Regis Philbin tells Larry King about Kelly Ripa, no invite for ‘Live!’ return

For many years, “Live! with Regis and Kelly” was one of the biggest hits on all of daytime television. Unfortunately, Regis Philbin departed several years ago, and while there have been some good moments here and there since, the show hasn’t quite been the same. Regis did get a proper send-off on the show, but there were questions as to if they could do more … and if they’ve treated him with enough respect since his departure.

The biggest surprise is that not once has Philbin ever been asked back to host the show again since his exit. This is a comment that he confirmed to Larry King on his “Larry King Now” broadcast, while at the same time also noting that he and Ripa don’t have the closest relationship in the world now:

“She got very offended when I left. She thought I was leaving because of her … I was leaving because I was getting older and it wasn’t right for me anymore.”

In the end, it just felt like the right time for Regis to leave, though we will admit that we miss seeing him around on television. Ideally, what we’d love for him to do is actually something similar to King, where he can do some lengthy sit-down interviews with noteworthy people. We actually think that he’d be interesting on a podcast, even if that sort of technology seems like a strange direction for such an old-school television personality. (We’re not sure what the crossover audience is when it comes to people who like Regis who also listen to podcasts.)

Meanwhile, we’re still waiting to see who could end up joining Kelly as a co-host for the show, provided of course that this is something that they end up doing at all. The reality is that the rotating panel of co-hosts works pretty well, especially since it gives people a further incentive to watch on a semi-regular basis.

What do you think of Regis’ comments, and do you think we’ll see a new co-host for “Live!” at some point in the future? Share in the comments below! (Photo: ABC.)