Regis Philbin has announced that he’s retiring this year from Live! With Regis And Kelly. While seated next to his co-host Kelly Ripa, per usual, Regis told audience members today “I’ve got one of those announcements to make today…I don’t want to alarm anybody but I have to tell you this because it’s going to happen…but this will be my last year on this show.” (You can watch the video of his announcement on TMZ.) The 79-year-old joked “There is a time that everything must come to an end for certain people on camera, especially certain old people.” The date of his final show is unknown, but he said it would likely happen in late summer or fall.
We started watching Reeg, a mainstay of morning television since the ’70s, back in middle school when he hosted Live! With Regis And Kathie Lee, so it’s a little sad to see him go (Live! has been airing nationally since 1988). The only person we think is a suitable replacement for Philbin is Anderson Cooper, whose guest hosting duties on Live! are some of the funniest things we’ve ever seen.
We’ll miss Regis, especially for the joy he brings us on clips of The Soup, and we wish him a happy retirement!
