Before Thursday's show, Wilmore had received various alcoholic beverages as farewell gifts from his former "Daily Show" colleagues Samantha Bee, John Oliver and Stephen Colbert. Wilmore chided the staff of his lead-in, "The Daily Show," for sending pastries. (How am I gonna get wasted eating a stupid almond croissant?" he joked.)

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Jon Stewart, who is an executive producer of "The Nightly Show," stopped by in person with a sincere message for Wilmore.

"I just decided to stop by and tell you I love you," Stewart said, adding that "a very wise man once said to me, 'Do not confuse cancellation with failure,' and I took that to heart."

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"So I will say this," Stewart continued. "What you, my friend, were tasked to do you have done and done beautifully," Stewart said. "You gave voice to underserved voices in the media arena. And it was a show that was raw and poignant and funny and smart and all of those things — and you did it from scratch."

Stewart also made a pointed reference to Comedy Central president Kent Alterman telling the New York Times that Wilmore's show was being canceled because it "hasn't resonated." Stewart told Wilmore that the show resonated "not only in an important way, but in a way that you don't even realize yet."

"You started a conversation that was not on television when you began, and you worked with a group of people who you invited to that conversation, to collaborate with you, to sharpen that conversation," Stewart said.

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Later in the show, as Wilmore thanked fans and prepared to close the show for the last time, he took a minute to explain the map that had appeared behind him as he hosted the show each night. He said it always came up during the Q&A sessions he had with audiences before the show.

"The number one question I get is: 'Why is your map upside down?' " Wilmore explained. "And I always say, well, I disagree with your premise. You see, upside-down is just an opinion. If you're floating in space, the Earth could take on any orientation. But as a culture we've all agreed with the opinion that the world should be seen in a certain way."

"So at "The Nightly Show" our chief mission was to disagree with that premise and to see the world in a way that may not make everybody comfortable and present it with a cast of people who don't always get to have a voice on that," Wilmore continued. "On that front I feel that we've been very successful and I couldn't be prouder of what we've accomplished."

And keep it 💯 we did. Thank you to Jon Stewart and to all of you for joining us #tonightly and all of the other nightlys. A post shared by The Nightly Show (@thenightlyshow) on Aug 18, 2016 at 4:39pm PDT