VANCOUVER - As he embarks on a new career with a new network, former "Tonight Show" host Conan O'Brien says it's thanks to Canadians he's still on the air at all.

O'Brien brought his "Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour" to Vancouver Tuesday, where he was greeted by a raucous crowd, many of whom showed up in their finest "Team Coco" T-shirts.

O'Brien, whose eight-month stint as "Tonight" host came to an end in January, said Canadians saved his bacon when his first program, "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," was struggling to find an audience and looked poised for the scrap heap.

"In 1993, when I first got started in television, just about everybody in America hated what we were doing," he recalled.

"The first people to embrace us were Canadians."

O'Brien told the boisterous Orpheum Theatre crowd he could always tell when Canadians were in attendance in those early days because his jokes actually landed.

"You saved my life and we've gone through a lot of weird stuff in the last three and a half months," he said. "The support that we have had from all of you online has been absolutely extraordinary."

O'Brien's heartfelt signoff capped a night that was far more silly than serious.

He took the stage to a thundering standing ovation and didn't wait long to poke fun at the locals.

Dressed in a dark suit, purple shirt, and Canada hat, the former "Simpsons" writer said he knew he'd arrived north of the border when someone congratulated him on his wicked "hockey beard."

"In America, we call it a beard. Here, everything's a hockey something. 'Hey, you got a hockey coldsore."'

O'Brien also said he was startled by all the cheers and applause inside the theatre because he didn't think it was very Canadian to make so much noise.

He joked he spent his day touring the city and somehow ended up in the notorious drug-riddled Downtown Eastside.

"Today, I saw three of the Olympic mascots in Pigeon Park. They looked pretty strung out," he said.

"'Can you help me? My name's Sumi. I don't know where I am, man. I'm all screwed up."'

O'Brien hosted New York-based "Late Night" from 1993 to 2009 and moved to Los Angeles for the "Tonight" gig last June.

But his time on NBC's landmark late-night program was short-lived. He exited the network after he refused to move his show back half an hour to make room for Jay Leno.

O'Brien was barred from appearing on TV until September because of his settlement agreement with NBC and announced the comedy tour last month. He has another Vancouver performance set for Wednesday, and makes stops in Enoch, Alta., on Saturday and Toronto on May 22.

Just hours before the comedy tour kicked off in Eugene, Ore., on Monday, O'Brien announced he's inked a five-year deal with TBS to host a late-night program that's expected to hit the air in November.

Tuesday's performance was cheered especially hard by long-time Conan fans.

Familiar characters like Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and the Masturbating Bear made appearances, though for intellectual property reasons the bear was instead called a "self-pleasuring panda."

Popular sketches, like the "Walker, Texas Ranger" lever were also brought in, though the "lever" was called a "handle" to fend off any legal concerns. Whenever O'Brien pulled the handle, a clip from the Chuck Norris TV show played on-screen, generally during an awkward scene.

Andy Richter, O'Brien's sidekick, also joined the tour, as did the 'Tonight' band, minus leader Max Weinberg.

Richter did voiceover work for two commercials during the show.

In the first, he mocked a Japanese hot dog stand located in downtown Vancouver that serves beef and whale blubber weiners.

In the second, he made fun of a well-known strip club.

"(It) has been around since the 1940s, and so have many of their dancers," he said.

The night featured no shortage of awkward moments, from O'Brien wearing a skin-tight purple leather bodysuit to licking a male band member's face.

He also pulled out a guitar on a few occasions, venturing into the audience during his final number to pose for photos with crowd members.

The theme of the songs, if not the entire evening, was that of an entertainer reborn after going through some challenging times.

He made no direct mention of Leno, though he did several high-pitched impressions of a man he referred to as his "neighbour Joe."

As 2,800 fans streamed out of the theatre at the end of the night, many wore large smiles.

Devin Reisig was one of them.

"It was insanely awesome, Conan rocked it," he said.

"I thought it was great, really funny, "said Ryan Klenman, who added his favourite part was all the characters, such as Triumph, the show incorporated.