Regis Philbin to retire from talk show

NEW YORK (AP) — For such a famously excitable guy, Regis Philbin made his big announcement with surprising calm: He's retiring from his show.

Philbin delivered the news at the start of this morning's "Live With Regis and Kelly," which he has hosted for more than a quarter-century, most recently sharing hosting duties with Kelly Ripa.

He said he would be stepping down from the show around the end of the summer, though he didn't specify a departure date.

"I don't want to alarm anybody," he began, then said, "This will be my last year on the show."

His brief remarks came during the show's off-the-cuff "host chat," after he and Ripa had batted the breeze about the Golden Globes, football and the icy weather outside.

"It's been a long time, it's been 28 years," Philbin said reflectively, speaking of his current Manhattan-based show. "It was the biggest thrill of my life to come back to New York, where I grew up as a kid watching TV in the early days, you know, never even dreaming that I would one day have the ability, or whatever it takes, to get in front of the camera and talk to it.