Can you believe Regis Philbin is retiring?

This morning I woke up and turned on Live with Regis and Kelly (I love the fact that David Letterman still sarcastically calls it Live with Regis and Kelly Lee). Philbin was born in 1931, so he’s getting up there. I think Letterman is the only one who made fun of his age, and he did it constantly (whether Philbin was on the show or not).

Philbin’s in the Guinness World Record books for logging the most hours on TV (it’s some crazy number over 16,000, which I’m guessing Ryan Seacrest will be breaking soon enough).

His rise to fame came in San Diego, at KGTV. (Channel 10 newscaster Bill Griffith made a quick mention of the retirement on the 11 a.m. news.)

KGTV couldn’t afford to hire a writing staff for Philbin, so he didn’t get to start his show with a witty monologue. This led to him just coming out and talking about his day. It’s the approach he still uses to this day, and something people welcomed.

Philbin first got national fame and recognition when he became Joey Bishop’s sidekick in the late '60s.

Philbin heard the network wasn’t happy with the job he was doing, which hurt the ego a bit. When the show was going to be cancelled, though, it was Joey Bishop who did the “I’m mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore!” He walked off the show, while on the air, leaving Philbin to take over.

He went through a series of game shows and talk shows, including a second stint with Cyndy Garvey (yeah, Padres/Dodgers star Steve Garvey’s wife). When Kathie Lee Gifford replaced her, the show took off.

That eventually led to Philbin getting ever more popular as the host of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

He was the most important guy at ABC, and reports had him making $25 million a year.

The Emmy-winner said at one point during his show this morning, “There is a time that everything must come to an end for certain people on camera--especially certain old people!”

My parents had been to Philbin’s show a few times in New York, and they enjoyed the experience. It’s one of the only talk shows they’ve ever seen where he had a producer come out to the audience and gather things that people wanted autographed. He signed them all before and during the show breaks. That’s something most show hosts don’t do.

When Philbin came to town 10 years ago to do press, someone at a local TV station (who wanted to remain anonymous), told me, “I couldn’t believe how much older he looked in person and without all the make-up caked on. His neck, hands, and face were just covered with liver spots.”

That made me wonder why he even bothered dying his hair. Jay Leno has no problem letting it all go gray.

I’m going to miss Philbin. He certainly wasn’t the funniest talk show host around, but then, he didn’t start out as a comedian. His stories were always fun, and he was willing to poke fun at himself on other shows. Just last week he was on David Letterman, and it was the usual jokes at his expense. Letterman crucified him during the monologue about his age. And as they did the interview eating ice cream (that had something to do with a person in the audience from another country), it was the most casual, interesting conversation between two old friends. Two talk show hosts that are at the top of their game.

After 25 years on his current show, it’s hard to believe Regis Philbin is retiring. And that, is his final answer.