RIP Regis Philbin

Regis used to make appearances on CNBC’s Fast Money, of all things, talking about playing the market

 

I was a huge Letterman fan going back to the NBC Late Night days. Sometimes when Dave would go out and do his great remote pieces or weird phone calls, he'd introduce himself as Regis. Regis, I don't think, was really a nationally known figure then. the Live show wasn't on in the Midwest, anyway, and I was in junior high school. For some reason, though I found that to be funny and then it became even funnier when I finally got the joke.

 

People knew who Regis was. He'd had his own national late night show as early as 1964, and was Joey Bishop's sidekick beginning in 1967.

Regis was a punchline, and synonymous with failure, before Dave ever got to him.

(He'd been locally successful all along.)

That's why his "comeback" on Live! and Millionaire was kind of sweet and unexpected.

 

Cue Lee Corso:
'Gone With the Wind' star Olivia de Havilland dies at 104

 

It sucks that old people die, for sure.

My grandmother told me not to cry when she crossed the river at 94 - I did anyway.

 

I had no idea that de Havilland went to Mills College in Oakland.

 

Loved his cameo on Seinfeld when Kramer was doing the talk show circuit to promote his coffee table book about coffee tables.

 

Like, whole news rooms did it, too...I remember us doing that, and us wondering at ourselves and how practically addicted we admitted we were to the show. "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" was like a genuine cult hit at the time it came out, and for the first season or two that it aired.

 

The movie about the British Millionaire scandal was pretty good "Quiz" - I think it ran on AMC. Really good insight on what made the show tick.

 

Kornheiser and Wilbon talked yesterday about what a fan, mentor and influence Reeg was for the show