Video: Kelly Ripa’s Emotional Goodbye Speech To Live Co-Host Regis Philbin

I’ve watched Live with Regis and Kelly since I was in middle school, living in northern California. My mom always had it on in the mornings while I ate breakfast because she said it, like the New York Post’s Page Six, was the best way to get the important news about New York now that we didn’t live there. I continued the tradition into college, either watching it before classes/internships or even DVR’ing episodes for later in the day.

And now, it’s the end of an era. After 28 years on the show, Regis Philbin is stepping down. I actually had to miss this morning’s episode because of getting to work early, and because I’d attended the midnight screening of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 last night/this morning, my mind was too hazy to remember the DVR. But while I might have enjoyed that last hour with Reeg, this speech from his co-host of 11 years Kelly Ripa says it all.

I’ve always loved their repartee, especially when they would snarkily call each other “Pippa” and “Big Daddy.” Even if Kelly plays off against another older man as her new co-host — they’re currently looking — it’ll never be the same. What I love about this speech is that she reveals a sweet story about Regis without fully dismantling his cranky-old-man shtick. Because you gotta leave the guy some dignity on his way out.