entire Busy Tonight team who has delivered countless laughs and heartwarming moments in what will be over 100 episodes," the statement read.
Philipps has promised to shop the show elsewhere, adding that she's "so proud" of all the things she got to do on it.
"I have faith in me," she said. "I hope that, you know, we can continue to do the show somewhere else. I hope that we figure that out. Because it does seem lame that there'd be just, like, one woman in late night at a time."
Watch the video below for more on Philipps.
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